Are 3 PAYG phones locked?

noelphobic

My son has a Motorola Razr I on a contract with T Mobile. He appears to have lost it - although hasn't completely given up hope of finding it just yet, so fingers crossed. He likes the phone and I see that it is around £150 on PAYG with 3, around half the price of anywhere else. Just wondering if anyone knows whether 3's phones are locked to the network or not.

Cycrow

most payg phones bought from a network are locked, which is also why they can be cheaper as well.

you can usually get them unlocked without much trouble, but it might cost you. But as long as the phone + unlock, is less than it cost elsewhere, then its still better

gjchester

noelphobic wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone knows whether 3's phones are locked to the network or not.

It's not that simple.

First if a phone is exclusive to one network then it probably is.

If the phone is sold on other networks and you buy it from the networks shop it may be locked.

If it's not exclusive and you buy it form somewhere like Carphone warehouse then it may be unlocked, as they can just keep generic stock and put the relevent sim card in. That does not always apply, sometimes the 3rd parties get a good price form the network and will hold network specific stock, there realy no hard and fast rules on it.

Best guess is assume it is, and look how much an unlock solution costs.

Kaybenson

3 always lock their phone.

noelphobic

gjchester wrote: »

It's not that simple.

First if a phone is exclusive to one network then it probably is.

If the phone is sold on other networks and you buy it from the networks shop it may be locked.

If it's not exclusive and you buy it form somewhere like Carphone warehouse then it may be unlocked, as they can just keep generic stock and put the relevent sim card in. That does not always apply, sometimes the 3rd parties get a good price form the network and will hold network specific stock, there realy no hard and fast rules on it.

Best guess is assume it is, and look how much an unlock solution costs.

The phone isn't exclusive to 3. Can't buy it from Carphone Warehouse as the price is double there, so would need to buy direct from 3.

Any idea of how much unlocks generally cost?

Number29

I bought a Razr i from Three on PAYG. It's completely unlocked and unbranded.

Neil49

noelphobic wrote: »

My son has a Motorola Razr I on a contract with T Mobile. He appears to have lost it - although hasn't completely given up hope of finding it just yet, so fingers crossed. He likes the phone and I see that it is around £150 on PAYG with 3, around half the price of anywhere else. Just wondering if anyone knows whether 3's phones are locked to the network or not.

This has been recommended on the Hot UK Deals website a couple of times and purchasers of it have said that it comes unlocked.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/motorola-razr-back-three-149-99-10-top-up-1650299

gjchester

Kaybenson wrote: »

3 always lock their phone.

It's not an absolute.

Buy it from Three and it may wall be locked, but buy it from CPW or P4U and it may not be.

Lookat is this way if you were runnig the physical store do you want to keep a few items in of each phone on each network (so maybe 10 items of hardware) hoping they'll sell before they get too devalued, or do you hold 3 items unlocked and just put in whatever sim the customer wants?

Network stores are often unlocked, 3rd party is all up in the air depending what the unit cost was when they bought them. If the network offered a cheap price they'll take the risk, but notmally they'll be unlocked.

As I said the exception is when the phone/ colour / package is exclusive to one network in which case all stock probably came from the network anyway...

noelphobic

Luckily his phone turned up. However, I am now tempted by the deal myself! I hate my present phone and it seems like a great deal when it's nearly half the price of anywhere else.

richardjames73

Kaybenson wrote: »

3 always lock their phone.

Incorrect. I have bought a Motorola Razr I, Nokia Lumia 800, and an HTC 8X all from a Three High street store, all phones were unlocked to any netowrk.

[Deleted User]

Three used to glue PAYG sim cards in their PAYG phones at one time. Which made it difficult if you were already on Three PAYG and just wanted a new cheap phone.