Using handset bought from someone else - any pitfalls?

usignuolo

My friend bought a new mobile phone handset online where they had a good deal on a particular model, to be an upgrade. At the same time she signed up for a new contract plan intending to transfer over her old number to it. (Previously she had a PAYG deal). However it was her birthday a couple of days later, and her boyfriend knowing she was planning an upgrade, and not knowing she had just bought a new phone, offered to buy her a much better phone..


She took him up on this and they went round to her local phone shop where he paid for her new phone and they transferred over her number to the new contract and handset. She still has the replacement handset she bought. still in its box and I suggested I might buy it from her, as a birthday present for my young niece. (PAYG). She is agreeable in principle.


It has never been used. (Unpacked) Can I just buy a PAYG sim card, put it in and give it to my niece? Or is the handset registered to her plan and will this cause problems if I buy it from her and use it?

JJ_Egan

Question is the phone locked if not you will need to get it unlocked to use any sim . Otherwise it will require original network sim .

grumbler

Warranty? Problems with it aren't unknown if you don't have a proof of purchase.
The same applies to the SoGA protection.

redux

It doesn't matter about being attached to the plan, but as said above if it's to be used on a different network it may need to be unlocked from the current one.

A couple of potential drawbacks of this are that if you want the network to do it, they will probably want the current owner to confirm the request (which obviously isn't a problem for you), but a bigger issue may be that some networks insist on the line rental being paid in advance to the end of the contract before they will unlock it.

So at that point some people will look for other possibilities to unlock it. Find somewhere reputable for this, not some dodgy site spammed on the internet.

gjchester

usignuolo wrote: »

It has never been used. (Unpacked) Can I just buy a PAYG sim card, put it in and give it to my niece? Or is the handset registered to her plan and will this cause problems if I buy it from her and use it?

There is always a risk the phone may be later reported stolen and blacklisted, either out of malice or to claim on insurance, you may think that won't happen, and I hope it doesn't but it has been reported many times on here exactly that.


Friends fall out and it becomes spiteful. I hope it never happens to you but better to know in advance that it could.

enfield_freddy

locate the original box with the EMEI number on the sticker and smile , doubtful if the original owner will have written it down .

d123

enfield_freddy wrote: »

locate the original box with the EMEI number on the sticker and smile , doubtful if the original owner will have written it down .

Which wouldn't matter, the IMEI will be listed on any contract paperwork, it would also be on any dispatch note if it was delivered and is also available on request from customer services if the original owner was to phone and ask for it.

enfield_freddy

true ,,, (10 letters minimum)

usignuolo

Well her contract was/is with Orange. So far as we know phone has never been used with the contract as it is still in its box unpacked and she is now using her new phone. So currently she has two phones and an Orange contract on which she is only using one. If I buy an Orange Sim and PAYG card for my niece, could she use it with the unused phone or would it still need to be unlocked (if it is locked).

balletshoes

usignuolo wrote: »

Well her contract was/is with Orange. So far as we know phone has never been used with the contract as it is still in its box unpacked and she is now using her new phone. So currently she has two phones and an Orange contract on which she is only using one. If I buy an Orange Sim and PAYG card for my niece, could she use it with the unused phone or would it still need to be unlocked (if it is locked).

no it wouldn't need to be unlocked if its on Orange and you buy a PAYG Orange sim to put in it.