Rights when getting a 2nd hand phone unlocked

davidb2002

A friend has given me their old iPhone 4 they used years ago on orange. It was on contract which has long expired. They no longer have a the micro sim as they have upgraded a long time ago to a iPhone 5. I'm on t-mobile and have been for 10 years.

I've posted a similar topic on the EE community forum and they essentially told me I'll have to get an orange sim, put funds on it before I can request for it to be unlocked.

It seems unfair that I have to get an Orange sim, top it up before I can get the phone unlocked. Surely I have the right to simply pay the unlocking charge to get the phone unlocked now that the contract the phone was on has ended?

Any advice would be appreciated. I plan on going into an EE store tomorrow to see what I can do about it.

Marktheshark

Most phone shops will unlock it in a couple of minutes for a small charge.

d123

davidb2002 wrote: »

A friend has given me their old iPhone 4 they used years ago on orange. It was on contract which has long expired. They no longer have a the micro sim as they have upgraded a long time ago to a iPhone 5. I'm on t-mobile and have been for 10 years.

I've posted a similar topic on the EE community forum and they essentially told me I'll have to get an orange sim, put funds on it before I can request for it to be unlocked.

It seems unfair that I have to get an Orange sim, top it up before I can get the phone unlocked. Surely I have the right to simply pay the unlocking charge to get the phone unlocked now that the contract the phone was on has ended?

Any advice would be appreciated. I plan on going into an EE store tomorrow to see what I can do about it.

You could always just ask your friend to apply for the unlock, the cost is £8.99. If your friend can't/won't help, you will have to try the PAYG route of topping up and using it for a while before applying yourself.

You have no right to an unlocked phone.

http://ee.co.uk/help/getting-started/joining-ee/unlocking-your-phone

Kingsd316

Marktheshark wrote: »

Most phone shops will unlock it in a couple of minutes for a small charge.

No they wont, not with an iphone on orange

davidb2002

Pretty sure I read something that ofcom ruled that they must unlock phones by request if the contract as finished and the phone was paid off. They can charge an admin fee to do this, there is something online about it, but i cant post links (beacuse im new).

MikeWhite

davidb2002 wrote: »

Pretty sure I read something that ofcom ruled that they must unlock phones by request if the contract as finished and the phone was paid off. They can charge an admin fee to do this, there is something online about it, but i cant post links (beacuse im new).

The ofcom page I read has this:

You may wish to unlock your handset after you have left your provider. All the providers listed in the table provide this service, as long as the request to unlock is made by the former account holder of the handset.

d123

MikeWhite wrote: »

The ofcom page I read has this:

You may wish to unlock your handset after you have left your provider. All the providers listed in the table provide this service, as long as the request to unlock is made by the former account holder of the handset.

You are correct, the OFCOM advice can be read at http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/phone/mobile-phones/changing-provider/mobile-phone-locking-and-unlocking/

mije1983

davidb2002 wrote: »

It seems unfair that I have to get an Orange sim, top it up before I can get the phone unlocked. Surely I have the right to simply pay the unlocking charge

I believe this IS the way you pay the unlocking charge on PAYG . You top up £x and they take the credit and unlock it for you.

Edit: Yes, seems I was correct. They don't take payment any other way if you don't have an account to charge the amount to.

http://ee.co.uk/help/getting-started/joining-ee/unlocking-your-phone#orange

gjchester

davidb2002 wrote: »

A friend has given me their old iPhone 4 they used years ago on orange. It was on contract which has long expired. They no longer have a the micro sim as they have upgraded a long time ago to a iPhone 5. I'm on t-mobile and have been for 10 years

They don't need the SIM or the phone, your friend just needs to request it be unlocked. Its then done on Apples servers and the next time your phone is activated (via putting in a new sim) then the phone checks Apples database an unlocks.

davidb2002 wrote: »

Surely I have the right to simply pay the unlocking charge to get the phone unlocked now that the contract the phone was on has ended?
I plan on going into an EE store tomorrow to see what I can do about it.

Actually you have no rights, you are not the first owner of the phone, look at it another way if any one can request an unlock what's to stop a thief doing it.

Going in store probably won't help, EE in the past have said they will not deal with anyone other than the first owner of a phone, and the unlock needs to be requested on Orange who you are not a customer of, (and yes I realise they are all one network, but they all still have separate systems) however it should be pretty easy for your friend to request the unlock without too much bother.