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koli
Doesn't have much of a life
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 5:12 pm Posts: 1171
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Question for people who bough their phone from Vodafone: Is you phone locked? E.g. can you use sim card from another mobile provider in it?
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Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:33 pm |
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JJW009
I haven't seen my friends in so long
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:58 pm Posts: 8767 Location: behind the sofa
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Mine was not, but I think some are.
I was on a Vodafone corporate account, and changed to O2 by just changing the sim.
I think the law on unlocking now means you can unlock any phone for a reasonable fee, so it shouldn't matter a great deal.
_________________jonbwfc's law: "In any forum thread someone will, no matter what the subject, mention Firefly." When you're feeling too silly for x404, youRwired.net
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Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:47 pm |
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Linux_User
I haven't seen my friends in so long
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 3:29 pm Posts: 7173
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Both my Vodafone handsets have been locked.
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Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:58 pm |
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cloaked_wolf
What's a life?
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:46 pm Posts: 10022
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I was undet the assumption (based on experience) that all new phones bought under contract are locked to the service provider until such a point when they are unlocked.
What has changed?
_________________ He fights for the users.
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Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:10 pm |
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Amnesia10
Legend
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:02 am Posts: 29240 Location: Guantanamo Bay (thanks bobbdobbs)
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I think that the they are locked till your contract is over, then you can unlock them for a fee. Which is fair enough. Though I would prefer them to be automatically unlocked at the end of the contract.
_________________Do concentrate, 007... "You are gifted. Mine is bordering on seven seconds." https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTg5MzczNTkhttp://astore.amazon.co.uk/wwwx404couk-21
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Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:09 pm |
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koli
Doesn't have much of a life
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 5:12 pm Posts: 1171
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Thanks guys. I had three phones from Vodafone, last one was about 4 years ago and none of them was locked. Maybe they changed it since then. I will ask in store to make sure. I think I am gonna get new Blackberry Storm 2 and will go back to Vodafone from 3...
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Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:50 pm |
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l3v1ck
What's a life?
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 10:21 am Posts: 12700 Location: The Right Side of the Pennines (metaphorically & geographically)
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I've had four contract phones from Vodafone and none of them have been locked. The last one I got in 2006. I don't know if they've changed things since then though.
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Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:55 pm |
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big_D
What's a life?
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:25 pm Posts: 10691 Location: Bramsche
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It also probably depends on whether Vodafone have an exlcusive contract for distributing the 'phone in question.
Apart from the iPhone, pretty much every 'phone here is open to all providers, so you just walk into the local equivalent of Dixons and select the 'phone you want and see how much rebate your provider will give. If you buy in an O2, Vodafone, T-Punkt etc. then you might be able to get versions of the 'phone with branding from the operator and additional apps to customise it to their service, but even those aren't locked.
(Case in point, my first iPhone crapped out after 3 days, so I plugged the SIM into my o2 Touch Pro.)
_________________ "Do you know what this is? Hmm? No, I can see you do not. You have that vacant look in your eyes, which says hold my head to your ear, you will hear the sea!" - Londo Molari
Executive Producer No Agenda Show 246
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Sat Oct 17, 2009 7:33 am |
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Geiseric
Doesn't have much of a life
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 10:35 pm Posts: 1657 Location: Ipswich
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All my Vodafone's have been locked 
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Wed Oct 21, 2009 3:45 pm |
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John_Vella
I haven't seen my friends in so long
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 7:55 am Posts: 7935 Location: Manchester.
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Even if it is locked you can usually get them unlocked for about a tenner. There's always a small petrol station or similar where you can get them done.
_________________John Vella BSc (Hons), PGCE - Still the official forum prankster and crude remarker  Sorry  I'll behave now. Promise 
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Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:00 pm |
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paulzolo
What's a life?
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:27 pm Posts: 12251
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A bloke down the market will probably do it.
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Wed Oct 21, 2009 6:49 pm |
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l3v1ck
What's a life?
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 10:21 am Posts: 12700 Location: The Right Side of the Pennines (metaphorically & geographically)
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Were they pay as you go rather than contract? I know they lock pay as you go phones.
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Wed Oct 21, 2009 7:23 pm |
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koli
Doesn't have much of a life
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 5:12 pm Posts: 1171
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Just to finish this off:
I went to Vodafone store and asked salesman and he said that ALL their phones are network locked. However they can be unlocked at any time for 20 pounds.
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Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:41 pm |
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bally199
Doesn't have much of a life
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:52 pm Posts: 1036 Location: Barnsley, South Yorkshire
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Is it a Nokia?
There is a website that will generate you an unlock code for free, all you have to enter is your IMEI.
_________________ Kimmotalk is where all the cool people hang.
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Thu Nov 12, 2009 9:12 am |
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oceanicitl
Official forum cat lady
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 8:04 am Posts: 11039 Location: London
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I use Vodafone Nokias as my back up phone and they've never been locked.
_________________Still the official cheeky one 
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Thu Nov 12, 2009 10:19 am |
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