If I buy a pay as you go phone that's on the same network as my contract. Will my contract SIM work in it???

should do only sim cards from other networks dont work but one from the same network should work

normally but sometimes they are funny, not very often but i've seen it happen a couple times.

If I buy a pay as you go phone that's on the same network as my contract. Will my contract SIM work in it???

I'm with Vodafone and used to think it would work no problem, however....

A while ago I went abroad...well to Chester :P and forgot my mobile phone charger. Its a rare phone and couldnt get another charger. I seen a

Hmmm what to do?? My T610 needs a new case and screen that's why I was looking at the pay as you go option as i've seen a Sagem myx5-2 for

Consider the following option - find someone who's on the network you wanna use. Swap SIMs. If it works, the phone isn't locked in a way that prevents you from doing this (usually).

However - your best bet is to go into one of those phone shops and just ask. Let's face it, if you buy PAYG they will make the money anyway

As far as I am aware Orange definitely does lock their phones to the network, and even to the contract. This was the case a few years ago for sure, even when I got a PAYG SIM for it, unlocking cost about 15 quid or something I seem to recall.

There are ways around these issues, but I think for potential legal reasons and my relatively new presence here I would suggest doing a bit of web(re)search on unlocking

Im on orange, have yet to have a problem with swapping sims to another orange phone. It's only a problem if you wan't to put an orange sim in other networks phones.

We bought a payg phone whilst on holiday in spain, because believe it or not its cheaper to make local and international calls from spain with one of the native payg phones. Before I had even left the shop, it was unlocked for any network by me doing a google search on the net. The phone was tested by putting a virgin mobile sim in, and it worked a treat, so at least when we got back to the uk, we still had a phone we could use.

The moral here is, if you know where to look most phones can be unlocked by accessing a hidden menu or using a series of keypresses. Best bet is to search the net before purchase, so you can make sure it can be done easily, ie. not using a cable connected to a pc.

Only ever had a problem with a Nokia supplied as a contract phone by BT-Cellnet. It would not accept an Orange Pay as you go sim. Every other phone I have owned takes any sim I have tried. For example I got an O2 sim of someone on here and it works in my last Vodaphone contract phone no bother at all.

A lot of contract phones are sim free (not locked) just PAYG are normally locked

AFIK most of the PAYG phones are "sim-locked" i.e: will only accept the sim that was supplied with the phone. This means you would need to get an unlocking code from the Network. I am sure that there are some dodgy password sites on the net that might help.

A trip to www.astalavista may work, they have mobile phone unlock codes (or used to)

let me know if you find what you need!

Regards, John

Only ever had a problem with a Nokia supplied as a contract phone by BT-Cellnet. It would not accept an Orange Pay as you go sim.

No BT or Vodafone contract handset will ever be locked to the network! They're not allowed to.

Orange and T-Mobile are, so they do.

Generally PAYG mobiles are locked to the network, but not usually to the SIM Card - there are a few exceptions though.

Might be worth going to somewhere with a "no-quibbles" returns policy, even if it costs a few quid more, so you can try it and if doesn't work return it as "the wrong present" or something...

Rob.

No BT or Vodafone contract handset will ever be locked to the network! They're not allowed to.

Orange and T-Mobile are' date=' so they do.

Generally PAYG mobiles are locked to the network, but not usually to the SIM Card - there are a few exceptions though.

Might be worth going to somewhere with a "no-quibbles" returns policy, even if it costs a few quid more, so you can try it and if doesn't work return it as "the wrong present" or something...

Rob.[/quote']

Why aren't BT or Vodaphone allowed to lock Rob?

My experience is that Vodafone don't normally lock their phones, but the others do. Normally, if you buy a PAYG phone, and put a contract SIM from the same network in it, it'll work. I've got a way to unlock some Nokia phones (6310 etc), but not any others. I've heard good things about these folks: http://www.unlockingshop.co.uk/

Phil

Having owned or used phones by 4 of the 5 major networks (never used Orange, not used BT since its switch to O2), I can tell you that:

1. Locked T-mobile phones will accept Virgin sims (Virgin is a 'virtual' network with the same ID as T-mobile).

2. BT/O2 and Vodafone contract mobiles are generally NOT locked (i.e. accept any sim).

3. Vodaphone Pay-as-you-go phones ARE locked, but WILL accept another Vodaphone sim.

4. [Not sim related ] Virgin is Cheapest but the signal is POOR[er] outside of city centres (this is true of it's owner network too).

Hope this helps

Rich

No BT or Vodafone contract handset will ever be locked to the network! They're not allowed to.

Orange and T-Mobile are' date=' so they do.

Generally PAYG mobiles are locked to the network, but not usually to the SIM Card - there are a few exceptions though.

Might be worth going to somewhere with a "no-quibbles" returns policy, even if it costs a few quid more, so you can try it and if doesn't work return it as "the wrong present" or something...

Rob.[/quote']

Well my Nokia 3310 BT-Cellnet/O2 phone would not work with my mothers Orange pay as you go sim! My wifes Vodafone 3330 did work with it.

Why aren't BT or Vodaphone allowed to lock Rob?

Seem to recall it was some (relatively) old ruling from Oftel as a condition for being given 900MHz licenses...hence Orange and T-mobile on 1800MHz aren't subject to this...

Rob.

i was ****ed off when my phone went plat yesterday - so i tried to put my t -mobile sim in to my dads old 6310 orange handset to use the car kit.... and the phone is locked... how do i unlock a 6310?

i was ****ed off when my phone went plat yesterday - so i tried to put my t -mobile sim in to my dads old 6310 orange handset to use the car kit.... and the phone is locked... how do i unlock a 6310?

Paul,

PM me the IMEI, and I'll get you an unlock code.

Phil

cheers

will do as soon as car returns...

thanks