Unlocking mobile phone

[Jack Harry Teesdale]

Has anyone had any luck getting a phone unlocked from a set network?
(Vodafone)

I want to change network but I can't get my phone unlocked.

TIA

[David Woolley]

Although I always buy unlocked, I thought it was easy these days.

Has your initial Vodafone contract completed. They may well not release
you if they haven't recovered the cost of the phone from you.

How old is the phone? According to what I'd consider a primary source
<https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2021/mobile-companies-now-banned-from-selling-locked-handsets>
it was illegal to sell locked phones after 17 December last years and a
secondary one
<https://www.choose.co.uk/guide/unlock-mobile-phone-how-to.html>
suggests that even in contract phones are eligible for unlocking after
one year, so it looks like there is only a three month period in which a
phone could have been bought with a lock that isn't eligible for removal.

This all assumes a UK purchase.

[Abandoned_Trolley]

On 30/09/2022 19:02, Jack Harry Teesdale wrote:

not long ago I got Vodafone to send me an unlocking code for a Mokia
phone which had been bought in one of their shops, and was locked to
Vodafone. The process was a bit of a faff and took a few days before the
email turned up, but it was free of charge and did actually work.

Somebody in here gave me a link to a page on their web site and thats
how I got the process started, but sadly I cant find the message
containing the link.


In the meantime, google thinks it might be a good idea to look here:

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/vodafone-uk/forms/unlock-code-request/

which looks sort of familiar to me.

Good luck


--
random signature text inserted here

[Theo]

Abandoned_Trolley <fr...@fred-smith.co.uk> wrote:
> In the meantime, google thinks it might be a good idea to look here:
>
> https://www.vodafone.co.uk/vodafone-uk/forms/unlock-code-request/
>
> which looks sort of familiar to me.

Vodafone have typically been the most awkward of the networks to unlock, if
you aren't their customer and didn't buy the phone from them. For EE it's
simple: pay them £8.99, no questions asked.

I'm not sure whether the above form works if:
1) You aren't a VF customer (although you could become a VF customer with a
PAYG SIM and £10)
2) The phone was bought from VF but by somebody else (eg you bought it
secondhand)

but worth a try anyway.

The wording "Unfortunately, we can't unlock your device if you didn't buy it
directly from us, for example, from Carphone Warehouse." is confusing: years
ago, CPW kept unlocked phones to avoid having to stock multiple versions of
the same phone. But nowadays (until it was outlawed in December) phones had
a habit of locking to the first carrier they saw, which makes things more
unclear. I'm not sure how VF get out of unlocking if you happened to buy
the phone on contract with VF from a third party retail channel (eg an
online contract slinger).

Do let us know how you get on...

Theo

[Peter Johnson]

On 01 Oct 2022 13:05:53 +0100 (BST), Theo

<theom...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

> For EE it's simple: pay them £8.99, no questions asked.
>

Really? I'm an ee customer. Last year I bought a new (unused) phone
locked to ee from an eBay seller. On my ee account there's a link for
unlocking, no charge, but it didn't work for me because the ee system
knew the phone had been issued to someone else; I think it had been
supplied as an upgrade. The next time I checked my account the phone
had been unlocked, which I guess was because of the rule banning
locking coming into effect.

A few years ago I bought the previous phone, also new, unopened, also
from an eBay seller, which was supposed to be unlocked, but it wasn't.
After some exchanges with the vendor, who had got it from a mate, and
who thought it was unlocked, he told me that it might be on O2, so
rather than sending it back I paid a website for the unlock code and
got the vendor to refund me, which he did after he'd checked with
eBay.

[Theo]

Peter Johnson <pe...@parksidewood.nospam> wrote:
> On 01 Oct 2022 13:05:53 +0100 (BST), Theo
> <theom...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>
> > For EE it's simple: pay them £8.99, no questions asked.
> >
> Really? I'm an ee customer.

That might be the difference - I'm not. There was a number to call, I told
them the IMEI, paid the £8.99 by card, they gave me an unlock code.

It seems like they've now removed the charge:
https://ee.co.uk/help/help-new/getting-started-and-upgrading/unlock-your-phone/unlock-a-ee-device-to-use-with-another-network

As it happens I have a 20 year old Siemens A55 that's locked to Orange. I
put in the IMEI which it accepted but said 'Unknown device' - the next step
was the 'check device' with 'We just need a little more information to check
if your device is locked' and asked for my contact details. I didn't
proceed because the battery on the A55 is flat and I have no idea where the
charger is, so them calling me wouldn't be much point.

Theo

[Jack Harry Teesdale]

Thanks all for the advice.

I managed to finally get the phone unlocked without paying thru the
Vodafone website, I just ignored the bit about not having bought it from
Vodafone (although it was branded Vodafone) and followed the procedure.
Despite them warning it could take up to 10 days, I received it in 2.

[V]

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