Do bill pay phones come unlocked?

ViveLaVie

My sister is changing to a bill pay plan. On the plan she's going to get a smartphone for fairly cheap if not free. However, she doesn't actually want a smartphone. She just hates all the fancy features, only likes really basic phones. I told her I'd buy her a new basic phone if she gave me the smartphone (I'm a broke student, no way I could afford one). I'm on pay as you go at the moment. I haven't specified a network as we aren't sure which one to go for yet. So, are bill pay smartphones locked to the bill pay sim card or even just the network? If someone could answer this for any/each network that'd be great. Would I be able to use the smartphone without any problems?

galwayjohn89

They are locked to the network 99% of the time but a PAYG sim of the same network will work.

orchidsrpretty

It will be locked to the network, but you will be able to use a payg sim in it.

mad muffin

I got a Nokia lumia 800 on bill pay from Vodafone at the carphone warehouse and it was locked.

I then got an HTC Titan through the Vodafone website and it was unlocked.

Both were on the same plan.

Sometimes you get lucky and the phone is unlocked, but generally not. My brother and his girlfriend both ordered 16GB Galaxy S phones online from Vodafone a couple of years ago. He got a locked Vodafone-branded phone. She got an unlocked one with generic firmware, probably due to a stock shortage.

mad muffin

Karsini wrote: »

Sometimes you get lucky and the phone is unlocked, but generally not. My brother and his girlfriend both ordered 16GB Galaxy S phones online from Vodafone a couple of years ago. He got a locked Vodafone-branded phone. She got an unlocked one with generic firmware, probably due to a stock shortage.

The htc Titan I got from Vodafone online was branded but unlocked.

I guess it's a bit of a mixed bag.

matrim

If you get your sister to ask they will usually unlock it. I normally say I travel a lot and need it unlocked and they do it straight away

ViveLaVie

Thanks for the replies.

So, just to be one hundred percent clear (cos we don't want to enter into a bill pay contract without being totally sure) if the phone is locked, it will ONLY be locked to the network and my pay as you go sim will still work in it if I switch to the sister's network? No issues at all?

Matrim, do you have to give any further info beyond that? Why would you need a phone unlocked for travel (if I were asked to explain why)?

matrim

ViveLaVie wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

So, just to be one hundred percent clear (cos we don't want to enter into a bill pay contract without being totally sure) if the phone is locked, it will ONLY be locked to the network and my pay as you go sim will still work in it if I switch to the sister's network? No issues at all?

Matrim, do you have to give any further info beyond that? Why would you need a phone unlocked for travel (If I were asked to explain why)?

You need it unlocked for travel because if you got to another country and want to get a local SIM you need to have the phone unlocked. You'd use a local SIM if you needed to make a lot of calls or wanted data access because roaming costs would be prohibitive

TBi

Your sister could apply for a cheaper monthly repayment if she doesn't get the upgrade. You're basically paying back for the cost of the phone over the contract period, no phone = no pay back.

ardmacha

Bill phones are generally locked, but the provider will unlock them. The OP can give his sister a cheap PAYG model and she can get a bill upgrade and ask for the unlock code. However she could probably get a cheaper plan if no phone was involved and buy a cheap PAYG phone herself.

ViveLaVie

ardmacha wrote: »

Bill phones are generally locked, but the provider will unlock them. The OP can give his sister a cheap PAYG model and she can get a bill upgrade and ask for the unlock code. However she could probably get a cheaper plan if no phone was involved and buy a cheap PAYG phone herself.

Hey guys, due to the minutes that she wants there actually isn't a cheaper plan for her. I'm paying her a bit extra to pay off some of her bill. Anyway, she's ordered the phone, a Samsung GSIII. Just realized it takes a microsim. A microsim will be provided with the phone. I will ring the network to port my number to the microsim and to port hers to a regular sim. Can the network tell the difference between the microsim she is provided with with the phone and a regular one?

groom

Which network is it? Meteor bill pay phones come unlocked

ViveLaVie

groom wrote: »

Which network is it? Meteor bill pay phones come unlocked

No it's three! It's a brand new phone so hopefully the networks won't have time to have locked them but tbh now it's the sim I'm concerned about.

jonnny68

I'm on Tesco Mobile but hopefully getting a Samsung Galaxy S3 on the 3 network on pay as you go, does anyone know if it will be locked or not and if it is would 3 unlock it for me?

cheers

Mimikyu

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drunkmonkey

Putting a tesco sim in a 3 S3 is a bit retarded if you want to get the best out of the phone but if you insisted on making a great phone crapish its easy to unlock it, 3 won't do it for you but there's loads of places that will.
Just think about unlimited data versus retarded data before you waste money on an unlock.

Mimikyu

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jonnny68

Captain Morgan wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Thanks, bit of a difference in price alright on 3 it's €569 which is the cheapest ive seen anywhere in Europe on pay as you go, even Amazon in Germany comes in at €617 including tax and shipping so very surprised that it's a lot cheaper here as usually it's the opposite.

Carphone Warehouse confirmed it will be locked spoke to them this morning.

Don't suppose anyone knows any free unlocking codes for the Galaxy S3?

jonnny68

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Putting a tesco sim in a 3 S3 is a bit retarded if you want to get the best out of the phone but if you insisted on making a great phone crapish its easy to unlock it, 3 won't do it for you but there's loads of places that will.
Just think about unlimited data versus retarded data before you waste money on an unlock.

Tesco Mobile are by far and away the cheapest mobile network in Ireland, 1 cents a minute International calls is brilliant no other network offers this, granted data might not be as fast as some other networks but it has got a lot better recently.

ViveLaVie

Just thought I'd let everyone know that it all went off without a hitch.

Since the S3 takes the microsim I cut up my own Three sim to fit it and my sister, whose number was automatically ported onto the microsim provided with the phone upon its receipt, just requested for her number to be changed to a normal sim. Took a while to sort it out but it was all fine.

The S3 I got from Three is unlocked btw.

ED E

jonnny68 wrote: »

Tesco Mobile are by far and away the cheapest mobile network in Ireland, 1 cents a minute International calls is brilliant no other network offers this, granted data might not be as fast as some other networks but it has got a lot better recently.

I'd have to agree that using an S3 on Tesco is a bit silly to be polite. It is one of the top three phones on the market right now and yet you're crippling it with tesco mobile net. On three you'd get 4+ Mbps all the time, with tesco you'll get 800KBps max. Kinda like buying a ferrari for the school run. And if you can afford over 500E for a phone one would assume you could afford the plan to use it properly.

Tesco mobile is designed for and is a godsend to people on nokia "dumbphones" who just call their family now and then and thats it.

jay93

Agree on Tesco data its so slow i cant even use the full 1GB .

I have used over 3GB so far with Three since it actually is a decent data service and i could continue to use as much data as i wanted for a smartphone this is essential to not worry about data charges this is the only thing tying me to Three