Mobile Phone question

[gopher]

Hi All

Quering again the collective knowledge of PHers. Mrs Goher wants to buy a new mbile for Mum who currently has a very old and battered phone on pay as you go through Orange. She would like to stay with them and keep the same number etc.

New phone has been spotted from Orange for £80 but they can't seem to tell us when it will actually be in stock. The same phone can be bought for £70 un-simmed (is that correct?)from elsewhere or for £60 as pay as you go from o2.

The question is can we buy the o2 one and put existing orange pay as you go sim card in it?

Cheers

Paul

[Marcos maniac]

Most PAYG phones are SIM Locked and will only take the Sim card for the network on which they were supplied

However you can get them un-locked, which normally costs around £10 - check your local Friday-Ad for unlocking services.

[gopher]

I see - thanks Marcos - we are probably best off going for the un-simmed version in the first place - which is (spookely) £10 more than the o2 one.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Cheers

Paul

[stoneshed]

Try www.extele.net or www.mobiland.co.uk you can buy sim free brand new unlocked phones, then its just a case of slipping in the old sim.

[pbrettle]

Previous replys are accurate - just check that if you do go for a sim-unlocked phone that it is compatible with the relevant network. Unlikely to not be, but worth checking first.... some phones work fine on O2 or Vodafone, but not on Orange or One2One.... check first...

Cheers,

Paul

[jondokic]

The question is can we buy the o2 one and put existing orange pay as you go sim card in it?

-the answer is yes. However you would have to get it 'unlocked' from O2 at a cost of about £10 at the less reputable end of the mobile shop market. If you can get the phone sim-free (i.e never on a network and already unlocked) for £70 then you could buy with no guarantee that it will work. However, you can get a fully guaranteed UK orange Siemens A50 mobile for £50 on PAYG from the carphone warehouse online. http://www5.carphonewarehouse.com/

two vaguely technical questions answered in 24 hours. I need a lie down...

>> Edited by jondokic on Monday 27th January 14:32

>> Edited by jondokic on Monday 27th January 14:33

[Mad Dave]

Also worth remembering that some phones arent dual band - eg Voda and BT use GSM900 frequency, and One to one and Orange use GSM1800 - if you buy a non dual band Orange phone, even if its unlocked it still wont take a Voda sim!

[jondokic]

Further to my earlier post: If Mrs Gopher's mother's mobile has a mini sim (smaller than a postage stamp) you are fine to put it into a new phone. If it's a really old 'phone she might have a credit card sized sim. These are no use any longer unfortunately. The advantage of the Siemens 'phone (which my wife uses) is that the keys are big and have good backlighting and the menu system is very straightforward for the less technically savvy.

[pdv6]

jondokic said: If Mrs Gopher's mother's mobile has a mini sim (smaller than a postage stamp) you are fine to put it into a new phone. If it's a really old 'phone she might have a credit card sized sim. These are no use any longer unfortunately.

The chip itself is the same, and there are devices around that will cut the small 'working' part of the card out in the correct shape. Again, at the less reputable end of the market, I would imagine.

[theboymoon]

Since i dropped my phone in a pint on saturday night and spent quite a bit of time in a well known 'car-phone' shop yesterday afternoon, i feel i can shed some light on this....

I have a T-mobile contract phone and needed to buy a new handset to replace my now-defunct beer soaked old one.

Basically, virgin or O2 'pay-as you go' handsets come 'unlocked.' I bought a virgin pay as you go phone and made one call to the voicemail of the virgin phone to have it 'activated.' I then threw away the virgin sim, put my long standing T-mobile sim back in ... and roberts your mother's brother.

don't let the phone sharks fob you off with huge handset prices. It should be easy to pick up a nokia 3310 for say £60.

Cheers
Moonie
(note to self: phones do not like a good drink on saturday night)

[alan_driver]

Are you sure that virgin and t-mobile come unlocked? Virgin and T-mobile can be used in either, ie T-mobile can use a virgin phone. This is because they are the same network, virgin is Tmobile, under a different name.

[jondokic]

Virgin phones have to have £30 virgin credit on them and be 30 days old. Virgin will then unlock for free, otherwise locked.

[joospeed]

Try calling David at M-99.com (do a google search for the number .. don't have it to hand at the moment). he's a decent chappie and I'm sure would be able to sort you out with whatever yuo fancy. Tell him Joolz sent you

[agent006]

pdv6 said: there are devices around that will cut the small 'working' part of the card out in the correct shape

Excuse my ignorance, but would that be the same as a pair of scissors?

[pdv6]

yep!

However, there are proper stamps that give you exactly the right size & shape, and positioned correctly so that the contacts on the chip line up with the contacts in the phone...

[chris.mapey]

Do let Orange know of your handset change tho. Their network software is smart enough to read the IMEI (serial number)of the handset you are using. If this changes then Orange MAY assume that the handset / SIM card has been stolen, and deactivate BOTH. This has happened to two people I know, so do so at your own risk....

As far as I know, Orange are the only network that can be bothered to check IMEI numbers, their customer service people are very helpful and will talk you through any info they need.

If you want to email me then please do. (I used to be a Phones 4u Store Manager!!!)

Hope this helps, Chris

[andytk]

chris.mapey said: Do let Orange know of your handset change tho. Their network software is smart enough to read the IMEI (serial number)of the handset you are using. If this changes then Orange MAY assume that the handset / SIM card has been stolen, and deactivate BOTH. This has happened to two people I know, so do so at your own risk....

As far as I know, Orange are the only network that can be bothered to check IMEI numbers, their customer service people are very helpful and will talk you through any info they need.

If you want to email me then please do. (I used to be a Phones 4u Store Manager!!!)

Hope this helps, Chris

Hmm that could explain something,eh MadDave

However I don't think its that cos the phone still works intermittently so Orange didn't kill it for me.

Do Orange do the deactivating thing to people (like me) on PAYG Sims. Or is it just contract people.

Maybe I should phone Orange customer services.

Andy