Unlocking a phone

[debih]

My sister has given S her old Samsung phone - problem is it is locked to orange and S is with Tesco!

I have spoken to Tesco and they have confirmed that the sim that S has will work with any unlocked smart phone.

So anyone know the best way to go about getting her phone unlocked. My sister could ring Orange but reading comments on websites it is like getting blood out of a stone - they will do it but you have to jump through hoops to get it done!

I have seen websites that you can buy the unlock code from but I am worried that they aren't that reputable.

Any ideas?

[Aggers]

You could read this....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/FREE-SIM-UNLO ... 633/g.html

[JoM]

Not sure if there's anywhere near to you but we have a local shop and a market stall who unlock phones. I know my Dad used the market stall and had no problems.

[debih]

I've found a shop to do it I think.

I rang an independent phone shop in Belper and although they don't do it they told me where to go and also told me not to let them charge me more than £12.

So I'm going to have a ride over there tomorrow morning to see if I can get it done.

[JoM]

I think my Dad paid around £10 to get his unlocked and that was 3 or 4 years back now.

[Workingman]

You have done the right thing Debih. The safest, most secure, way of doing a smartphone is by a special data cable, a 'clip' and software - it's what shops will do.

[Suff]

Pretty much what WM said.

To know how to unlock it would require the exact phone model. Then it’s a long trawl through forums to work out who is and is not able to do this and how much they charge.

The easier way is a shop who has invested some £2,000-£3,000 on multiple hardware boxes which can unlock the phone safely. £10-£12 is the usual price.

I used to buy the Nokia cables to do this but, eventually, they made it so expensive it was not worth it on a casual basis.

Best with a shop, who wants to send their phone to an ebay vendor??

[Kaz]

Aw the stall next to the handbag one where I've been working unlock phones - two lovely Asian guys run it