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Vodafone Unlocking

I found myself in quite a sticky situation this weekend.

I'm on the Vodafone Evening & Weekend 900 tariff, having a respectable 3650.

However, after visiting a Vodafone store yesterday, I purchased the exclusive VK207i - the only officially released VK Mobile in the UK.

The phone itself is minute and very-well built. It's just a treasure to look at.

The phone came with a PAYT sim, so when I got home I put my contract sim into the newly-purchased handset. To my utter horror, the sim card would not be accepted. So now Vodafone are blocking a full-price handset as well.

Obviously, I am desperate to use the phone with the sim card, so I called the shop back and the person who sold me the phone told me that to have the handset unblocked should be free, as I was a contract customer. However, after two queries with a woman on 191, she did finally confirm that I had to pay £25.

I did authorise Vodafone to process the request for unblocking. Firstly, because I want to use the handset and secondly because the phone is the only one of its kind in the UK, so market traders and such would be unable to unlock it.

However, my contract sim card is still in my 3650 and Vodafone, according to what I could make out, should send me this code to my contract sim card in the 3650. Am I correct in assuming that whatever phone receives the code is irrelevant and that it is only the code of any importance.

After I receive the code to the 3650, do I just have to enter it into the new handset when it says that the sim card isn't recognised?

Sorry for all the questions; I just haven't bought a locked handset before and feel a bit edgy, with £25 and a £130 handset at stake here.

Many thanks!
 
The reason I'm worrying is that I have this lovely new phone, a £25 unlocking code in the process of being sent to me and only the word of the call-centre staff to prove that they've fully understood what I wanted to know.

Any expertise in sim-unlocking would be appreciated.
 
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Thanks Rich - Already had a peep on the site, but the actual resources are for relatively known phones.

Will post int he forum over there!
 
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thanks for the unlocking info :P was able to unlock my phone from O2 and use a Virgin SIM card :D
 
Sorry it's been such a while in getting back to you with my conclusion to this frustrating problem.

After calling 191 each and every day for an entire week, there were eventually 12 people who were supposedly dealing with my request. Each time, they all promised to e-mail someone else in another department to further the request. Each call made to them showed me that this was not being completed.

It actually got to a full week after I had initially requested the unlock. The person told me that I should expect to wait upto 3 weeks. However, many had told me that it was 7 days, with this being the norm. One girl even told me it should only be 72 hours. As you can see, I was really getting angry, with having spent so much money on the handset and with having to reluctantly pay to unlock a PAYG handset for a contract sim, both of which were on Vodafone.

Each call just proved to be troublesome, and with the 14 days return guarantee with Vodafone nearing, I wasn't prepared to take the chance of waiting for this code, only to find that with the VK being the only handset on the UK market, it wasn't possible.

I cut my losses; I returned the handset back to the Vodafone store and requested the code be cancelled. I have since purchased a lovely Samsung X450.

For £25, I don't find it strange to want the code there and then. To add to this, with both the sim and handset being on Vodafone, I was reluctant to pay this £25 for the privilige. However, Vodafone have since proved to me that they are totally incapable of honouring customer requests, even those who are willing to cough up £25 for a PAYG handset to be unlocked.

I feel severely let down by them, and shall not cease in compiling a letter for their Complaints' department.
 
I know what you mean Kyle, so far I've only had 1 reason to try to contact Vodafone which I tried to do via e-mail. *2* weeks after I sent the information request I managed to get a reply apologising for the delay in answering my query.... but no reply to my query in there!! They said if the query hadn't been resolved I should reply and it will be dealt with. Why? So I can wait another 2 weeks for nothing? I'm glad I went into the store in person and got what I wanted after 2 days of waiting. I'm really starting to wonder if it was a smart choice to go with Vodafone just for the Sharp GX-30.

I'm going to try asking at a few local mobile dealers to see if they can unlock it. I've seen a couple of stalls in a market nearby offering to unlock phones for about £15.
 
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Kyle said:
only to find that with the VK being the only handset on the UK market, it wasn't possible.

Kyle,

was it Voda that told you that it was not possible? or did you just give in ?

Cheers for your reply

Andy
 
Kyle,

Probably best you didnt go with the VK.

As the phone is aimed to women, there are biorhythms and biocyles counters here

Ladies will be satisfied with polyphonic ringtones. Vibrating alert is average, you can feel it if you wear the phone in the pockets, not in a bag. Sound quality is pleasant, you can hear a person on the other side of the phone line without problems. Unfortunately he/she can not always hear you, as an integrated microphone picks up surrounding noise.

We can’t recommend this handset to purchase, taking into account its retail price – 400-450 USD. Theoretically it is a good phone, which costs 200-230 USD, not much. In our opinion it is too expensive, even if to pay attention to its rich standard delivery kit. VK Mobile knowingly constricts production market because, nobody will buy expensive phones made by not famous company, having alternative and sometimes cheaper offers. We assume that the company will have to reduce phone’s price to 300 USD in near future, but even in this case VK VG207 will remain an expensive model

Not exactly a sparkling review! :laugh: ;)
 
"you can feel it if you wear the phone in the pockets, not in a bag."

Is there actually a phone you can feel the vibrate from in a bag?

"you can hear a person on the other side of the phone line without problems"

Wow! After 15 years in development, they've produced a mobile which allows you to hear the other person!
 
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