Guest dazzandkim Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 does anyone know if i buy a phone in the uk it would work in ausralia or whether it would be better to buy one when i get out there, because i am looking to get a blackberryy so i can keep in contact with people but not sure whether it would be locked in australia xx :cute: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 PAYG phones are often (but not always) sold locked to the network selling them. However there are plenty of places that will unlock them for you (they'll charge between £5 and £20 here in the UK). If you're not sure if a phone is locked or not try a different providers sim card. Sim cards are the same the world over so an Australian sim will work provide the phone isn't locked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Well, if you got a UK phone and had a UK sim in it when you arrive in Aus you can still use it but you are charged international roaming rates and so all calls are going to be quite expensive. You can have your phone unlocked before you leave UK (whatever you do, dont leave it until you get here, it's almost impossible to find someone who will unlock it) and then just get an Aus sim card Alternatively, there are plenty of phones in Australia and it is probably easier to get a new one here if you dont already have a top of the range bells and whistles model Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dazzandkim Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 thank you both for your help, its been very helpful x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawny Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Hi there, you need when buying your phone to ask for sim free any network, carphone warehouse do these,(they do all networks) as does phones4u, You will have to pay for at least a £10 top up, but you will have a choice of provider! If you were to buy from virgin,vodaphone or o2 these are locked into their network so would have to pay to get in unlocked! You can also buy online sim free through amazon uk and play.com, worth checking out their websites, and direct from nokia! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MazPaul Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 No network phones are really expensive just buy a locked one and get it unlocked it will be much cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeM Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Hi there, you need when buying your phone to ask for sim free any network, carphone warehouse do these,(they do all networks) as does phones4u, You will have to pay for at least a £10 top up, but you will have a choice of provider! If you were to buy from virgin,vodaphone or o2 these are locked into their network so would have to pay to get in unlocked! You can also buy online sim free through amazon uk and play.com, worth checking out their websites, and direct from nokia! Dawny is right. Carphone Warehouse's phones are all factory unlocked handsets. You can take them anywhere in the world and put any SIM in it. Obviously you'll have to get a new Australian SIM to use with it. Pick the network it's cheapest on and you'll get a bargain. But if you're thinking of getting a BlackBerry so you can use BBM to keep in touch with your friends in the UK, you'll probably find you have to get a contract SIM in Australia to be able to use that service and it will be expensive. :daydreaming: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davlap Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 You can have your phone unlocked before you leave UK (whatever you do, dont leave it until you get here, it's almost impossible to find someone who will unlock it) and then just get an Aus sim card I got a phone unlocked in a local market for $20. Melbourne CBD has a couple of places that would do it. Of course if you can do it before you leave it might be more convenient, but in the cities I don't think you would have a bigger problem here than in the UK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeM Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 I got a phone unlocked in a local market for $20. Melbourne CBD has a couple of places that would do it. Of course if you can do it before you leave it might be more convenient, but in the cities I don't think you would have a bigger problem here than in the UK That's the first time I've ever heard about someone on here managing to find somewhere to get it done... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 That's the first time I've ever heard about someone on here managing to find somewhere to get it done... Me too, and I have tried a number of places to unlock handme down UK phones over the years so now I just find a "little man in the market" in UK before I bring them back (my son always has better models than I do!!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 That's the first time I've ever heard about someone on here managing to find somewhere to get it done... I just rang up the phone company and they gave me the unlock code. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeM Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 As in you called from here to your UK telco? I bet that was expensive! I found that even though I did it in the UK before I came out here, all the features of my phone that I really liked (Windows Messenger, Skype etc) wouldn't work even using the new telco's configuration information. I was gutted. :embarrassed: But then it is a Nokia phone running Symbian and the network settings on that are hard to completely undo/reset on a new network sooooooo I guess for most people it's alright, but if you want to use it on the Internet and stuff they don't always work as you want! :goofy: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest katyellen Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 hi my name is katy and im 10 11 in october im moving to red cliff in october and when we went on holidays for 3 weeks my mum took her phone with her but she had to change the numbers of people in the uk to phone them in oz.:confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moUsy Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 i wud just get 1 here coz they ring mum or dad and take money out the bank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moUsy Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 :vampire::vampire::vampire:lukem can u tell me wot its like wen u first get ther is it a bit weird Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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