Over the weekend the government announced that it had finally brokered an agreement with UK mobile network providers to end unlocking fees for mobile phones – delivering a great win for our campaign to Unlock Better Mobile Deals.
This means that you can use a SIM card for any mobile network on your handset once the initial contract period is up. uSwitch estimate that this will collectively save mobile users over £48m per year.
Unlocking mobiles
Now when your mobile contract finishes, instead of having a restricted handset knocking around in your kitchen drawer, you ‘ll be able to easily keep your existing handset and move to another cheaper network, or even pass your old mobile onto a friend or family member.
This is all without the hassle or the cost of having to go and get it unlocked.
And for those of you who’d like to get a bit of cash out of your old handsets, there’s also evidence to suggest that having your phone unlocked also helps to increase the resale value of your old phone.
This is not only a big win for all mobile phone users, but also for our campaign supporters, nearly 80,000 of whom joined our call to an end unfair unlocking fees over the past two years. Over that time we slowly saw the debate shift in our favour, as individual operators promised to change their ways, and the government started to recognise there was a problem thanks to the persistence of our supporters.
This is from Which? - The same Which? who give you £7.87 free on TCB for trialling their magazine (£1).
- luvsadealdealdeal
Top comments
craigstephens
12 Oct 1620#9
Expect tariffs to go up around £48m a year collectively.
nexus76
12 Oct 167#7
o2 do it free from day one
firstofficer to Teqnophile
12 Oct 163#18
Ask for a PAC code ;-)
Delbert Grady to Jules_HT
12 Oct 163#2
Click on the "get deal" link above and you'll find out!
All comments (63)
Jules_HT
12 Oct 16#1
Just out of interest who is "Our" (as in "our campaign" and "our supporters")?
Delbert Grady to Jules_HT
12 Oct 163#2
Click on the "get deal" link above and you'll find out!
luvsadealdealdeal
12 Oct 161#3
This is from Which? - The same Which? who give you £7.87 free on TCB for trialling their magazine (£1).
andiejn to luvsadealdealdeal
13 Oct 16#51
and are a pain in the **** to cancel.
getmeone
12 Oct 161#4
How does the phone get unlocked? I have been in contract with EE for a couple of years and only use an old Galaxy model which is locked to EE. Is it automatic?
guys if your contract is finished with any network in you ask them for unlocking code from it should be free
don007
12 Oct 162#6
from today pick up all your old phones which where on contract and request for your unlocking code :sunglasses:
nexus76
12 Oct 167#7
o2 do it free from day one
Sambat
12 Oct 16#8
So what happens if you buy a 2nd hand phone from someone that is out of contract?
Toon_army to Sambat
12 Oct 16#11
+1
craigstephens
12 Oct 1620#9
Expect tariffs to go up around £48m a year collectively.
gleechy to craigstephens
13 Oct 16#28
Dealmessiah
12 Oct 162#10
What about Payg phones?
garethsmith72
12 Oct 16#13
Not a deal should be moved to other
Cyrano02
12 Oct 16#14
EE website still showing £8.99 fee to unlock :disappointed:
firstofficer
12 Oct 162#15
"evidence to suggest..." .. where exactly?
I'll get my coat.
COLD as this is not exactly a deal is it.
waynersheridan
12 Oct 16#16
Hasn't that always been the rools ? After 2 Year contract
ibblackberry1 to waynersheridan
15 Oct 16#57
I never normally bother with spelling etc but come on!!
Teqnophile
12 Oct 16#17
EE Charging 8.99
how do you get it for free?
firstofficer to Teqnophile
12 Oct 163#18
Ask for a PAC code ;-)
Thebobwil
12 Oct 16#19
This sounds like good news; I feel haven't heard that in a long time.
Graham1979
12 Oct 162#20
Over the weekend the government announced that it had finally brokered an agreement with UK mobile network providers to end unlocking fees for mobile phones
This is what drives me up the wall, put me in charge of the government and the deal would have been a 20 second phone call running along the lines of, "unlock phones at the end of the contract or we tax you 30% of your profit, click" (as the phone goes down).
mtor609
12 Oct 16#21
It has been FREE with o2 for at least 3 years!
You have to phone your provider tell them you want to unlock the phone to any network.
24 - 48 hours later. Your done.
leviathon
12 Oct 16#22
So how will this work with PAYG? If I buy a new PAYG phone, can I ask for it to be unlocked instantly? Also is there a date that all operators have to abide by this by?
lugworm to leviathon
13 Oct 16#26
This.
What about payg phones that lock to the first sim inserted ?
AsheLou
13 Oct 16#23
Pretty cool
thomasleep
13 Oct 16#24
FREEBIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
huusshh
13 Oct 16#25
Which government official works "over the weekend" :neutral_face:
we are at least 6 months away from april..
garethcollins925
13 Oct 16#27
all phones from carphone warehouse on contract are unlocked from day 1.... :smile:
andykapa
13 Oct 16#29
Is this offer includes sim only contracts ?
gleechy
13 Oct 16#30
No no that's just cynicism they want extra for their compliance, probably £60 mill.
deany76
13 Oct 16#31
Great stuff about time what a con that was previously.
benlondon
13 Oct 16#32
well thankfully you are not in charge, you don't seem to grasp the complexities of the world
Nerval
13 Oct 161#33
1. not a deal
2. far as I know, any of them would unlock for free at the end of a contract already
3. it's the ones who charge you for unlocking either while in a contract or if you buy a PAYG phone, that need tackling, and the wonderful Government hasn't mentioned those.
cold (just like it was Apple) :smiley:
fassbender
13 Oct 16#34
Three sell unlocked phones as standard with all their contracts. Think the other networks should follow suit. That would be a better step forward!
bb11 to fassbender
13 Oct 16#36
Are you sure?
premierfella
13 Oct 16#35
For those asking about PAYG and wondering why Which? doesn't mention it in the "WIN" claim, its because its a "LOSE".
The news items yesterday indicated that the mobile networks convinced the government that this didn't need to extend to PAYG as they now represent a minority of the mobile phone market. The real reason of course is that the PAYG phone market is a little different and domestic PAYG handset prices would rise if the networks weren't able to keep them network-locked or apply unlocking fees.
Do your research before just typing a moronic comment. EE are at least one of the big providers that charge out of contract users to unlock their phones, £8.99 currently. Hopefully this is true for any provider that is still doing this. Thanks op.
Graham1979
13 Oct 16#40
I understand very little about the modern system of telecommunications but I do know how this site works. You have only posted ONE DEAL since joining in 2014, you must be exhausted my little snowflake.
disappointed
13 Oct 16#41
So if I contact EE today and ask them to unlock a previous handset that I was provided with whilst their customer they will unlock it free? I hope so as I would love to retrieve all the photos stored on old mobiles and it would be easy then to swap sims, email photos to myself then swap back again.
firstofficer to disappointed
13 Oct 16#42
I know you are disappointed, but the answer is NO.
Thanks
turnma to disappointed
13 Oct 161#50
Surely you don't need a SIM for this? Just start the phone without a SIM in, make sure you're on WiFi, send as many emails as you like.
benlondon
13 Oct 16#43
haha, no need to deflect attention away from your stupidity, touched a nerve?
yannarascala
13 Oct 16#44
I wonder when this came into force, as I contacted O2 to unlock a second hand iPhone two days ago and they charged me £15.
I'm still waiting for the unlock request to be processed, a bit miffed that they chose not to tell me it is free now :neutral_face:
malh67
13 Oct 16#45
EE already unlock for free, I'm just out of contract with them.
Went on to the online chat and asked for unlock code, I said I should get it for free as I'm out of contract, guy agreed and I got the code a few days later.
andiejn to malh67
13 Oct 16#52
they include the unlock fee in their tariff, every month, just in case that's the month you see sense & try to leave 'free'
silveroracle
13 Oct 16#46
Excellent. It means that if you want to trade in your old phone or iPad at CeX for example, it means that you can get a higher trade in price.
Downside. It may put some phone unlocked out of business.
amphetamine_communist
13 Oct 16#47
Why is his lack of posting relevant at all to your naive and stupid opinion on the matter? I wanted to say the same thing...hell I just created an account to do so.
amphetamine_communist
13 Oct 16#48
Were you expecting more from a Brexit voter?
jonyfive
13 Oct 16#49
5 minutes before spotting this deal I paid £21 to unlock my phone. ARRRRGHHHH.
luvsadealdealdeal
13 Oct 162#53
they are simple to cancel - just cancel your direct debit, takes about 20 seconds
shakeelgoulthorp
14 Oct 16#54
Three and O2 does this for current customers. EE charge. Heat added. :sunglasses:
CaptainCommando
14 Oct 16#55
This is utter bull. So people won't be able to unlock there phones for 2 whole years?! The phone that they would of paid hundreds of pounds for which they won't be able to use if they ever go on holiday within there contract period?!!
If they actually wanted to help then they would sell them unlocked in the first place. What difference would that make, they're signing a contract so you're going to pay the total amount regardless!!!
FlyGuyUK
15 Oct 16#56
I've just called EE retentions and they said they have not been advised it's free yet and there is still a charge even though I'm out of contract and had my phone 3 years and been with EE/Orange over 20 years.
They are a disgrace!
I a side line, my local EE mast is down and has been down since the beginning of this year and it's the only one I can use in my location. Having to use a signal box plugged in to my home broadband to get an EE signal at the moment.
EE have gone to big and are no longer the best!
getmeone to FlyGuyUK
15 Oct 16#58
Just been on to them to get a phone unlocked that they didn't supply and they have agreed to send me the unlock code. Initially going to charge me but are applying a 8.99 credit to my bill now. I guess it is hit and miss at the moment.
waynersheridan
15 Oct 16#59
Bless ,bet also you are one of the peeps/people whom is always correct
ibblackberry1
15 Oct 16#60
Not me. But rools!
waynersheridan
15 Oct 16#61
In my Defence I'm dyslexia .Been know to use sloppy Engerlish also Im not English/British .
But from now on will type the Queens English
Derek_Duval
15 Oct 16#62
Works both ways. I've always gained by buying a secondhand locked phone and then paying to get it unlocked. This has always worked out much cheaper than buying a locked phone. As for getting more money for trading in at cex, so I'm sure the price difference will reduce now, you'd most likely would have been better of with the old system and paying an unlock fee.
![Fresh Breakfast Meat Box (Using code) @ Campbells Meat [Haggis / Lorne Sausage / Bacon / Black Pudding & More]](/images/topics/208684_1.jpg)
![[Xbox One] Q. u. b. e: Director's Cut on Deals with Gold](/images/topics/208716_1.jpg)
Opening post
This means that you can use a SIM card for any mobile network on your handset once the initial contract period is up. uSwitch estimate that this will collectively save mobile users over £48m per year.
Unlocking mobiles
Now when your mobile contract finishes, instead of having a restricted handset knocking around in your kitchen drawer, you ‘ll be able to easily keep your existing handset and move to another cheaper network, or even pass your old mobile onto a friend or family member.
This is all without the hassle or the cost of having to go and get it unlocked.
And for those of you who’d like to get a bit of cash out of your old handsets, there’s also evidence to suggest that having your phone unlocked also helps to increase the resale value of your old phone.
This is not only a big win for all mobile phone users, but also for our campaign supporters, nearly 80,000 of whom joined our call to an end unfair unlocking fees over the past two years. Over that time we slowly saw the debate shift in our favour, as individual operators promised to change their ways, and the government started to recognise there was a problem thanks to the persistence of our supporters.
This is from Which? - The same Which? who give you £7.87 free on TCB for trialling their magazine (£1).
- luvsadealdealdeal
Top comments
All comments (63)
I'll get my coat.
COLD as this is not exactly a deal is it.
how do you get it for free?
This is what drives me up the wall, put me in charge of the government and the deal would have been a 20 second phone call running along the lines of, "unlock phones at the end of the contract or we tax you 30% of your profit, click" (as the phone goes down).
You have to phone your provider tell them you want to unlock the phone to any network.
24 - 48 hours later. Your done.
What about payg phones that lock to the first sim inserted ?
we are at least 6 months away from april..
2. far as I know, any of them would unlock for free at the end of a contract already
3. it's the ones who charge you for unlocking either while in a contract or if you buy a PAYG phone, that need tackling, and the wonderful Government hasn't mentioned those.
cold (just like it was Apple) :smiley:
The news items yesterday indicated that the mobile networks convinced the government that this didn't need to extend to PAYG as they now represent a minority of the mobile phone market. The real reason of course is that the PAYG phone market is a little different and domestic PAYG handset prices would rise if the networks weren't able to keep them network-locked or apply unlocking fees.
http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phones/unlocked_phones
Thanks
I'm still waiting for the unlock request to be processed, a bit miffed that they chose not to tell me it is free now :neutral_face:
Went on to the online chat and asked for unlock code, I said I should get it for free as I'm out of contract, guy agreed and I got the code a few days later.
Downside. It may put some phone unlocked out of business.
If they actually wanted to help then they would sell them unlocked in the first place. What difference would that make, they're signing a contract so you're going to pay the total amount regardless!!!
They are a disgrace!
I a side line, my local EE mast is down and has been down since the beginning of this year and it's the only one I can use in my location. Having to use a signal box plugged in to my home broadband to get an EE signal at the moment.
EE have gone to big and are no longer the best!
But from now on will type the Queens English