Getting unlock code from orange.

backslang · 31 Mar 2006 at 16:04

I have been with orange since they started business. I have a motorola V600 phone that i have had on contract for around 14-15 months now.
I told orange that i wanted to end my contract and it ended today.
Today i phoned them and asked them for an unlock code and I thought that it would be free of charge because my contract has finished, but they said that they want to charge me £20 because thats what motorola charge them.
I cannot believe this after being a customer for so many years.
Where do i stand? do i have to pay the £20?
thanks

Aram · 31 Mar 2006 at 16:50

I assume you mean unlocking the phone for use on other networks; Ultimately they can charge you however much they like and are under no obligation to help you at all. In my (very limited) experience £20 sounds average - although you could try going into some random phone shops and asking them how much they'd charge, you may get lucky.

Tomsk · 31 Mar 2006 at 17:14

IIRC OFTEL states that the network operators have to assist if you want your phone unlocking and that they are entitled to charge a reasonable fee.

FYI I upgraded my phone and effectively started a new contract, and Orange charged me £20 to unlock the new phone (SPVC600). They also charged me £20 to unlock my 15 month old SE P900.

See this thread for problems that can be caused by using third party unlocking solutions. What isn't mentioned is that a phone that is not unlocked by the provider could still get blacklisted and barred from every UK network.

ElRazur · 31 Mar 2006 at 17:58

Get to London - Head to Peckham high street, phones are unlocked for a fiver. Nuff said.

backslang · 31 Mar 2006 at 17:58

I wouldnt get any dodgy software for this motorola lol, I used some software i downloaded to unlock my 1 day old 6230 about 15 months ago and that was fine though.
there is a company online who unlocks motorolas remotely, would this be ok?
cheers

gib786 · 31 Mar 2006 at 18:23

go to your local market, pay a fiver, get it unlocked, had hundreds of phones unlocked this way of the years, apart from nokias which i unlock myself, much cheaper than paying orange, as for the phone being blacklisted, its never happened to me, used both contract and payg phones