three questions!

1 - Is there an easy test (aside from using a friends sim) to find out if my N900 is locked to a network? My phone was given by a member of the family, they said it might be on Vodafone, but were not 100% sure, so I want to be able to find out before buying a sim card of my choice, as it does not have one. Most people I know are on O2, so I thought I should get an O2 sim, but I need to know if it will work first.

2 - Is it far more expensive with a Vodafone pay as you go sim (as an example) to phone an O2 mobile, compared to a Vodafone pay as you go mobile to another Vodafone mobile - and similarly with sending Vodafone texts to an O2 phone? I will probably just go with pay as you go for now as I will mainly use the phone for text messages at the moment, but I wondered if prices can be more expensive if I am sending to O2 mobiles and other networks? Most people I know are on O2.

3 - I have noticed there is £10 "unlocked sim card" items for the n900 on ebay, are they just for unlocking, and I would still need to buy a real sim card afterwards?

thanks for any help

1 Yes put another sim card in it from a different network and see if it works! Sim cards can be got for free these days, or borrow one.

2 If you have inclusive minutes or free txts, the calls and txts are free!

3 £10 unlocked sim card is just a sim card, it probably means for an unlocked phone!

To find out the actual costs for alls and txts, and various call plans, check online - go to the home page of the network you wanna check and look, its not that hard, for instance Vodafone uk is www.vodafone.co.uk, Three uk, is www.three.co.uk any guesses what O2 or T-Mobile could be? or do you really want us to do it all for you instead of just looking it up?

this is what I found
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UNLOCK-SIM-CAR...e76ca7fee71466

if any admin does not want it displayed, ill delete it, but I was just wondering about its purpose, if it unlocked the phone, acted as a sim, or did both? ...and if so, how I would go about choosing a network etc.

I will prob end up trying a friends sim, as long as it doesnt mess my phone up-but that still wont tell me if its locked or not to anyone specific. I will use it only on pay as you go (not a contract), so still need to find out if sending to another network for even text messages on pay as you go phones (no contract) can be far more expensive or not

thanks

1. goto settings (the spanner icon) then scroll to the end and select "about product" from the "general" list. If the penultimate number of the Version is .203. then you have the "unbranded" UK generic version, so any SIM will be OK; if it is .205. then you have the Vodafone supplied version. But even if it is Voda supplied, I believe it is still provided unlocked (can anyone confirm?) - if so, any SIM should still work regardless. There ws a problem with some older "3" SIMS but that was fixed in a recent firmware update.

2. see http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/pay-as-you-go/hub/vodafone/ : "Calls cost 20p a minute and texts are 10p - to anyone, any time, anywhere in the UK."

3. this just means the SIM will work in any unlocked phone. If you do get a SIM make sure you get a 3G one if you ever intend to use data.

EDIT - ok, just saw link in your second post - sounds like my advice in (3) was wrong then .. appears to be a special SIM just to unlock a phone that's currently locked to Voda. but you shouldn't need it anyway.

EDIT#2 - did a bit of googling, turns out this is used in addition to a SIM (from another operator) so that you can use that SIM in a handset that is locked to Voda. So the handset remains locked & you don't invalidate warranties etc. You live and learn :-)

thanks for that, my version is 2.2009.51-1.205.1 so its a vodafone with the "205". I could chance it by buying a pay as you go O2 sim (no doubt around £10-20 from a high st store if available), but then if prices are the same no matter what network I send to (on a no contract phone) then Im not too fussed. Ive almost always used a phone primarily for texting, and pay as you go is just too expensive to use for anything but short calls. No doubt vodafone do their own deals if youre topping up often, as with O2, but Ill need to find that out first if they state it on their website or on any no contract mobile price comparison sites.

From previous posts it would seem that I could call vodafone and they would take me through the process of unlocking the phone if required for no fee, if I couldnt find the same thing online- but the easy thing to do I guess will be to just put a friends O2 sim in the phone to see if its works.

thanks

no way would i put that ebay cr*p:




.. in my nice n900.

yes, i'd wager it isn't the most stable/high quality bit of tech (even if you can successfully piggyback a sim on it and ram the resulting sim sandwich in the slot).

wish my relatives pockets were as deep as yours BTW :-)

haha-its not a brand new phone, contract was fin and they wanted something else! I dont think they used for much more than phoning, and since its quite a techie device with plenty of apps, i was more than happy to grab it when offered Im just hoping I dont break it :O

Just browsing vodafone right now, it would seem they offer free sim cards (!) for some no contract deals, although (if im not mistaken) you pay for only 30 days (eg for £10 you must use up your 300 texts and 100 mins within one month) - "freedom packs". Seems to me like a good idea although I wish I could find a mobile comparison site to compare similar deals from other companies

You could try an Asda sim as a test sim, they're only 50p!

http://www.asdamobile.com/sim_pack.html

I didn't think that any of the N900's are network locked anyway?

I think I read somewhere that Asda did a deal with Vodafone to sell sim cards, so Asda sims are essentially just Vodafone network sims, and not proof that the phone isnt locked to Vodafone? If those prices for Asda are for no contract sims, then that might be the best option, as they seem very cheap?

On money saving expert for unlocking, I found this
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/pho...k-mobile-phone
but the n900 doesnt seem to be listed on any sites it states.
I think I found the asda/vodafone link here, in the table, hopefully a sim will work in my phone, although expert doesnt seem to show any comparisons for pay as you go deals in terms of pricing:-
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/pho...t-cutting#best

thanks