I hear that removing a simlock might be made illegal in UK. How about in Spain? is it common for people to remove the simlock off their mobiles?

I think it is illegal, though in Spain most things fun are illegal such as playing volleyball on top of grass. what is important is to know the penalty of such actions, removing a sim not so troublesome, changing an IMEI (the phone ID) much more so...

hi Ola.

this is one of those things that (even if made illegal) will continue to go on and the breaking of the new "law" will not be persecuted nor prosecuted.

imho it is a JOKE and the only illegal thing should be the simlocking done by the cell companies.

saludos,
jer...

Thanks Fab and Jer. Then...my next question is... is it difficult to break the simlock off the new types of mobiles (currenty sold)? Can one screw up their phone by doing that? Grassyas...

hey Ola.

NO, pretty much any phone can be unlocked these days.

damaging the phone: depends on where you have it unlocked. i DO NOT ADVISE the fly-by-night chop-shop unlocking services. use a professional one instead, it may cost a few euros more but it will not damage the handset.

what brand and model is it? if you let me know i can give you my quote for unlocking.

saludos,
jer...

No, I dont have a phone yet... I'm planning to buy one from you when I arrive in Oct.

PS. WOOOHOOO! already got my one-way ticket for Oct 3rd!

two questions (acutally three) where can one get a phone unlocked? I had no idea they locked phones here till I bought a new one and gave the old one away and it didn't work with thier SIM

Along the same lines are PIN codes SIM based or phone based? I just switched my phone over to a contract. My concern is that if it is stolen anyone can run up a huge bill becuase it doesn't require a pin to start up.

thanks in advnace

Ok, this phone unlocking.....

first of all it is not illegal, you are under contract for the use of the telephone services and not the handset. The handset is yours and therefore you can do what you like with it.

Unlocking phones _ there are many ways to do this
(1) Take it to a shop and have it unlocked
(2) Go online and pay an online service to do this. Do a bit of research as prices vary.
(3) Buy a data cable for your model of phone and download the software to do this yourself.
(4) Have a good search on the internet and the code might be there for you to do it yourself.

Normally it is a simple 16 digit code to remove the simlock.

OK now for having your phone stolen.

Most thieves are not interested in your simcard so that gets tossed the moment they nik the phone. The downside is that you lose all your numbers and files unless you use a service that keeps or stores them for you - or you have downloaded your contacts to your PC.

Running up a bill is just about impossible cos what you do is tell your phone company and they block your number. If truth be told they can actually block your phone so it is impossible to use but none of the companies do this.

Hope this is of some help.