UK Vodafone USB Modem

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morkhans said:
Cool.

So how does the unlock policy in the UK work? I'm under the impression providers will not unlock devices at all?
Click to expand...

Well i/carrier get the unlock codes from the manufacturer if bought here.
Vodafone has to request for unlock on behalf of him.

Regards
VodacomData
 
morkhans said:
So how does the unlock policy in the UK work? I'm under the impression providers will not unlock devices at all?
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AFAIK, if it's a contract device the network will unlock at the end of the contract. It it's pre-paid (or still in contract) you have to pay a fee to cover the cost of the device subsidy, £50 or so.
 
ginggs said:
AFAIK, if it's a contract device the network will unlock at the end of the contract. It it's pre-paid (or still in contract) you have to pay a fee to cover the cost of the device subsidy, £50 or so.
Click to expand...

That's vaguely the impression I had as well.
 
I was tempted to buy one of those Vodafone modems on a special GBP 29 deal or something similar a few months back in the UK, but enquiry from several sources there revealed an absolute and irrevocable lock to Vodafone UK which I was told they would not reverse -- logically, as the price is so heavily subsidised precisely because they can then lock you onto their network.

So my advice, after researching it carefully at the time, is to forget about it -- it's really not worth the hassle!
 
morkhans said:
Cool.

So how does the unlock policy in the UK work? I'm under the impression providers will not unlock devices at all?
Click to expand...
They will unlock it for a fee. You have to buy a UK SIM card and load it with the value, so it's not that practical if you live abroad. Vodafone has to contact Huawei to give them the code. Between the two companies, there is little efficiency is this regard and judging by my own experience and those of others writing on the Voda forum, people experience very long delays and sometimes don't get the code until they apply a lot of persuasion and pressure. The impression is that Vodafone don't like doing it and will 'frustrate' the process.
 
Terencek said:
I was tempted to buy one of those Vodafone modems on a special GBP 29 deal or something similar a few months back in the UK, but enquiry from several sources there revealed an absolute and irrevocable lock to Vodafone UK which I was told they would not reverse -- logically, as the price is so heavily subsidised precisely because they can then lock you onto their network.

So my advice, after researching it carefully at the time, is to forget about it -- it's really not worth the hassle!
Click to expand...


If you buy the O2 Huawei modem on pre-pay most are unlocked but just have a poor dashboard that can be upgraded to the plain Huawei Mobile Partner of course...

It would breach EU law if the Vodafone modem were to have a permanent network lock!
 
LilJohn said:
Is there a way to unlock it without having to pay someone like downloading software and doing it myself?
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You might be able to beg for an unlock code over here ...
http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=809840

Otherwise these unlocking guides for the E220 may give you some ideas - there is a limit (5 or 10?) on the number of incorrect codes that you can enter before locking up the device permanently so be very careful ...
http://www.seejay.net/2009/02/how-to-unlock-huawei-e220-hsdpa-modem.html
http://www.scribd.com/doc/16214056/Unlock-Huawei-HSDPA-E220-Modem
http://unlocke220.com/
 
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