Pay as You Go mobiles, and SIM cards

[GaGa]

Hi all,
the spotty herberts in the mobile phone shops are giving me no useful info, so here goes....

I have an old contract mobile phone, which WAS on the Orange network, and is presumably still "locked" to Orange. We'd like to set this up for my other half, and let her use it on a "Pay As You Go" basis. We know it'll probably need "unlocking" if we go to another network, and that there'll be a charge for this.

So, basic question - If I buy a SIM card from whatever network we choose, will this include a new phone number for her? Do we then simply get the old phone unlocked, stick the new SIM in there, follow the instructions, and start chatting?

I should know all about this kind of thing, but my mobile has always been contracted through work, so I never deal with this kind of thing.

Thanks,
GaGa

[Gilly C]

Try and borrow a sim card to try in the phone you may find it is not locked. I use Tesco as I do not use mine very much and their rates are very reasonable. My son passes his redundant contract phones on to his Dad they are O2 but take Orange pay as you go sim cards. The sim card comes with a number and whatever credit you have paid for .Good Luck

[Chantal]

I have a new contract phone every year through work and have passed on all my old mobile phones to friends who just bung in either their own or a new SIM card, both contract and PAYG and off they go. Having just broken my own mobile (doh) I've now got my SIM card in and old PAYG Nokia that was Tim's. No problems. Just try it and see.

[Geoff]

I agree with Gilly - try your busines SIM card in the other phone.

[Tigger]

Unless Orange have changed their practice - they were the only company who 'locked' their phones against other providers. However, they may have changed that now. If not, independent phone shops (as opposed to the Network ones) will unlock them for a fee.

[Compo]

If none of the above works, some of the smaller indepndant mobile phone and computer shops wil unlock phones for a small fee.

[GaGa]

Sorted,
tried a mate's SIM in my old phone, and yes, the phone was locked. Googled a place on the net, who unlocked it for £1.49, added a pay-as-you-go SIM from T-mobile for 50p, threw £10 of credit at it, and we're good to go!

Thanks all for your help.