SIM unlock your C500 /AudioVOX (£20 cost)

[Guest Mehka]

AngelOfRage has a valid point :D

[Guest squall]

I dont like having to pay for it, and i know at least one guy working on a competitive service, but at the end of the day if you want it enough you will pay for it.

Florin has taken advantage of a gap in the market and i have no problems with that. I would rather have the option of paying £20 than have no option at all.

In saying that It would be nice for the price to decrease as time goes by, afterall why would you want to pay £20 to unlock a mpx200 when you could buy one sim unlocked for £30 - £50

[Guest motorolampx200]

Unlocked Orange SVP C500 NL with c500-unlock.com indeed within 5 min. Still I find 30 E a lot (read too much) of money for a fully automated service. But it did the job so if you have the money this is a good solution

[Guest jerdimus]

Sent Orange an email asking if they can unlock my C500, they sent me this in reply:

"

Thank you for your mail about unlocking your handset.

You can currently use your Orange phone on another compatible network if you have your phone unlocked, and then buy a SIM card from the network you would like to join.

There is a charge of £20.00 including VAT which is deducted from the your pay as you go credit balance. If your balance does not cover the £20.00 fee, any of the current top up methods (e.g. Voucher, Credit Card, Top Up card) can be used to increase your balance. Alternatively you can pay by cheque payable to Orange PCS Ltd and send to:

Handset Unlocking

Orange PCS Limited

Birchwood Drive

Bracken Hill Business Park

Peterlee

SR8 2RS

Please allow 7 days for the cheque to clear.

To have your phone unlocked, please call our Customer Services on 450 from your Orange phone, or 07973 100450 from any other phone. Please do not send payment until you have spoken to a representative. Orange will only be able to action this request if they have spoken to the account holder.

I trust the above information is of assistance.

Kind regards

Ross

"

Seems to me if you can choose between the network operator unlock and a <hem-hem>hack<hem-hem> unlock that may void your warranty, and both methods cost the same - the only reasonable choice would be to use the operator unlock.

I mentioned to Orange that it seems unreasonable to charge £20 to SIM unlock a phone that I bought outright. Their reply was that the handset manufacturer charges Orange £20 to supply the code to unlock the handset - they are just passing the charge along.

So for all you people using the C500 on the Orange netowrk in the UK, use the operator unlock. Probably not as fast as other methods, but it costs the same and you won't have any warranty worries.

Regards

Anthony

[Guest Swampie]

Sent Orange an email asking if they can unlock my C500, they sent me this in reply:

"

Thank you for your mail about unlocking your handset.

You can currently use your Orange phone on another compatible network if you have your phone unlocked, and then buy a SIM card from the network you would like to join.

There is a charge of  £20.00 including VAT which is deducted from the your pay as you go credit balance. If your balance does not cover the £20.00 fee, any of the current top up methods (e.g. Voucher, Credit Card, Top Up card) can be used to increase your balance.  Alternatively you can pay by cheque payable to Orange PCS Ltd and send to:

Handset Unlocking

Orange PCS Limited

Birchwood Drive

Bracken Hill Business Park

Peterlee

SR8 2RS

Please allow 7 days for the cheque to clear.

To have your phone unlocked, please call our Customer Services on 450 from your Orange phone, or 07973 100450 from any other phone. Please do not send payment until you have spoken to a representative. Orange will only be able to action this request if they have spoken to the account holder.

I trust the above information is of assistance.

Kind regards

Ross

"

Seems to me if you can choose between the network operator unlock and a hack unlock that may void your warranty, and both methods cost the same - the only reasonable choice would be to use the operator unlock.

I mentioned to Orange that it seems unreasonable to charge £20 to SIM unlock a phone that I bought outright.  Their reply was that the handset manufacturer charges Orange £20 to supply the code to unlock the handset - they are just passing the charge along.

So for all you people using the C500 on the Orange netowrk in the UK, use the operator unlock.  Probably not as fast as other methods, but it costs the same and you won't have any warranty worries.

Regards

Anthony

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's for PAYG. For contract, they're likely to refuse until you're out of minimum contract, or want payment up-front for the remaining time you're on your contract (ie. buy yourself out of contract). At least, this is what I've been told on uk.telecom.mobile.

David

[Guest whitestar]

Just had my C500 unlocked by Orange, took 4 days from first call.

I agree that as the price is the same I would rather pay Orange to unlock the phone, also I didn't want to get a paypal account just so that I could unlock a phone! ;)

[Guest Seraphic]

I paid for the IMEIcheck unlock on my first C500, I think I'll go down the Orange route this time around with my new one.

[Guest Seraphic]

Due to my impatience I decided to go ahead and use imei-check to unlock my phone as they were quick and easy the last time. Not so this time, because I've purcashed an unlock off them before they want additional verification! I don't use paypal so chose to pay without a paypal account so obviously I wont have a verified address. I've emailed imeicheck a photo of my passport (as requested) but I've had no reply. If I get no response within 30 minutes I'll be taking matters further. Makes me wish I'd have stuck to the original plan of getting unlocked with Orange.

[Guest squall]

I think you are getting a little over worked up, 30 minutes is not a long time to wait!

[Guest Seraphic]

I think you are getting a little over worked up, 30 minutes is not a long time to wait!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah it is when it advertises the service as almost instant. Plus my credit card has already been charged and the funds paid to imeicheck.

EDIT: Maybe I was a bit harsh, it got sorted soon after ;)

Edited April 22, 2005 by Seraphic

[Guest cactusbob]

Free C500 Unlock now courtesy of SPV Developers, check the stick at the top of this group

;)

CB

[Guest Gegs]

Another satisfied customer...Florin, you're a genious. Keep up the good work.

For you whiners who don't want to pay...don't...rest of us will just happily use our phone anywhere on any network now!

Cheers!!

[Guest DarkJedi]

why pay when u can get it unlocked for free now???

[Guest Confucious]

why pay when u can get it unlocked for free now???

The free unlocker doesn't work with the SMT5600 - seems a good enough reason for me ;)

[Guest scottishdave]

The free unlocker doesn't work with the SMT5600 - seems a good enough reason for me ;)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

hmm...

If you have a C500 why pay when u can get it unlocked for free???

:D

[Guest Confucious]

If you had a C500 you probably wouldn't use this service now - but before the free service was available it was very good (and the support is excelent ;) )

[Guest DarkJedi]

in enough time they will add support for the 5600. but honestly $40 is a lot to spend on just unlocking the phone.

[Guest flywest]

Well this is certainly frustrating. I just bought an Audiovox SMT5600 on Ebay locally this morning and am trying to unlock it. So I log onto florin's website and enter the IMEI from behind the battery. After I press continue I am taken to the Paypal website where it says that this product has already been purchased. So, I contact technical support and they tell me the phone was attempted to be unlocked fraudulently by the previous user. So now I'm screwed!!!!!!!!! The technical support people at Florin's website wont even reply to me anymore and are leaving me hanging with a dead brick. So my word to everyone is,,,,,dont buy on Ebay because you could get screwed!!!!!!! The part that I cant believe is how honest and sincere this guy from Ebay was that I bought it from. Never trust anyone!

[Guest flywest]

Well this is certainly frustrating.  I just bought an Audiovox SMT5600 on Ebay locally this morning and am trying to unlock it.  So I log onto florin's website and enter the IMEI from behind the battery.  After I  press continue I am taken to the Paypal website where it says that this product has already been purchased.  So, I contact technical support and they tell me the phone was attempted to be unlocked fraudulently by the previous user.  So now I'm screwed!!!!!!!!!  The technical support people at Florin's website wont even reply to me anymore and are leaving me hanging with a dead brick.  So my word to everyone is,,,,,dont buy on Ebay because you could get screwed!!!!!!!  The part that I cant believe is how honest and sincere this guy from Ebay was that I bought it from.  Never trust anyone!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well after allot of convincing that I wasnt the BAD guy I finnally am using my phone. WHEWWW!!!!! Oh, and this phone rocks!!!!!

I cant blame the people at Florin's website for being so cautious but here is a thought. What if someone tried to purchase a bulk key unlock fraudulently and entered a whole stock lot of IMEI and got them all barred????

[Guest rtg20]

Free C500 Unlock now courtesy of SPV Developers, check the stick at the top of this group

;)

CB

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hello,

I'm new, and a bit confused. How do I unlock my SPV for free...? (I want to use it in the USA and at the moment it's locked to Orange, right? I bought it on pay-as-you-go from www.mobiledealer.co.uk)

Thanks,

Richard

edit: just to clarify, I mean I want to put a US SIM card in it.

Edited June 11, 2005 by rtg20

[Guest korosu]

Well this is certainly frustrating.  I just bought an Audiovox SMT5600 on Ebay locally this morning and am trying to unlock it.  So I log onto florin's website and enter the IMEI from behind the battery.  After I  press continue I am taken to the Paypal website where it says that this product has already been purchased.  So, I contact technical support and they tell me the phone was attempted to be unlocked fraudulently by the previous user.  So now I'm screwed!!!!!!!!!  The technical support people at Florin's website wont even reply to me anymore and are leaving me hanging with a dead brick.  So my word to everyone is,,,,,dont buy on Ebay because you could get screwed!!!!!!!  The part that I cant believe is how honest and sincere this guy from Ebay was that I bought it from.  Never trust anyone!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

anytime you buy something on ebay you're taking a risk.. the most important thing is that you do your homework beforehand. i bought an SMT5600 on ebay, and it unlocked without a hitch. you gotta remember to read descriptions very well, as well as user feedback. those two things can save your ass almost every time you make an ebay transaction.

[Guest scirax]

plz tell me how i can get the unl key

[Guest rtg20]

plz tell me how i can get the unl key

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Can't remember exactly how I did it, a lot of google searching probably, but it worked as advertised and didn't cost any money.

When I sent my initial post I was hoping to be able to put a US SIM in my C500 and use it in the US. Turns out it works brilliantly, I bought a T-Mobile US SIM (pre-paid) off ebay UK cheaply and everything worked first time.

Hope this helps some people.

Richard

[Guest dazh71]

free sim unlock. not tested but go here:

http://www.spv-developers.com/forum/showth...p=3622#post3622

[Guest jdvuyk]

free sim unlock. not tested but go here:

http://www.spv-developers.com/forum/showth...p=3622#post3622

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just thought I would let everyone know that the above link, and all the tools involved works just fine. I have tested an O2 sim in my Orange C500 and its all cool. Just follow the instructions.