3g phone locked

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.nokia (More info?)

Hi I enquired from "3" why their phones are locked and this is the reply
they gave, are they telling the truth?

The reason our handsets are locked to the 3 network is due to technical
differences. 3 are a 3G network whereas other networks are 2.5G. If we
allowed 2.5G sim cards to be put in our 3G handsets, it could either damage
the handset or the sim card. Therefore, to prevent this happening to our
customers who are unaware of this difference, we lock our handsets

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.nokia (More info?)

Bear wrote:
> Hi I enquired from "3" why their phones are locked and this is the reply
> they gave, are they telling the truth?
>
> The reason our handsets are locked to the 3 network is due to technical
> differences. 3 are a 3G network whereas other networks are 2.5G. If we
> allowed 2.5G sim cards to be put in our 3G handsets, it could either damage
> the handset or the sim card. Therefore, to prevent this happening to our
> customers who are unaware of this difference, we lock our handsets
>
>

All 3G phones are perfectly able to use a 2.5G SIM card, since a normal
SIM is a reduced function version of a 3G USIM (Universal SIM) it will
work perfectly.

3 lock their phones to avoid their low priced deals being purchased and
then the phone being used elsewhere, the SP lock actually means "Subsidy
Protection" lock rather than "Service Provider" lock.

3 also set the firmware up to prevent 3G phones being locked to GSM
only, this is because their roaming deal with O2 costs them a lot to use
and they want to prevent people who think it will provide them with
better coverage doing this to reduce their outgoings to O2. If you
unlock a 3 phone you need to be able to enable the network mode
switching if you intend to use the phone on a 2.5G network as otherwise
the phone may (depending on how the phone's software is written) prefer
a 3G signal and if the operator in question authenticates access to its
3G base stations then it could cause the phone to then camp on the 3G
signal and be uncontactable.

HTH

--

Brian Morrison

please observe reply-to address