The locking of phones out of contract....

We all should know that many mobile phone firms have the practice of locking any phone which has gone out of contract and if the user wants to use the phone with another airtime provider they will have to pay around £20.00 to get it unlocked.

Now the government are planning to have this practice outlawed.

From the BBC online:

The government will begin a consultation next year on whether the locking of phones should be banned outside any initial contract period.

At the moment some phone companies charge as much as £20 to unlock a phone.

Such a change would make it easier for consumers to switch to another provider at the end of a contract.

Consumer groups have already campaigned in favour of such a change.

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There you have it folks. Do you think that this is a good idea or not ?

That's another problem with having a mobile phone contract.

Pay-as-you-go is the way for me.

Your local Pakistani owned phone shop or stall will unlock such phones for a charge but they are not much cheaper than the original airtime-provider would be.

I do agree that this practice SHOULD be outlawed ASAP.

I have to agree there too as, at one time I bought a second hand phone and found that getting it unlocked was a very difficult, expensive and time-consuming job.

I guess they do it to try to stop people from using stolen phones.

Mine wasn't of course, as it was bought from a proper shop.

Ahhh, but.... where did they get that second hand phone from ?

My missus phone was stolen in the summer and Vodaphone insisted on charging full rental to the end of the contract despite not providing a service. Does this count too?

G

That's outrageous Gandhi.

I would think that after a phone has been reported to the specific air-time provider as stolen, not only will use of that phone be blocked, but as it can no longer be used by the original customer there is no basis in law for forcing the contract to continue.

The next step, if this does not happen is to an official complaint to Vodaphone, HERE after which this should be taken to the OFCOM ombudsman for settlement.

If you don't know where to go for this, HERE is the official website address.

Best of luck.