Ginny

Hi there,

Just a wee question. We're going to Oz soon to validate and have a look around. It would be great to keep in touch with the folks back home. I have a vodafone pay as you go mobile here in the UK and I was wondering if I could use this in OZ and also would I need to adapt it?


Thanks in advance


Ginny

evelynne_r

Not sure if you can use your UK Vodafone account here, but depending on how long you're staying, you may want to buy an Aussie pre-paid sim card. You can get them for about AU$30. Might work out cheaper than paying international rates.

Stan J

Your best bet is to turn off your phone when you are in OZ else you will pay towards the redirection of incoming calls to OZ. If that's cool with you ... fine. Turn it on only when you want to call.

One idea is to but an Australian SIM card (that'll also stop you from having to pay for incoming callls redirected from the UK) and use that in your phone while in Oz. If your phone is SIM locked to UK Vodafone you may be stuck with an Oz Vodaphone SIM card unless you can get your phone unlocked.

With the Aussie SIM card you can SMS UK phones much the same as local mobiles.

I see that the Oz Vodafone website offers to answer an of your questions ... http://www.vodafone.com.au/

Ginny

Thanks folks,

I'm staying around 6 weeks so the Oz sim card seems a good idea. Is there an abundance of places where I can get the phone unlocked. I did it here in the UK to change from Celnet to Vodaphone so I know it can be done.

Thanks again

Ginny

Stan J

If you've done it once you are already unlocked.

It's not difficult to buy an Optus, Telstra or Vodafone starter pack.

Of course with that you will get a new Aussie Phone No

The card generally last 6 or 12 months if used frugally

Ben_38

Got our pay as you go phone unlocked in UK and bought Ozzie sim card when we got here. All works perfectly.

When we went to get our phone unlocked, were told that phones can only be unlocked in country of purchase. Not sure if true or not, but worth checking so you don't rely on getting it done here in oz.

Nicstids

Can I be really thick here and ask what it means by having your phone unlocked?!

Nicstids

Ben_38

When you buy a phone and install a sim card, your chosen phone company, helpfully, 'locks' your phone so that it can then only use sim cards from their company. To enable your phone to use sim cards from other companies, whether abroad or in the UK, you then need to 'unlock' it. It is a very simple process, taking about 5 mins and it only cost us 5 pounds. A lot of mobile phone shops in the Uk will do it for you.

ps:
Didn't have a clue about what 'unlocking' phones meant either until someone on here told us it was what you needed to do!!

brian.w

so if i have a payg mobile phone here in the uk how do i know its locked i purchased it second hand and purchased a sim card for it with orange

i plan to go to austraila in the next 12 months for a year and would like to take my mobile and buy a sim card over there so i can use my phone over there

how do i know if my phone needs unlocked before i go and whats the costs of buying a sim card there also once i came back could i then put my old sim card in without any problems

whats the costs of using mobiles over there when buying vouchers is it more calls for your money or less than what you would get in uk

also can someone recommend phone cards over there i can use to phone home which gives me cheap calls home with using a normal phone over there not a mobile

Ginny

Hi there,

Did you take your phone to the likes of vodaphone for unlocking or was it just a company advertising mobile phones unlocked?

When I go mine unlocked it was via a company. Also is it work then getting it unlocked just prior to leaving the UK so that ot's ready when we get to OZ.

Thanks again for the help.

Ben_38

Hi Ginny

No, it wasn't a special company, just a mobile phone shop. I think it is done by most small mobile phone shops to supplement their income. We had ours done just before leaving the UK and it has saved us about $50 or so not having to buy a new handset.

Ben_38

Hi Brian,

When you take your phone to be unlocked, they can tell with only a simple test whether or not it needs to be unlocked. It also needs to be dual band, although not very sure what that means.
Once your phone is unlocked, you can use any sim card in it, although many companies lock your phone again to their network when you put one of their sim cards in your phone. Orange is a good example.

For pay as you go, mobiles seem to cost the same in call charges as in the uk. As far as phone cards to phone home, there are loads and they all give you really good deals. Phone calls using these with a landline phone are very cheap.