bex 66

We need new mobile phones and was wondering if anyone can tell me if they have bought new mobile phones in the duty free shop at Singapore airport, and if so do they come unlocked ready for and Australian sim card
thanks for any help

Carkedit

The phones i saw in the airport werent really that cheap to be honest..

dazby

hi there .... we wondered a very similar thing ... we still have our UK mobiles and are now out of contract to the phones are ours ... not wanting to pay out for 'ozi' phones ... had a 'mooch' around on the web ... found out how to 'unblock' the phone so that 'any' sim will work in it ... then went down to Woolies in Capalaba and bought Vodaphone red sim pack for 2$ ... yipee ... phone working ... and vodaphone do some really good pay as you go packages ... and after checking Orange/Telstra/Optus etc ... Vodaphone deffo came out the best ... hope this helps ya .... and happy 'mobiling' :-)

Luke I Amyofath

No mobile phones come "locked" unless they are provided by a mobile service provider and sold with a contract.
If you have a uk mobile tied to a contract and you bring the phone to oz you will find that its locked and locked even if youve paid the contract off.
If the later is the case all you need to do is contact your mobile service provider in uk and ask them for the code to unlock. Failing that, find a smaller mobile shop in oz that unlocks phones, the cost is around $30-$50

I had 2 uk phones and unlocked both of them at 2 different mobile shops, one sony ericcson t630 and a motorola V550 (E550). Services available like wap and gprs arent very good in oz so most funky features on the mobile will have little use here.

Amazulu

I wanted to buy a Sony Ericsson W800i in Singapore but none were available. I bought a Vodaphone payg in Perth. It was $79 with $30 calls included. It's a crappy Motorola, but will do for now. I'll get a better contract phone when I've got a credit rating. Vodaphone seem to be ok.

Clippy

You can get most phones unlocked on t'internet for a couple of quid

Carkedit

My contract phone from the UK was unlocked from the start. I wouldnt have gone on the contract if it was a locked phone

Clippy

It varies really, there were 5 of us all on the same contract with the same company with the same phones. Only one of them was locked. Most payg phones are locked, my last one wasn't though. But like I said, I think I paid £1.50 to unlock my husband's phone and it was immediate.

marco121068

Or even better FREE. Nokia's are the easiest to find codes for.

Trevglas

Singapore airport duty free is not really the best place to buy electronics: you can often find the same stuff in the city for 10 - 20% cheaper

samnrob2

Vodafone are excellent. Great customer service and choice of phones. Their billing system is great too. Don't tie you in to long contracts and you can swap and change as you like. Their Vodafone Live! is cool too. Loads of info on there.

R