I have an orange phone which is also on the orange network (pay as you go) and want to take it to oz with me, but will it work? do i still have the same number and sim card? can i then just by orange pay as you go cards over in oz as well?
cheers

If you search this forum you'll find the answers.
Can I take my phone? It depends on if it has been locked to a network (in your case Orange) and can it be unlocked?
You definately won't keep the same number and SIM card (though technically you could if you wanted to pay international rates all the time )

I brought two phones with me,Orange Alcatel & O2 Nokia,bought a Optus sim pack here in Brisbane but both phones need unlocked! hubbys phone worked no problem without the need to be unlocked first.

It was talked about on here a while ago & most people managed to unlock their phones with the websites given & it was either free or fairly cheap to unlock the phone,i too need to do a search for the websites to unlock the two phones i brought with me,i ended up buying another mobile phone!

Donna.

What about different bands - does the phone have to be triband? Or will dual band work?

The brand of phone won't matter, so long as it's GSM. No need for Tri-band, dual-band will do.

If it's a Nokia phone that needs unlocking then try this site.

I used the DCT4 unlocker for both our phones (7600 on Three) and they unlocked successfully. The general recommendation is try code #7 first and if that doesn't work try #1 next.

HTH

tri-band is necessary for the US, not for OZ

When we went to Oz recently bought a Vodafone Red Prepay SIM card for about $15 on Ebay from the UK. Our Vodafone UK phones worked with the Oz SIM card. Calls to UK are $4 for 10 minutes, much cheaper than using our Vodafone UK SIM card which was about £8.50 for 10 minutes.

But make sure that your phone isn't locked. If your phone is pay as you go in the UK most networks lock them. They will have the network logo printed on them. Orange, T-Mobile and Virgin always lock their phones, Vodafone often do not, and O2 virtually always do not. Most can be unlocked as mentioned elsewhere in this thread.

I found Vodafone coverage quite in Oz bad sometimes. My UK SIM card would use other networks such as Telstra and Optus where one would have a signal where Vodafone did not.

This Australian SIM also worked when I got back to the UK with similar exorbitant charges as the UK SIM in Australia.

Hope this is helpful.

PC

Get your phone unlocked in the uk its cheaper and ready to use straight away.
you can still use your uk sim card but you have to add ++44 then knock off the first 0 of phone number to dial uk( or ++61 for oz) (you also have to do this to ring other mobiles with uk sims in oz) it is expensive though.
i have a vodaphone sim card you can buy them from post office/papershop etc
they are $30 but you get that much credit and some free texts so really the sim is free.
its $3 per 10mins to uk this includes ringing mobiles in the uk.
ive never had a problem with cover im in brisbane but only place i couldnt get a signal was morton island.
i dont know about other oz networks but ive been happy with vodaphone.

Hi,

I've got a Samsung phone on Vodafone, do you think it needs to be unlocked or can I just buy an Oz sim card when I get there ??

Jo

i'd just get it unlocked anyway.
i payed £10 in uk to have my samsung unlocked but hubby paid $60 in melbourne (in china town market)to get his unlocked.
i also had a spare nokia on uk pay as u go vodaphone that i didnt get unlocked and the aussie vodaphone sim wouldnt work in it.