So my husband, 21month son and I have being living and loving life in Alberta for almost 10 months now. We are feeling settled now that all the tedious paperwork, setting up bank accounts, getting vehicles, phones etc have been dealt with.

We have recently received news that we are expecting twins at the end of April and have considered the move back home- support of family etc. Our heads our totally pickled with what to do!!! We have come a long way in getting here- but feel being at home in the UK with family would be the best thing for us as a family of 5 (and 3 tiny people 2 and under).

My question is regarding our phones- we both have the Iphone 4 handsets & are with the network BELL, because we won't have seen our 3 years contract through they will be billing us $600 EACH for terminating our contracts. This just seems ridiculous...however, I did sign the contract! They did say if we could get someone to take over our contracts the fee to switch would be much less than $600.

I'm curious to know whether it would be worth holding onto our handsets and trying to get them unlocked at home in the UK? Although, I'm unsure as to whether or not this is even possible or how I would find out?

Your thoughts and advice would be most welcome, thanks.

Contract is a contract, this is why you get the phone for way less than buying an unlocked phone outright from the get go. The contract will state how much the cost of early termination would be. If you cancelled your credit cards and left the country, not sure there would be a hole lot they could do. Depend on whether you plan on coming back.

Unlocking iphone, loads of stuff on Google
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaQxqM3MYns

Yes and in Canada there is sod all competition and these horrific companies shove you over a barrel. Here is a lady contemplating a life changing adventure with having twins, and yet has to spend her time worrying about some stupid utility provider! The sooner someone puts Bell and Rogers in their place the better. There are lots of great things about Canada but these nasty horrid companies who paint you into a corner are not one of them. Bring on the competition in spades please, and congratulations OP!

Negotiate.

You are the one wishing to breach the contract, not them.

Pretty much the same in the UK, if you terminate early, you need to pay for the phone-subsidy. If there's a risk of terminating a contract early, then don't enter a long term contract.

Well they list for $900 ish
and sell around $600 unlocked

So price seems fair,
down side is you'll probably have to unlock it yourself

Thanks for all your interesting thoughts. I think my best option is to look into someone taking over my contract & giving my iPhone 4S for free. I would be losing out on the initial fee paid for the phone, but would be avoiding $600 termination fee. Wish me luck!!

Are you going back for good, or do you plan on returning at some time?

I don't know how much a month you have to pay on your contract, but is it worth keeping it going, unlocking the phone and putting new sim card in when you get to the UK (I see they sell them in vending machines now!)?

The longer you keep the phone, the less you'll need to pay off. And, you are probably going to need one in the UK and you'll be back to square one.

Congrats on the news and good luck!

I am sure I read somewhere that if you are moving to somewhere where they can't provide the service it makes the contract void ... Or is that BC?'

my husbands phone was with rogers he works out west and we live in new brunswick he couldnt get service out where he was working which did make the contract void as they couldnt provide coverage

I don't think contracts are any different in BC to anywhere else when it comes to phones.