Three: minimum top-up to unlock 3Pay mobile?

miralize

I bought a Nokia 6280 in January 2007, 3pay. Soon i was getting annoyed due to the lack of services and because all my friends are on meteor. So I finally got round to ringing them today and asked if i could get my phone unlocked so i could switch over.

The support technician explained to me i could not get my phone unlocked due to the fact that i had to top up by €150 in order to be allowed to pay them to unlock my phone, which to me sounded ridiculous for two reasons. One, its my phone, if they charge me to unlock it thats fine but i should be allowed to no matter how much i spent on their S**TTY network. And secondly €150 sounded off.

I called again tonight and a woman said ive topped up €100 already and needed to top up by €30 to get my phone unlocked. Who am i to believe? And i have yet to still find in the rules about the minimum top up in order to take my money unlock my phone. Anyone have suggestions?

feylya

It's the same on any pre-paid network in Ireland afaik

miralize

ive never had that problem before

feylya

How long did you have the phones with the other providers before requesting the unlock codes?

1huge1

And what network unlocked your phone for you before then...

miralize

3 months with meteor and only topped up €60

Doctor DooM

It's over 100 euro for O2. Its standard as your phone is subsidised. you should have taken the name of the person who offered the cheaper amount so you could hold them on it.

miralize

true.. ah well. only 30 i guess. still a pain tho

chrislad

*wonders how OP will react when they mention the administrative fee*

Sam Vimes

the correct figure is 130 and all the networks do it. It happened to me with vodafone before. But sometimes you get a decent agent who doesn't insist on it though. What the other networks don't do is charge 25 euro on top of the 130 as three do

miralize

*sigh* idiots . there should be an eu regulation that stop this ****e

RichyX

miralize wrote: »

*sigh* idiots . there should be an eu regulation that stop this ****e

Yeah, the eu should allow all of us to buy heavily subsidized phones & use them on any network!
That's only fair to everyone!

clown.

krudler

miralize wrote: »

*sigh* idiots . there should be an eu regulation that stop this ****e

indeed, there should also be EU regulations in place where mobile networks provide free everything, free phones,free upgrades, no charges for calls or texts

seriously that phone you paid for was paid for by the network at a massively subsidised rate, what business sense does it make to bear the cost of something then let a customer bring it to another network to give them business without making anything on it? of course you have to top up by a certain amount, 150.00 with o2 not sure with everyone else, before you can get an unlock code

neilled

RichyX wrote: »

Yeah, the eu should allow all of us to buy heavily subsidized phones & use them on any network!
That's only fair to everyone!

clown.

Well there is an alternative model. Some eurpean countries have banned the sale of simlocked handsets - this means that you pay a higher price for the handset upfront but you get alot more minutes etc for your money.

Having said that, the prices that Irish consumers are charged are extortionate in relation to what they pay for handsets and the tarrifs they get.

GekkePrutser

Don't forget there is usually another (and cheaper) option involving those 'mobile phone repair' shops I recently had the same done to my 3Pay K610i and my girlfriend is now happily using it on vodafone. It cost me 20 euro so even less than the administrative fee 3 would have charged me, even if I would have topped it up.

The good thing is that if you do that, it'll be debranded as well. If you just request the unlock code from 3, then you'll still have all their settings and screensaver stuff on it, which sometimes can't even be changed.