Originally Posted by
LTN Phobia
Thank you for all your help Landing Gear! It's great to get help from someone who knows the ins-and-outs about this.
I have one more question, if I may impose upon your kindness.
I heard a rumour that French mobiles are not network-locked (the rumour has it that it was illegal to do so, although as I say, it was a rumour). Is that really the case, and if so, is that the case for all the phones regardless of whether they are on subscription or prepaid?
I have a friend who is looking for a cheap-ish prepaid mobile for use in France but she really prefers it not to be network locked, and I saw a €49 one on Orange France website. My French is too dodgy to follow up on whether they are network locked or not.
Hi, LTN.
No problem at all. The last time I looked into this was a few months ago in connection with the iPhone and I believe I posted in this forum if you want to search then.
My understanding has been that French law requires carriers to offer the
option of buying an unlocked phone. If you ask for an unlocked phone at the start, you will be charged a large extra fee for that service.
On the other hand, if you wait the minimum required amount of time as a paying customer (six months?), they will unlock your phone for free.
What some people do is buy the phone and then look for a shop that will unlock it, of which there are many. I have no idea of the legalities of this but I know it is advertised openly.
Where are you? Where is your friend? Why not buy an unlocked phone in advance of your trip?