If you arrive in the USA and your phone is locked (and you therefore can't use your USA sim card) we cannot refund you under any circumstances.  It is solely your responsibility to ensure that your phone is unlocked.  If you arrive in the USA and your phone is locked, the sim card won't work and you won't get a refund




Please note that we are unable to tell you if your phone is locked or unlocked, so please do not call us or email us to ask us if your phone is unlocked.  All we will do is refer you to this support article.  Please read all of the information below as it explains in details about how to unlock your phone, and how to check that it is unlocked.




What does "locked" mean?



A "locked" phone will only work on your current network, and no other network.  



So, for example, if your phone is locked to the o2 network, you can't use a Three, Vodafone or EE sim card in it.  


If your phone is locked, you need to get it unlocked to use the USA Sim Card.



Is my phone locked or unlocked?



You can only be certain that your mobile phone is unlocked, if, and only if you've used two different network sim cards in your phone (for example, you've used a Three sim and an o2 sim.


We repeat:  the only way to be certain that your phone is unlocked is if 1 or 2 above applies to you.  Please do NOT call or email us to ask us if your phone is locked or unlocked.  All we are going to tell you is what is written above.



How can I check if my phone is unlocked?


Not sure if your phone is unlocked?  One way to be certain is to put into your phone a sim card from a different network - if your phone connects to this different network then it's unlocked!  If you get an error message such as invalid sim or SOS only, then your phone is locked and you need to get it unlocked.  This is the ONLY way to be 100% certain that your phone is unlocked.  There is NO OTHER WAY to check if your phone is unlocked.


When using a sim card from a different network, please be sure to use a different network sim card, not just a different company sim card.  


Again, we repeat:  the only way to test if your phone is unlocked is to put into it a sim card from a different network and confirm that it connects to that different network.  Please do not call or email us to ask if your phone is unlocked.  We do not know.


How do I unlock my phone?


If your phone is locked, you'll need to contact your network provider and request an unlock.


The various UK telco companies have information pages about unlocking your phone as linked to below:


How to unlock an o2 phone

 

How to unlock an EE phone

 

How to unlock a Three phone

 

How to unlock a Vodafone phone

 

For other telco companies, just Google:  for example "How to unlock Tesco mobile phone"


And if you are using an iPhone, please note that the unlock process is not complete until you perform a full backup and restore of your iPhone in iTunes.  Click here to read the official instructions from Apple about how to unlock your iPhone.


If you arrive in the USA and your phone is locked (and you therefore can't use your USA sim card) we cannot refund you under any circumstances.