Sim free mobile phone

[2Margaret]

I have an old Nokia with O2 sim card which now has a dim screen. I have bought a new sim free Samsung and used my original O2 sim card. As a temporary measure my husband decided to use the Nokia, so I bought an Orange sim card from Tesco. However, the packaging for the Sim card said it was '3G' - Tescos said that would be OK, although I wondered if it was for the latest phones. After inserting the sim - the message comes up that registration has failed and also shows 'no service'. Should I have a different Orange card? Or is it simply that there is no Orange coverage in my area? Sorry this is so basic, but I only use the phone for emergencies.

[Davethedog]

The problem is your Nokia is "locked" into O2 so it won't accept an Orange sim

[2Margaret]

Thanks - I did think my Nokia was 'unlocked' but if this is the problem I will just get another cheap sim free phone and use the Orange sim card - I was just worried that '3G' meant it was incompatible with my old Nokia.

[Davethedog]

3G just means 3rd generation its the phone thats 3g not the sim card

[Davethedog]

You could always get your Nokia unlocked for about a fiver.

[Old_Geezer]

That would be true for the old Nokia; or maybe slightly dearer. But beware new handsets. Took me about 6 months for them to be able to unlock the touchscreen Nokia I had as they were stiill trying to find the hash values they needed. And it cost me considerably more.

[2Margaret]

Thank you - as the old Nokia is now difficult to read, due to the screen fault, it would not be worth having it unlocked, but many thanks for your help.