Blocked Samsung Galaxy Ace

[wendyl]

Almost a year ago I purchased otright this phone model GT-S5830i Over the year I have been back to O2 (in Sainsbury's) and been fobbed off One of the problems I believe is a poor signal where I live. Recently the phone was sent off to Samsung repairer and eventually returned as repaired but no details and I have new problems with it. I have contacted o2 (my 12 month sim contract is nearly up and all 12 instalments have been paid Apart from the lack of support from where I bought the phone 12 miles drive away, I have had a number of 'chats' with the gurus on line. Last Friday I requested a PAC code to leave For several years I had been with Vodaphone and had no connection problems at home. I was also in touch with Vodafone but unfortunately the sim for pay as you go was the wrong one for my phone and It was suggested I go to a vodafone shop. This involved a 10 mile bus ride into town. It was not until I was in that shop I was told that the phone was tied to Vo2 and needed to be unlocked before proceeding. I then went to town o2 shop who said they could not unlock but to go online. On return home I tried to this but failed I then spoke to another guru who said they could kept me online for ages and then said because it was not purchased online I neede to go back to O2 at Sainsbury's I am not in a position to drive there for some days and phoned them only to be told by them that they could not do it anyway. They eventually suggested I contact o2 customer services butthe mobile will not make calls at al - lmessage mobile network no available. I tried to contact 202 from my daughters phone by which time I was advised there was a 30 minute wait and they would close in 20 minutes!! We tried again to do online and although I obtained a PUK code it tells me there is no PUK code for my number. Please can anyone give any useful advice or a landline number other than 0844. At the moment I am going round in circles getting nowhere. The service has been dreadful all round thanks

[thumper93]

get a tesco sim card payg .i use both my mobiles with them and they use the 02 as carrier like asda mobile use vodaphone. but a tesco sim will work without your mobe being unlocked also they do excellent contracts too

[Old_Geezer]

If you had a different set of problems once it was repaired it suggests the issues are with the handset rather than the network. Did you purchase it from O2 or elsewhere ?

Have you tried a different handset to check where the issue might lie ?

A handset locked to O2 can be sorted, although O2 would be unimpressed were you to unlock it from their network. I'm unsure whether this voids the warranty with them, although it should still hold with Samsung. Did the shop say why they could not unlock it ? Was it that they didn't do that sort of thing, or that the hash codes were presently unknown. (It took me about 18 months to get my present phone unlocked because no one knew the codes !) If they are unknown trying on line isn't likely to help. If it is just the shop though, then you need to try another one. Worst comes to worst you could try O2 and paying back their subsidy to get it unlocked.

I'm surprised they say they can't do it anyway. One would have thought a company who got something locked would be able to reload the phone with an unlocked version of the operating system.

PUK codes are a different thing, they don't unlock phones.

Advice ? Difficult. It may be that your main issue is the reception, but this different set of problems after a repair makes me wonder. I think you need to get hold of an unlocked handset from a friend or someone to clarify where the issue is. It could, of course, be both handset and reception. If it is the handset you may be better off finding out where the Samsung service centre is and ask for help there. If it is reception, well that isn't going to change any time soon. Try a different shop for unlocking and ask for details why if they can't. If it gets unlocked you could invest in a different supplier's mobile service. If it can't be unlocked and does not appear to be a phone fault then worst comes to worse you can put this one away until they do work out how to unlock it, and invest in a different handset for now.

[wendyl]

sorry thumper93 I already went to Tesco over weekend at which time was unaware ot it being locked but although the young man tried to help - because they now only use o2 and I thought this was at least part of the problem I did not go ahead (my experiences have left me wanting to get away from o2)
After posting last night I found a link on tis site to an online to unlock I cost me over £12 but worked almost immediately I will be contacting o2 customer services anyway. In the meantime I have trasferred my number to vodafone payg but this will take until tomorrow - when hopefully I can get back to normal before looking into whether a contract is a better bet
to Old_Geezer the shop said they could definitely not unlock and suggested an unlocking shop in town. Having spent the day yesterday (fortunately using my bus pass) there trying to sort out and costing at least £15 that was not an option in the next few days and have acted as above since I have been trying for over a week now going round in circles
If I still have problems with the handset I will certainly get back to Samsung and the repair (3rd party I'm Told) centre next
Thank you both for your interest and I will let you know the outcome