Vodafone D2

[rockjock]

Hello to all! I have a few questions. I am in Germany on a holiday of sorts and was asked to look at my frineds Nokia 1200 ok ok I know its a pos but here is the question. Each time she powers up the phone she is not able to disable the sim pin option, so she must enter the sim pin each time. I have put her sim in my nokia n95-4 and the option is not allowed so I have to assume its on the sim. Also quite often the phone will restart itself which is a pain as she must enter in the pin again. So I was at Media Markt and they had the 1208 for 13 € also on D2, but no sim. So my question is this can I buy her that phone ( she likes the size and style of it ) and can she call and have her number ported over?

any help would be great. Oh the other option was there was a 1208 that would accept a sim BUT her old phones keypad was wonkie and she must call and ask for the PUK for it. Not a big problem but at an outing on friday someone pinched the phone. Yes Yes she has no luck with phones.. her last one a Siemens a55 worked great till the battery went bad. She was unable to find another battery for it.

any insight would be great


G

[MATHA531]

I had a vodafone de sim card for several years (interestingly enough, they just disabled it despie the fact I sent a couple of text messages and have apparently stolen my credit. I thought this was illegal in Germany and would love to pursue it)...anyway apparently vodafone de cards do not allow disabling the pin on start up function although they do allow you to change the pin.

[dg7feq]

yes, vodafone blocks the pin disable function.
regarding the stolen credit: the providers here are allowed to block your card if there is no recharge within a certain time. But the balance is not lost. You can apply for a form to send to the provider and get the money refunded.

Chris

[rockjock]

OK but my questions still stand.. can i simply get her the new phone and have her number ported or transfered to it? also the pin function was disabled on my vodafone call ya card how I did it I do not remember no matter.. any help pls

G

Originally Posted by dg7feq

yes, vodafone blocks the pin disable function.
regarding the stolen credit: the providers here are allowed to block your card if there is no recharge within a certain time. But the balance is not lost. You can apply for a form to send to the provider and get the money refunded.

Chris

[Motel75]

Originally Posted by rockjock

OK but my questions still stand.. can i simply get her the new phone and have her number ported or transfered to it? also the pin function was disabled on my vodafone call ya card how I did it I do not remember no matter.. any help pls

G

You can use a Vodafone SIM in any GSM phone that is not simlocked, or one that is simlocked to Vodafone prepaid. The phone you saw for 13 euros at Media Markt contains a SIM, and this will be activated when you buy it (they will ask for ID and all). However, you do not have to use this SIM, and you can take it out of the phone and put in your friend's Vodafone SIM instead. It should work fine; the phone will be simlocked to accept only Vodafone prepaid SIMs, but if that's what your friend's one is, it will almost certainly accept it. (And if it does not, it is generally very easy to remove the simlock from a Nokia.)

[inquisitor]

Afaik those cheap Call'ya bundles mostly come with netlocked phones, which means you can use it with any Vodafone SIM. So that cheap Nokia 1208 should work for your friend.
If the SIM has been lost or is defective or whatever, she could request a replacement if the SIM was registered on her name.
But has your friend ever considered switching to a cheaper provider? With solomo pro she could call and text way cheaper not only within Germany but also abroad (e.g. Canada for 9ct/min).

[rockjock]

thats true when I asked they said it had no sim, which is fine as long as she can transfer her number over. I guess the best bet is to go to the media markt today and ask.

G

Originally Posted by inquisitor

Afaik those cheap Call'ya bundles mostly come with netlocked phones, which means you can use it with any Vodafone SIM. So that cheap Nokia 1208 should work for your friend.
If the SIM has been lost or is defective or whatever, she could request a replacement if the SIM was registered on her name.
But has your friend ever considered switching to a cheaper provider? With solomo pro she could call and text way cheaper not only within Germany but also abroad (e.g. Canada for 9ct/min).

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by Motel75

the phone will be simlocked to accept only Vodafone prepaid SIMs

That's called "netlock", because the phone is not tied to the SIM (that would be a simlock) but to the network.

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by rockjock

thats true when I asked they said it had no sim, which is fine as long as she can transfer her number over. I guess the best bet is to go to the media markt today and ask.

In Germany you can't transfer a number or an account to an existing SIM, that you've bought. Your friend must use her old SIM or request a new one from customer care. There's definitely no other way.
The SIM, which comes with the phone, you intend to buy, has already been assigned to a new prepaid account and can't be release from it.

[Motel75]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

That's called "netlock", because the phone is not tied to the SIM (that would be a simlock) but to the network.

Not quite - in this case, Vodafone sometimes distinguishes between prepaid and postpaid for purposes of network locking. My main SIM is prepaid, but it used to be on a postpaid account, and generally does not work in locked Vodafone prepaid phones.

You are right, of course; although the term "simlock" is often used, there is a difference, and usually what one encounters is a network lock. The prepaid/postpaid distinction is one of these.