Unlock Services for mobile phones

I can get the mobile for $9 from a retail store but need it to work on Aldi. Can anyone help?

Telstra wants to charge $80 which is way too much.

I have asked on Unlock Services for ZTE F327S or Telstra Lite - OzBargain Forums

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If you recharge it for about 3 months you can get the cost down to $25. So for the meantime go with the cheapest Telstra recharge, use the calls and data included then get it unlocked once the charge is dropped down to the $25.

There are some phone businesses who advertise they will unlock phones but I have no idea of the way they do it or the cost. Using them is a situation of buyer beware.

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Actually I have two Telstra pre-paid services which are more than two years old (I think as I ported one of them to Vodafone when I went to New Zealand a few years ago and back to Telstra when I came back). How does Telstra tell https://www.telstra.com.au/support/mobiles-devices/puk-code-imei-unlock-phone if the device has been used for more then two years?

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The IMEI number that is unique to the phone. The SIM could be transferred between phones but the IMEI will not so they just check to see that the IMEI is still the same, this is also the number they need to unlock the phone. This number is again the one they use if your phone is stolen or lost, they block that number so the phone can never be used again, making it worthless to those who stole it.

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An they can tell when the phone/IMEI was first activated. If is it a Telstra prepaid phone, Telstra will have records of when the phone was activated. One needs to go back to the company the prepaid phone was purchased through, in your case Telstra, to get the lock deactivated (unlocked).

If one uses a second party (say an mobile phone shop which isn’t a Telstra store), the second party will also have to make a request to Telstra (or the prepaid phone company one originally bought the phone from) to have it deactivated. Relevant fees will need to be paid for the deactivation whether through Telstra or another party.

I am not sure if the fees Telstra charges is the same, more or less than doing it through a second party. I suspect that it will be about the same.

Prepaid phone will only work with the mobile phone retailer it is locked with and not with other retailers which may use the same network. In your case, it will work for Telstra, but not Aldi, Boost or Woolworths which also use the Telstra network.

Also see if a second hand or even new unlocked phone is cheaper than getting your existing phone unlocked.

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I could have activated it with a different phone but a few days or weeks later switched to the new phone. There would be no records of it then unless Telcos are allowed to access metadata that they have to keep for 2 years for this commercial purpose?

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The SIM is not locked, you can use it in any phone that is not locked to a Telco or in any phone that is locked to that particular Telco. Only the phone itself is locked to a network but you can buy “unlocked” phones or get your phone unlocked so it/they are able to be used with any Telco. Activating a service is not unlocking a phone, it is just registering a service with a Telco and getting a number or porting a number for that provider.

I use two ALDI SIMs one is my real number the other is for using when a mobile number is requested as part of sign-up/survey and similar. I swap them as needed. I have one phone but it was unlocked sometime ago so I have used Telstra Optus Spark and Voda SIMs in it over the last couple of years.

The provider that the phone is locked to doesn’t need to keep that data so they can unlock your phone, though they may keep it for awhile due to Warranty or Metadata retention reasons. If you purchase a Telstra locked phone you need to remember who it was locked with. Optus cannot unlock a Telstra locked phone nor can Telstra unlock an Optus locked phone, so if you forget who it was locked into it can be a bit of a search to find who is the provider you need. If you try Optus and they can’t unlock it, they don’t charge you
you then try Telstra
and so on until you find who it was locked with. Most more expensive phones come unlocked already even if purchased through a Telco.

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You can activate a SIM with any phone. A locked phone is locked to a particular mobile carrier/retailer
E.g Telstra, Optus, Woolworths, Aldi etc. When a locked phone is used, its IMEI is broadcast and is known as a valid device on the network. This explains what an IMEI is


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If you do a Google search on zte f327s unlock code, work your way down as there is lots of information that may help you.

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The only risk of using these codes is there risk the phone could become a brick/blocked if Telstra find out. The phones IMEI which Telstra has can be used to block phones from Australian networks.

We looked at using unauthorised codes for some locked 3G phones a few years ago and were warned of the risks by an ex-telco employee. Telstra is known for blocking phones/IMEIs it deems as suspicious or illegal activities. Some unlockers are also scams to gain credit card/personal information.

Instead of unlocking through Telstra, it was cheaper in the long run to buy a 4G phone outright and switching mobile provider.

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IF brizdaz chooses to use one of the ‘unauthorised’ codes to unlock the phone and if becomes a brick because Telstra blocks it he has only lost $9 as the SIM is transferrable.

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This is the printer model of sale - product is cheap, supplies expensive. I suggest that if you want a phone that is not locked to a specific provider you should purchase a phone that is not locked rather than one that is inexpensive up front but costs more over time.

The suggestions of unlocking a phone locked to Telstra other than through Telstra are at a minimum unethical and are probably illegal.

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Unless it has changed a bad unlock code does not brick a mobile. 5 times bad and it is network locked forever


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My Wife’s Telstra cheapie allowed 100 attempts, it was just easier to wait 3 months with $10 recharges to get the $25 unlock fee than try the dodgy codes. But yes, some phones brick after a very limited number of attempts.

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After Telstra charged me $150 to unlock my iPhone 3GS (which I paid for, outright, and was using a prepaid I had already had for 3 years at that stage, so they were not subsidising my purchase in any way at all, it was just a money grab) I decided that using a “dodgy” code to unlock other Telstra devices would be money well spent. I was only able to get one for a Nokia 6120c, the ZTE models were not able to be unlocked by getting a code from a bloke on ebay
 that may have changed but I suspect it has not and may well be why Telstra still uses ZTE.

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Hi All I wanted to share an experience with I phone unlocking company
officialsimunlock . com

I have an old prepaid phone that I wanted to get unlocked so I can use with another carrier.
The website claimed a 3 step process
I enter in email address and the phones IMEM number then it said $27 to unlock phone.
Follow up email a day later is asking for an additional $72 so 4 times more than going direct with provider. I have been having plenty of back and forth emails and theY refuse to refund My $27. Please steer clear if you want to unlock a phone to go to another provider.
Thanks all

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Hi @Jas71, welcome to the community.

This does sound very dodgy. These reviews indicate other consumers with similar experiences


so you are not alone. It appears that they operate by bait advertising and then trickle feeding hidden fees/drip pricing, which is illegal in Australia. Unfortunately they are based overseas so Australian Laws can’t be applied to this particular business.

How did you pay them? If you paid by credit card, you may qualify for a charge back. Contact your credit card provider ASAP to get it underway.

If by PayPal, lodge a dispute and request a refund for misleading advertising and hidden fees
and service not provided

It is definitely a business to steer clear of.

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Looks shonky to me, thanks for the warning

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Thanks for the warning but it could be argued that the real scam here is that “unlocking” a phone is even a thing. Preventing someone from moving to a different provider / different network is clearly anti-competitive. That phone manufacturers collude in this is a scandal.

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I’m confused by this. Why would a mobile phone be locked if it was only used with a pre-paid account?