Help me with this plzplz plz

technical related issues are to meant to post in computer forum.

Quote:

unlocking codes are owned by the network, it is intellectual property.

i got this in an email from vodafone on this very issue:

whilst it is not illegal to offer the codes, the generation and use of the codes is illegal.

i am not going to post the entire email, as it is about my account and other personal things between me and vodafone. basically no one is going to arrest you for going to a third party for a code, the only people who need to worry about the police are the third parties themselves.

btw, oftel doesnt exist and hasnt for a while. ofcomm are the people to speak to about telecoms. if you ask them about it they will say that the codes belong to the provider(your network) but as there is no contract opposing the release of the code, they are obliged to give you the information as they see fit. basically this means they are supposed to give it to you but its on their terms, price, length of custom etc. this is present on the document you have found from the old oftel dated 2002. here it says that the provider only need provide the unlock code after the subsidy on the handset has been met and even then they can charge to cover administration. also, as you have pointed out this did not come from the old oftel website, it didnt even come from ofcoms website.

part of the conclusion of this document says that oftel would remove the document as current if their recommendations did not work any longer, given that this document is three years old and does not exist in this form any longer it more than likely something has changed regarding unlock codes.

in fact if you do actually read ofcoms website they have a very interesting document on a consumer panel on this very same topic. its from the 16th feb this year, it states (on page 16) that ofcom does not support switching (in this case the use of unlock codes) for the sake of it. they do however, support customers getting the best value for money.

you can read it here:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/cond...stsrp2/ocp.pdf

i think this pretty much clears up the issue for unlock codes in the uk, you can go ahead and use a third party if you want, but you may invalidate you warranty (if anything goes wrong) and you may cause problems with your contract (best speak with your network on that first though).