Can T-mobile or Orange network phone use virgin sim card?

[wazza2004]

Currently am on virgin sim only monthly contract with a basic phone. Tempted to get myself a smartphone.

One option i have is to buy a phone outright and not be tied in a 24 month contract.

Was browsing through carphonewarehouse website under payg phones and noticed some phones were cheaper on T-mobile or orange network when compared to virgin.

1. Are carphonewarehouse supplied phones linked to the network or are they unlocked?

2. Will the virgin sim work in an orange or t-mobile phone? Normally i would say no to this but i am aware that the virgin network will use orange (and t-mobile?) network when it's signal is weak.

1) Virgin lease their airtime from T-Mobile. Orange and T-Mobile share their masts as far as I know.

2) The last phone that I bought from Carphone Warehouse was unlocked. I did however have to choose a network and buy credit for the PAYG sim.
Hope that helps

http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/gener...t.howdoi.sm660

[raging bull]

Why not look at a supermarket unlocked phone?
Tried a Tesco Bluechip Neon @55pounds.
No point in spending silly money for a try out.

[m419]

Originally Posted by wazza2004

Currently am on virgin sim only monthly contract with a basic phone. Tempted to get myself a smartphone.

One option i have is to buy a phone outright and not be tied in a 24 month contract.

Was browsing through carphonewarehouse website under payg phones and noticed some phones were cheaper on T-mobile or orange network when compared to virgin.

1. Are carphonewarehouse supplied phones linked to the network or are they unlocked?

2. Will the virgin sim work in an orange or t-mobile phone? Normally i would say no to this but i am aware that the virgin network will use orange (and t-mobile?) network when it's signal is weak.

I once had a sony erricson w200i and was locked to T-Mobile,Virgin sim card worked fine. However Virgin mobile phones will not take either of T-Mobile or Orange.

Same with Vodafone and BT Mobile and Asda Mobile.

[Matth]

I remember it always used to be that a VM Sim would work in a T-Mobile locked phone - I doubt that the network sharing extends that to Orange, as an Orange Phone sharing is still Orange locked, and the VM sim is still based on the T-Mobile network.

And Carphonewarehouse phones might be unlocked, to simplify stock keeping. Network excusives, though, are likely to be locked, and at one time, I think it was said that Orange insisted on locked, or maybe that was 3.

My last was my SE C902, as a VM PAYG upgrade - if I had a non-VM sim handy, I'd try it... it's certainly unbranded. On my old phone, it may have been the branding tweaks that were screwing up some Java apps - never could get Google maps to run on my Sagem MY411C.

[jtaylor06]

Originally Posted by Matth

I remember it always used to be that a VM Sim would work in a T-Mobile locked phone - I doubt that the network sharing extends that to Orange, as an Orange Phone sharing is still Orange locked, and the VM sim is still based on the T-Mobile network.

And Carphonewarehouse phones might be unlocked, to simplify stock keeping. Network excusives, though, are likely to be locked, and at one time, I think it was said that Orange insisted on locked, or maybe that was 3.

My last was my SE C902, as a VM PAYG upgrade - if I had a non-VM sim handy, I'd try it... it's certainly unbranded. On my old phone, it may have been the branding tweaks that were screwing up some Java apps - never could get Google maps to run on my Sagem MY411C.

From what I remember, Virgin SIM cards work in T-Mobile locked handsets, however they do not with Orange locked handsets. This is because Orange is a roaming network; for example if you were in Spain, although you're on Orange, you can select Movistar as a network.

[Bentex]

Originally Posted by wazza2004

Currently am on virgin sim only monthly contract with a basic phone. Tempted to get myself a smartphone.

One option i have is to buy a phone outright and not be tied in a 24 month contract.

Was browsing through carphonewarehouse website under payg phones and noticed some phones were cheaper on T-mobile or orange network when compared to virgin.

1. Are carphonewarehouse supplied phones linked to the network or are they unlocked?

2. Will the virgin sim work in an orange or t-mobile phone? Normally i would say no to this but i am aware that the virgin network will use orange (and t-mobile?) network when it's signal is weak.

I'm assured that all the phones they sell at my local carphone warehouse are unlocked.

[wazza2004]

Thanks for the replies