[Myrkk]

I need to replace my mobile, something I was hoping to avoid before we go to NZ.

If I get a new contract phone I know I will be tied in for a year and have to pay until the end of the contract period......no worries.

BUT

If I have the phone unlocked in the UK before I travel to NZ [or even get it unlocked once in NZ, is that possible?] will I be able to use it with a NZ sim card?

Have searched the forums but can't find out owt.

Thanks guys.

[xanctus]

I believe as long as you have a triple band phone and being unlocked, you should be able to use NZ sim card.

[xanctus]

Oh one more thing, make sure it's totally unlocked. My phone was a triple band from US, I unlocked it while in US and then when I arrived in NZ it works in the bigger cities, but as soon as I was away further from the city, it won't get a signal at all. So I had to buy a new phone when I was in Asia.
But again, just double check if you're unlocking the phone...it is totally unlocked.

I am sure other mobile phone savvy can give you a better input in this matter.

[IanW99]

I need to replace my mobile, something I was hoping to avoid before we go to NZ.

If I get a new contract phone I know I will be tied in for a year and have to pay until the end of the contract period......no worries.

BUT

If I have the phone unlocked in the UK before I travel to NZ [or even get it unlocked once in NZ, is that possible?] will I be able to use it with a NZ sim card?

Have searched the forums but can't find out owt.

Thanks guys.

If you get a phone that can work on GSM900 then you will have no problems in NZ i.e. it will work on Vodafone network. Pretty much any UK phone should work even a cheap dual-band phone.

You could just buy a 'sim-free' phone in the UK then you won't need to bother having it ulocked at all.

Some phones / networks don't actually lock the phones so don't need to be unlocked, so you could check / ask for this.

Otherwise, it would be best to get it unlocked in UK before you leave, but it is possible to unlock in NZ.

Ian

[tomo1340]

There is one mobile provider that don't use sim cards, can't think who it is though. Also, you could try and tell the phone company you rae unexpectadly emigrating and as such you can't be expected to pay it off.

When my brother emigrated to Germany he did exactly that, there was a bit of disagreement and he refused to pay and emailed them information about him moving and they let it drop. I think he offered to pay the contract out on the full 12 months but at their lowest tarif as it would be no use to him but innitially they were wanting him to pay the entire contract at the price he was paying for data plan/minutes/texts etc and ultimately let him cancel with no fee.

I would recommend a pda phone, especially with the thought of emigrating as the amount of data I have on mine is camparable to a laptop including GPS, although I have been unable to locate NZ tomtom maps for PDA phones, they sell them for the newer go models apparantly but not formobile.pda versions. I convinced the OH to get a windows smartphone, not quite on the level as mine, but we bought tomtom for that and we can sychronise both devices through bluetooth to the PC which is great as if she schedules appointments and reminders for me in the day while I am at work she just synchs with th PC and I sycnh when I get in and I can't shout at her anymore for missed appointments etc.

[kanatakiwi]

Oh one more thing, make sure it's totally unlocked. My phone was a triple band from US, I unlocked it while in US and then when I arrived in NZ it works in the bigger cities, but as soon as I was away further from the city, it won't get a signal at all. So I had to buy a new phone when I was in Asia.
But again, just double check if you're unlocking the phone...it is totally unlocked.

I am sure other mobile phone savvy can give you a better input in this matter.

The problem you mention with your triband phone is not about whether is unlocked or not, its about the mhz. US and North america operate operate on 850, 1800, 1900 mhz GSM networks, and as ian mentions, NZ operates on 900, 1800 and 1900 mhz. So when you try to use the phone in NZ, it operates off the 850 mhz GSM which is the old 025 network with very spotty network reception. It makes a huge difference to the quality of network reception you get with the phone. (I finally put mine away and got a triband phone that works in NZ.)

However a triband phone from Australia UK or Europe works fine here as its on the 900 mhz system.

So when you are looking for a phone that is compatible in NZ you have to check the mhz it operates on, as well as making sure the phone is unlocked. this is far more important than whether the phone is triband or dualband. It is an easy matter to get a sim card in NZ but I found that my phone could only work with a vodafone sim card as Telecom does not have that compatability for some reason.

[Myrkk]

brilliant. Thanks for the info. I want to get a nokia n95 'cause I don't change my phones that often and I find nokias are excellent long term phones. Off to find what mhZ it works on now

[IanW99]

brilliant. Thanks for the info. I want to get a nokia n95 'cause I don't change my phones that often and I find nokias are excellent long term phones. Off to find what mhZ it works on now

That phone is a quad band so no problems using it in NZ

You are going to get the 8GB version aren't you :)

Ian

[Myrkk]

yep, 'cause hopefully I won't have to get an mp3 player and a digital camera as well then...:o

[KelvinAng]

I love phones and have several of them, most of them antique by today's standards, but I love them nonetheless. While on a tour in NZ in 2006 I brought with me a Philips 9@9i (no that's not a typo error...) and a super old Ericsson T39m. While both phones receive excellent, constant 100% reception where I live in Singapore, the Philips often dropped out of coverage as I travel around the South Island, but the Ericsson consistently stay connected (one of them has a Singapore SIM card roaming on Vodafone, the other has a Vodafone SIM card so both phones are on the same network).

I attribute the better reception of the Ericsson T39m to its characteristic antenna :D

Am I the only one who loves antennas here? :D