Shutting the stable door........

sonnetpete

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My 84 year old mother dropped an interesting topic into our phone conversation the other night. "I'm changing my mobile"...."I'm getting a Samsung for £100".......Turns out it's from a relation of a neighbours niece (I suppose it's the nearest my Mum will get to buying from a "bloke down the pub"). "He gets them from China" she said and added "he says I can write texts just by speaking into the phone and chat to you and see you at the same time"........I groaned inwardly and remembered how she struggled to master texting with a touch screen and that we gave up in the end and changed her phone for one with a keypad....how she would cope with trying to call me on Skype I don't know....this is the woman who sent me emails and then rang me to check if I'd got them....

Anyway, she has a PAYG phone on Orange. The guy brought her phone tonight but couldn't get the Samsung (model unknown) to accept her sim card. He's taken the new phone away and has told her he will get her a blank sim card and get it working. I'm not looking for advice on the validity or advisabillty of the purchase but an explanation of how a blank sim card could retain her number and access the Orange network so she can still ring Orange and top up her credit. I'm clueless with mobiles as I only use mine for occasional texts and very rare phone calls.
 

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Well I suspect it will be simply be an up to date SIM card and he will transfer her number to replace the number the 'new' SIM card has been allocation during manufacture, this process normally takes 3 days when going to a new provider and involves PAC codes but if the same provider I am unsure and may possibly happen the moment the provider is contacted, but be prepared for no service just in case. Indeed thinking about it this is exactly what happened with my Tesco mobile SIM and from memory there was minimal disruption
 

pgh13

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FWIW.....When we upgraded our Vodafone mobiles earlier this year they sent new small sized sim cards and we should have been able to activate them ourselves but after a few tries took them into a VF shop and had them do it. They also transferred the numbers from the old card/phone to the new one. I guess, as long as it's an Orange card it's just a matter of remapping by Orange. Best of luck (having to regularly talk the M-i-L through changing the source on her TV - though luckily (luck my a***, it was sheer genius) we made sure she got the same model as us).
 

sonnetpete

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Thanks both of you, maybe it's going to be less painful than I thought.....


pgh13 said:
FWIW.....Best of luck (having to regularly talk the M-i-L through changing the source on her TV - though luckily (luck my a***, it was sheer genius) we made sure she got the same model as us).
I know how you feel......I've spent two nights trying to explain that her neighbour can't buy a Freeview TV and connect it up to her existing mini dish....
 

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There is a device for iPhones called a TurboSIM, its a device that you put your SIM in and it unlocks the phone or fools the phone into thinking its got the correct SIM card installed, maybe he`s getting something like that

There is also a device called a SuperSIM and that can be used to clone several SIM cards onto one SuperSIM and allows you to choose between the "virtual" clones and pick the network/number to be active

That said, I don't think it will be a Samsung if its coming from China, maybe a copy or a look alike

When he brings the new phone back, have her dial *#06# and get the IMEI number from her then enter it into Mazuma mobile and it will tell you the make and model of the phone

I own the equipment to unlock Samsungs but would need the phone in my hand to unlock it though (I can remote unlock Blackberry handsets though) so if you let me know what it says on screen when the Orange SIM is inserted (if she can remember) I`ll let you know if it needs unlocking or it is another problem
 

sonnetpete

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Thanks Smoggy but at the moment the phone is back with her "supplier". Until she gets it back I'm not sure what the position is. For definite I know it can't be a proper Samsung...well not if it comes from China. Hopefully it will be sorted out tomorrow and I'll update you when I know more...
 

sonnetpete

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Seperate 80 cm dish on 28E with a Humax Freesat for SWMBO.
Free Sat V8 meter. Sony Bravia 46" LCD, Sony BluRay and Home Cinema.
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Normandy, France
Sorry to resurrect this but you might like to hear the epilogue which was disclosed to me last night.....

My Mum struggled to operate the phone as I knew she would, she has arthritic fingers and can just about cope with the TV remote. Anyway she went into Durham and popped into one of these Cash Converter type places. He opened the phone up, ran it's serial number through his computer and refused to buy it. As I feared it wasn't a Samsung but a clone. She's rung her 'supplier' who's selling it on Ebay for her......
 
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