In Reply to: Now I'm more confused!! posted by kellzzbellzz on Sunday, 13. February 2005 at 14:07 Bali Time:
Ok here we go. You are correct, not ALL phones are locked, however, Telstra, Optus, Virgin prepaid mobiles are either sim or network locked which means you can only either use the sim card you received with the mobile [sim-locked] or only use Optus / Telstra etc. sim cards in the mobile you purchased [network locked]. The best way to check if your prepaid is locked is to put another carriers sim into your phone. EG: if you have an optus mobile and sim ask a friend or family member who has telstra to try their sim card in your phone. If their sim works in your phone it is not locked. If it doesnt then you will need to pay a fee to have the carrier remove the locking and this varies. Carriers will unlock the phones free either after a period of time has expired 6 - 12 months or if you have recharge to a certain value using their sim card. You need to contact them to ascertain if you are eligible for this.
Vodafone prepaid mobiles are NOT sim or network locked. You can put any sim in their phones and it will work. [The only time you may encounter a problem is if you purchase a mobile from vodafone which is linked to their Vodafone Live network, for mms and wap] Sorry I dont want to confuse the you too much.
If you have a phone on contract with either Optus or Telstra then you can use your phone overseas, putting in a sim card purchased in whatever country you are in.
If you want to use international roaming using your australian sim card, that is fine for sms but if you make calls home or within Indonesia you will be paying approximately $7 per minute and the same applies if a friend or relative calls you from Australia. You will incur the international roaming charges, as well as the person back home paying normal costs to call you.
I hope that this helps clear the issue for you and if not repost and I will try to explain further. Cheers.