W850i Won't Read Another Sim from the Same Phone Co. Options

[rutlandbelle]

Hi everyone, I'm new here so hope this is in the right place.
I have a Sony W850i, which is locked to Virgin. I am planning a hol. to NZ so will get it unlocked to insert a local sim. I have bought another unlocked phone, and was going to give the W850i to my husband for the trip (or for ever) but although he is with Virgin as well, his sim card isn't accepted in it. When you put it in, you just get the SE logo and the phone doesn't go any further. If I put his sim in my new phone which is a chinese generic unlocked, it works fine, also it works in his old phone which is a Samsung, after being in the W850i, so it doesn't look like sim has been damaged.
My sim card still works ok in both my new phone and the SE w850i. I was wondering if there's some kind of lock in it, although I bought the phone independently of the sim so I don't really see how it could be?
Any ideas anyone? I'm concerned that if we get this phone unlocked and we are out in Kiwiland we won't be able to read the kiwi sim in it and will then be stuck out there where the phones are really expensive!
thanks in advance

This post has been edited by rutlandbelle: 2008-10-04 17:44

[weirdwilli]

Sounds like it is locked!
You now have two options, unlock it yourself, or pay a small fee and get it unlocked at your local market or on the internet.
Unlocking it yourself can be tricky and slightly dangerous if you arn't confident of what you are doing so it may be wise to go to see someone that can do it for you.

to SE-NSE by the way.

[rutlandbelle]

Sounds like it is locked!
You now have two options, unlock it yourself, or pay a small fee and get it unlocked at your local market or on the internet.
Unlocking it yourself can be tricky and slightly dangerous if you arn't confident of what you are doing so it may be wise to go to see someone that can do it for you.

to SE-NSE by the way.

Thanks so much and sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

(I didn't get any emails to say I had a response, so I thought no one had bothered :-) Must have gone into spam!)

The phone is locked, to Virgin. But I can't even read another Virgin sim card in it, which should be ok (my old Virgin phone, a samsung, reads my husband's virgin sim ok). virgin will charge £15 to unlock it, which is ok, but pointless if it won't read another sim card!

SO I was wondering if resetting it to factory standard would solve the problem - I would obviously have to download all my stuff to the memory stick first, but I'm thinking that might just solve the problem of it seeming to be locked to my individual and particular sim?

thanks

[DeathAbyss]

If it is locked to Virgin, why would you ask Virgin to unlock it for you? Wouldn't that defeat their intention of locking their phones in the first place?
It would seem most logical if you asked a different store to unlock for you. Ask a friend with a different network to go with you and before you leave the store, try their sim to see if it works.

[rutlandbelle]

If it is locked to Virgin, why would you ask Virgin to unlock it for you? Wouldn't that defeat their intention of locking their phones in the first place?
It would seem most logical if you asked a different store to unlock for you. Ask a friend with a different network to go with you and before you leave the store, try their sim to see if it works.

Thanks for the response. funnily enough Virgin rang me yesterday re. a survey I'd done, so I asked them.They said it could just be the phone, but then I tried a new Virgin sim I had at home, and it worked. they are going to unlock it for me free for doing the survey, so either my husband's sim is old and weird or it will work when i try it again! (or anyway they will send me a new sim for him)
but thanks everyone for your help!