Ofcom is helping consumers to understand which network's lock phones to their network and what the charges are for unlocking.

The guide is here http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/phone/...and-unlocking/

The Telegraph and other newspapers have picked up on this and published details http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...ile-phone.html

The guide also tell you have long you might have to wait, some will charge you big fees AND make you wait a month! seriously, a month! others will simply refuse to unlock your phone within the 1st year even on PAYG when you paid for the device.

Some of the shockers:-
Virgin - you will wait a month, you can't do it online and pay us £15.32
O2 PAYG - you can't unlock it for the 1st year, pay us £15 and wait 15 days

It's still a bit soft and typically Ofcom though - the situation is bad for some, but as the telecoms regulator we won't regulate to make it better.

IMO once any subsidy is recovered the unlock should be free and straightforward. We could even go as far as some of our European friends and ban locked handsets full stop.

Interesting how Orange/EE claim 10 working days. I think I was waiting a few months when I last got a unlock code from them (in the Symbian era, so maybe 10 years ago)

Vodafone have gone backwards! When I got my contract iPhone last year it was free to unlock after 2 months. Now it is £19.99 until >12 months!

.. or forwards depending on how you look at it, if you can charge that for unlocking just 100,000 phones a year that's a cool £2M.

All we can hope is that people are discouraged from buying from networks that take a month to unlock your phone and then charge you royally for it, but I doubt most consumers will factor it in when buying, just like they don't a lot of things.