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I've been considering buying the HD for sometime now and have been considering buying it sim free for £500 (hopefully due to the proposed VAT drop on Monday) and taking out a sim only contract for either £20/£25 (T-Mobile/O2/Vodafone). I am not fussed by the data packages as I have wifi at work and at home so I can use that instead.
But I have recently seen deals on O2, Orange and vodafone which are tempting but I would have to transfer my number and how easy is that?
I have worked out that if I save £20 every month for two years on a sim only contract I would save £480.
Which would you recommend? Sim Free or contract?
I'm not a big fan of the branding the phone companies do; I really hated the pinky-purple t-mobile slapped on my last phone.
I go my HD from Expansys. So I can choose the contract and company I want (I went again with t-mobile cos I like their data prices) and still get an unbranded HD, whichever provider you go for
Logically, you are better off buying it through contract. However, i bought mine for £500 just because I was impatient. My Polaris was overdue and since the HD was not available directly through O2 and I did not want to wait any longer on missed promises from mobiles.co.uk, I made this move. I wanted to remain on O2 because I like hem and I am a Select customer (don't if it is worth it, but I get 25% discount on accessories). However, I had recently switched my contract to SIM only (700 min + 500 SMS + Web) for only 20. Because I purchased my through third-party, my insurance was deemed null against my new handset, so I cancelled it.
You should not worry about transferring your number; if you buy through mobiles.co.uk, they will deliver the device on whichever SIM is on it. You will then have to obtain the Porting Authorisation Code from your existing provider and the process is straightforward.
To summarise, if you can afford it, I would recommend SIM free; personally, I do not want to be tied up for 18 months. If available, I rather take a 12-month contract and pay the extra rather than a year and half; many handsets can be released during that time and I am waiting for the Omni – it may be the next bigger release for O2 with WM 7.
One thing I like about Orange (after having made sure I got a data bundle), is the fact that if the handset is faulty, they get a new one out to you next day. The courier will come either between 9am-1pm, 1-5pm or 6-10pm. Really good service.
Well if you feel SIM free is too expensive, the trick then is to buy the original HTC handset at a subsidised price with a mobile contract through Expansys. Do this and you can always 'renegotiate' the terms of the contract/tariff with the mobile network directly following delivery of your handset. I did this 6 months ago with an original HTC Diamond, then called T Mobile direct who put me on a combi 30 with free web n walk for £30 to match Oranges data deals at the time. Remember you have a 14 day grace period, use that to your advantage to secure the best deal, but in terms of tariff negotiation, do NOT deal with expansys but the mobile network directly.
Thanks for the advice. What I could do is try and work out a deal with T-Mobile first for a sim only and try and blag a good deal and buy the phone sim free because at the moment I am paying over the odds on my contract.
But carola your O2 sim only deal would be perfect and one thing I notice is that O2 offer the free data blot on with a £20 plan which I think if I talk to T-Mobile might be able to blag a similar deal.
Hey everyone, I hope this is useful for anyone else looking for the HD2 and are currently in a long term contract.
On T-mobile's tariff list, there is the HTC HD2 on a 18 month contract @ £13.50 (plus the phone cost of £195.73)
£13.50 x 18 = £243
£243 + £195.73 = £438.73
Currently that is cheaper than buying it SIM Free, and I can pay a good half of it, over 18 months. Does this sound good, or am I missing something here?
I am currently on a 24 month Orange Contract with a HTC Touch HD (Blackstone), it only started in January and it is my main contract with 800 Minutes, Internet, etc, etc, So i won't be using the T-Mobile SIM.
1. Is this worth doing? Or is it too much hassle and I am better of getting it SIM free?
2. Will the Phone from T-Mobile be Unlocked? (Apparently O2's HD2 are), if not, Can it be unlocked?
3. Will I enjoy this phone? I use a Touch HD, with a custom ROM, can't fault it, love the phone, love the keyboard, I am a long time WinMo user.
Thanks very much.
Any assistance will be much appreciated!
T-Mobile phones are nearly always locked and various reports here from people who've got one directly from T-Mobile have said that the HD2 from them is locked.
The ones supplied by O2 are also locked.
Both are very lightly branded by software. Externally there is no operator branding.
So you must factor in the price of unlocking the handset (around €22) as well as the fact that you'll have a HD2 with a CID of a branded phone.
I'm sure it's possible to buy one sim-free and unbranded from various places for around the same price of £460 (price of T-Mobile inc. contract + unlock fee), but I suppose the 'interest-free' way of doing it may appeal to you.
I've also heard that the o2 ones are locked but o2 will happily unlock it for you,they even have a link on their site for doing so apparently..
I really appreciate your comments, its been really helpful.
I will keep looking around for a HD2 SIM Free.
Any unlocking solutions? Like the one you have referred to as being 22 euros?
I had a look at o2's website, I can't seem to find the HD2 on their website, even then, they are not tariffs which look like they will be cheaper in the long run, oh well.
Thanks very much again.
terrytpot said:
I've also heard that the o2 ones are locked but o2 will happily unlock it for you,they even have a link on their site for doing so apparently..
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The problem is no one has actually had their HD2 unlocked by O2 for free so far. There's been no report of it happening on this forum at all. Someone from here said that they rang O2 and they said that they would unlock, but they'd have to wait 28 days and pay £15. Until it's been verified by a member on here that O2 will unlock via that link (and maybe even for free) it's just hearsay.
The link to get a HD2 unlocked for €22 is:
http://www.unlock-phone-htc.com/unlocking-htc-hd2.html
Some members here have used this service so should be good/safe to use.
kai_ said:
T-Mobile phones are nearly always locked and various reports here from people who've got one directly from T-Mobile have said that the HD2 from them is locked.
The ones supplied by O2 are also locked.
Both are very lightly branded by software. Externally there is no operator branding.
So you must factor in the price of unlocking the handset (around €22) as well as the fact that you'll have a HD2 with a CID of a branded phone.
I'm sure it's possible to buy one sim-free and unbranded from various places for around the same price of £460 (price of T-Mobile inc. contract + unlock fee), but I suppose the 'interest-free' way of doing it may appeal to you.
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Click to collapse
HD2 from Mobiles,co.uk are all unbranded and unlocked as far as I am aware. I got mine from them on Vodaphone, no branding , am using Orange sim in it at the moment......
I bought mine from http://www.mobilephonesdirect.co.uk/
Same price as from tmobile but unlocked and stock ROM. also 3 months free insurance.
kjt57 said:
HD2 from Mobiles,co.uk are all unbranded and unlocked as far as I am aware. I got mine from them on Vodaphone, no branding , am using Orange sim in it at the moment......
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that is exactly my story too lol, had mine delivered from mobiles.co.uk on monday on a voda contract, 30 quid a month and half price for 6 months, but using my orange sim as got 8 months left on the contract!
I had this thought the other day about buying with a contract, if it was about the same price, as a way of cheap financing (no interest!). But, I am in the U.S. I'm thinking they would probably flag this somehow when the billing address shows up as being in the U.S.? ... What do y'all think?
ugarhino said:
I had this thought the other day about buying with a contract, if it was about the same price, as a way of cheap financing (no interest!). But, I am in the U.S. I'm thinking they would probably flag this somehow when the billing address shows up as being in the U.S.? ... What do y'all think?
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You can only get a contract with a carrier in your country of residence! They'd have a hard time recovering debt if you decided not to pay 3000 miles away lol
kai_ said:
The problem is no one has actually had their HD2 unlocked by O2 for free so far. There's been no report of it happening on this forum at all. Someone from here said that they rang O2 and they said that they would unlock, but they'd have to wait 28 days and pay £15. Until it's been verified by a member on here that O2 will unlock via that link (and maybe even for free) it's just hearsay.
The link to get a HD2 unlocked for €22 is:
http://www.unlock-phone-htc.com/unlocking-htc-hd2.html
Some members here have used this service so should be good/safe to use.
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Click to collapse
I work for O2 and we had an internal announcement saying that they would unlock contract phones for free, although as everyone has been told it can take 28 days to receive the instructions. They should only be charging you £15 if you want to unlock a pay as you go phone. If you don't mind the wait then it's probably worth doing it through the link. That said it's a service they only launched a few weeks ago, so i wouldn't be surprised if there are a few issues initially.
Getting back on topic i'd say you would be better off getting it from T-Mobile rather than O2 if you are looking for the cheapest deal.
I Got mine from www.onestopphoneshop.co.uk It is sim unlocked and a choice of networks. Best of all they pick up the phone when you try to contact them! unlike mobiles.co.uk and mobile phone direct. I Dont like 18 month contracts as new phones are released to often. My 12 month contract with vodafone cost £540 total.
mndl632 said:
I work for O2 and we had an internal announcement saying that they would unlock contract phones for free, although as everyone has been told it can take 28 days to receive the instructions. They should only be charging you £15 if you want to unlock a pay as you go phone. If you don't mind the wait then it's probably worth doing it through the link. That said it's a service they only launched a few weeks ago, so i wouldn't be surprised if there are a few issues initially.
Getting back on topic i'd say you would be better off getting it from T-Mobile rather than O2 if you are looking for the cheapest deal.
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Generally O2 phones purchased on contract are unlocked from the off. The only exception to this was the iPhone (until recently anyway).
I know some people on the O2 Simplicity (sim only rolling contract) tarriff who managed to buy the HD2 'outright' but they came locked to O2. How does that work for unlocking purposes - will O2 still unlock for free? I mean it's entirely possible that they can leave almost immediately after obtaining the unlock code.
you're correct pretty much all o2 phones on contract are unlocked apart from the iphone and palm pre. Not sure about those who got the HD2 outright from O2, i'd assume they would still unlock it for free as these people have paid to get the phone outright.
Ah this has been most helpful!
I can't wait to order now, I am about to soon put my Touch HD on ebay, shove my Orange SIM card in an old 8310 lol until the T-mobile HD2 arrives! Can't wait!
Thanks a lot everyone for your input! I hope I can get it unlocked soon after it arrives too.
My upgrade is due in just over a week and i was struggling to find a handset to go for (I currenty have the Touch HD) as i was under the impression HD2 wasn't available on Orange UK.
To my surprise about an hour ago, i done a search of some mobile sellers websites and most are offering the HD2 on an Orange contract and upgrade!
Handset is not on the Orange UK website tho.
If i get this beast on an upgrade i am going to be one happy chappy!
HD2 Loyal
scotia_rfc said:
My upgrade is due in just over a week and i was struggling to find a handset to go for (I currenty have the Touch HD) as i was under the impression HD2 wasn't available on Orange UK.
To my surprise about an hour ago, i done a search of some mobile sellers websites and most are offering the HD2 on an Orange contract and upgrade!
Handset is not on the Orange UK website tho.
If i get this beast on an upgrade i am going to be one happy chappy!
HD2 Loyal
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Im on orange, however I had the mobile from my insurance company... Tell you the truth (might be the area i am in / place of work) but the internet on Orange is really slow, a friend of mine who has T-mobile has faster speeds when loading internet pages / downloading.
I have ran numerous speed tests with full HSDPA signal and, its still slow.. I've contacted orange and apparently theres a cellphone mast down in my area, however my place of work is no where near my home.
If your happy with orange, dont let me ruin your deal! its a real nice phone to have.
scotia_rfc said:
My upgrade is due in just over a week and i was struggling to find a handset to go for (I currenty have the Touch HD) as i was under the impression HD2 wasn't available on Orange UK.
To my surprise about an hour ago, i done a search of some mobile sellers websites and most are offering the HD2 on an Orange contract and upgrade!
Handset is not on the Orange UK website tho.
If i get this beast on an upgrade i am going to be one happy chappy!
HD2 Loyal
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Click to collapse
If you get a handset from a supplier who also bundles the contract themselves, (i.e you dont get the phone direct from orange) chances are you will get an unlocked wwe rom too, and not have to wait for orange to release updates......which is nice.
samsamuel said:
If you get a handset from a supplier who also bundles the contract themselves, (i.e you dont get the phone direct from orange) chances are you will get an unlocked wwe rom too, and not have to wait for orange to release updates......which is nice.
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Click to collapse
I would probably flash with a cooked rom anyway. I'm running the latest EnergyRom on my Touch HD, but you can tell it struggles a bit compared to the lightning speed of the HD2.
Thing is also, i don't see the handset available on Orange website and i was in the ORange shop the other day and it wasn't in there either so not sure if they will have an official branded rom.
Will find out more in the coming days.
samsamuel said:
If you get a handset from a supplier who also bundles the contract themselves, (i.e you dont get the phone direct from orange) chances are you will get an unlocked wwe rom too, and not have to wait for orange to release updates......which is nice.
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My last phone was from an online company a subsidary of carphone warehouse, they sold the phone with a seperate contract (free phone) and you are correct I did have an unlocked phone (Diamond 2). My contract for orange ends in November, I cant wait to switch networks.
I was due for an upgrade last month on Orange. The only place where you can get the HD2 as an upgrade is on mobiles.co.uk but you have to pay quite a bit for the handset (unless you're ok with a 24 month contract) so I ended up going on T-Mobile. Just transfer your number if you want to keep it.
Edit: All mobiles from this website are unlocked FYI.
Peew971 said:
I was due for an upgrade last month on Orange. The only place where you can get the HD2 as an upgrade is on mobiles.co.uk but you have to pay quite a bit for the handset (unless you're ok with a 24 month contract) so I ended up going on T-Mobile. Just transfer your number if you want to keep it.
Edit: All mobiles from this website are unlocked FYI.
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Click to collapse
I confirmed with Orange today that they will not be doing directly, but i called dial-a-phone and they said that i could get it free on upgrade and that was on 18 month contract. So i'll be calling them back next week. I called phones 4 u also but they didn't have it in stock at the mo so couldn't give me a price.
There's quite a few doing it on upgrade. Check out http://www.best-mobile-contracts.co.uk . Thats where i found out dial-a-phone are doing it.
Peew971 said:
I was due for an upgrade last month on Orange. The only place where you can get the HD2 as an upgrade is on mobiles.co.uk but you have to pay quite a bit for the handset (unless you're ok with a 24 month contract) so I ended up going on T-Mobile. Just transfer your number if you want to keep it.
Edit: All mobiles from this website are unlocked FYI.
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Click to collapse
Hey peeps
Have just registered on here and thought I'd make my first contribution to this thread....
I recieved my HD2 on Orange today from believe it or not...dialaphone! It was free on an 18month contract with 1200mins, unlimited txts and internet plus it came with a £10 discount every month from orange!!! What do you think? Was the best offer I could find
btw phone came unlocked
When I called them a month ago they said that they wouldn't offer that particular phone as an upgrade but rather on a new contract, which is why I went to mobiles.co.uk. I'm happy either way, the only thing I miss is Orange Wednesday but it's not like I was using it. Plus the T-Mobile data plan is actually unlimited unlike the Orange one.
Just thought I would post this incase it helps others.
I have been hankering after the desire for ages, but still have 9 months left on my contract. Went on Vodafone chat today and told me HTC Desire out of stock, have been with them for 15 years or so and said I needed it for business but needed old number as all ads had been printed.
Offered me Nexus One for £370 as I was in contract but when I asked if I extended contract came back and offered it for free for a 12 month extension.
Same tariff (only £30 a month) which I thought was a bargain. I figured seeing as someone will no doubt port a perfect SenseUI to it on these great forums, I was mainly losing an optical trackball!
SO glad to get rid of my HTC Magic as well, it was so laggy.
Looking forward to Froyo now....
That's worth knowing, thanks.
I bought out of my 18 month Voda contract up to the upgarde date after 12 months (for 68 quid), sold my Magic (which was battered) for 80 quid, and then upgraded to the Nexus.
I like being friends with the manager of a phone shop...
Was it locked or VF branded?
No lock or branding on Vodafone uk.
Lumsdoni said:
Was it locked or VF branded?
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Click to collapse
What, the Magic? Neither.
Myself also had my contract extended by Vodafone. Got a contract along with release day Nokia N97 last July. Contacted Vodafone one month ago explaining to them I was unhappy due to the N97 neither being very "smart" or reliable as a phone lol. They were happy to send me a Nexus One while me paying £5 less per month. So all round really very pleased as my contract would have meant no upgrade until 2011 otherwise and the N97 would have been VERY outdated then lol.
Hey,
Was just wondering where people are planning on getting their Desire Z from and if you are planning on going the contract route or just paying for it out-right and getting a sim-free phone.
As of yet it looks like Play.com , handtec and clove look the best for sim-free.
As for carriers I am yet to see this being advertised on any, only the Desire HD is showing as coming soon.
I had a chat with someone from T-Mobile today and the think they should have them in October and wouldn't say when.
Contract options are going through my current contract with T-Mo and getting a locked and branded handset and keep my unlimited data (3gbs) or going through any of the other carriers through a dif website and their max unlimited data seems to be on T-Mo but is down to a ridiculous 1gb/mnth.
What your thoughts?
Getting mine sim free. Had a Touch Pro 2 which I bought outright, and just got a contract o2 sim from carphonewarehouse which I swapped out to sim only... Running at about £5 p/m... Anyway, TP2 died, sent to insurance, who gave me money towards my new phone
So, looking to get the Desire Z. Prolly gonna go to handtec... Was told that htc only offer the 2 year warranty when bought from authorised htc resellers, otherwise, it's only a 1 year warranty. Anyone know how true this is?
Can't wait till they're released tho Looks a great phone...
Good point about warranty. But I'm going to pay by Egg Money Card to get extended warranty to 24 months.
I remember my last phone from T-Mobile had 2 years warranty. But when I tried to check Handtec and Clove websites I couldn't find anything about warranty period for this phone. But other HTC phones have 2 years warranty.
handtec sell UK stock and is covered by 2 year warranty via HTC. I have my past 4 HTC phones from them.
Sim free from ebay
StuRoid said:
Hey,
I had a chat with someone from T-Mobile today and the think they should have them in October and wouldn't say when.
Contract options are going through my current contract with T-Mo and getting a locked and branded handset and keep my unlimited data (3gbs) or going through any of the other carriers through a dif website and their max unlimited data seems to be on T-Mo but is down to a ridiculous 1gb/mnth.
What your thoughts?
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Click to collapse
I was reading somewhere that the date got pushed to October 16th I think for anyone buying from tmobile. I could be wrong though seeing as they have already postponed it once.
As far as contract vs outright, I know I dont have 500 dollars or so lying around and am already tired of ATT service, so im going with the discounted handset and improved service
Always buy sim-free. In Poland contract is installment purchase with very high interest rates in fact. I prefer unlimited internet & text + 1000 minutes instead of new phone with poor plan.
definitely SIM free...in Australia, I would have to wait until around 2011 before I could get this phone on contract - and even then it would be very expensive!
Looking at expansys...which will be selling it for around $760AUD including shipping..but i'll also see what ebay sellers can do! Hopefully around $700!! (or less)
Amazon.co.uk. They won't be available in my country (Slovakia) at launch, plus they will be overpriced as hell. Expansys has it overpriced too (even including the postage fees i will be around 510 euros from Amazon, vs 535 euros from Expansys).
On contract ? LOL. HTC Desire was added to my T-Mobile SK phone list just 2 or 3 weeks ago .
I have a free handset upgrade just sitting in Telstra's system in hopes that the Z will come to them. Either the Z or the Droid 2 World edition or whatever other bad ass phone may come.
I am from New Zealand want a contract free phone i doubt Telecom/Vodafone releases it .They just released Desire & X10
If i buy from UK or any other international seller where is the warranty applicable?? .
Metalspree said:
I am from New Zealand want a contract free phone i doubt Telecom/Vodafone releases it .They just released Desire & X10
If i buy from UK or any other international seller where is the warranty applicable?? .
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Click to collapse
Generally the warranty wont be valid outside the country the device was purchased in.......but I cant guarantee that
Best thing might be to email HTC about it???
Whiterin said:
I have a free handset upgrade just sitting in Telstra's system in hopes that the Z will come to them. Either the Z or the Droid 2 World edition or whatever other bad ass phone may come.
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Click to collapse
The question you got to ask yourself with this question is if you like to play around with your phone like flashing roms and all sorts of other stuff on your phone (since you're on here I'm guess that could be a yes)
Do you want to have that process be easy then go with the Z or if you prefer jumping through many hoops and possibly not having that ability you could go with the Moto.
I got to say I love Moto hardware, they have some of the most rock solid build quality and design but how they lock down their devices and have that rubbish blur on it annoys me....not to mention I was about 2 seconds away from buying a Milestone last year when it was released and seeing that it might never get its 2.2 update really makes me glad I didn't.
Got mine from MobilePhonesDirect
Network O2
900 minutes
Unlimited Texts
Unlimited Internet
£40 a month with 8 months at half price on an 18 month contract; works out at £31.11 per month.
First three months free insurance.
Daffa222 said:
Got mine from MobilePhonesDirect
Network O2
900 minutes
Unlimited Texts
Unlimited Internet
£40 a month with 8 months at half price on an 18 month contract; works out at £31.11 per month.
First three months free insurance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might want to have a closer look into how much that 'unlimited internet' is that they are giving you. I was doing one of those chat things with one of their sales team and turns out that even though they were offering me a T-Mobile contract that it would be through mobilephonesdirect and so their unlimited internet is only 1Gb instead of T-Mobiles 3Gb which I though was a total rip-off.
Let us know when your phone finally arrives, not heard many good things about that company. Hope everything goes well.
by contract, vodafone NL 200, €25 pm for free, hopefully by the 15th oct, otherwise 8th nov
Still waiting for offers. Currently only vodafone is offering a not expensive contract here in Holland. Now €25.
Problem is that the " unlimited" internet here is limited, except on t- mobile. So ill wait a bit since my contract will end in the beginning of November.
Daffa222 said:
Got mine from MobilePhonesDirect
Network O2
900 minutes
Unlimited Texts
Unlimited Internet
£40 a month with 8 months at half price on an 18 month contract; works out at £31.11 per month.
First three months free insurance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you get 8months half price, I don't see anything like that on there site?
StuRoid said:
You might want to have a closer look into how much that 'unlimited internet' is that they are giving you. I was doing one of those chat things with one of their sales team and turns out that even though they were offering me a T-Mobile contract that it would be through mobilephonesdirect and so their unlimited internet is only 1Gb instead of T-Mobiles 3Gb which I though was a total rip-off.
Let us know when your phone finally arrives, not heard many good things about that company. Hope everything goes well.
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I shall be giving them a call during business hours tomorrow to check on the fair usage policy for the mobile internet. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.
elliott_stocks said:
How did you get 8months half price, I don't see anything like that on there site?
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Click to collapse
Their deals have changed. When I went into work the next day after ordering this package, my boss asked why I didn't get a phone through our company, as he can claim money back or something. So I had him look into a deal for me and if it worked out better, I'd cancel this one. I went back to the site to double-check what the deal was so I could give my boss the full details and I couldn't see the package I had ordered the night previously. So by the looks of things, it is no longer available.
x
Czech Republic:
HTC Desire HD available at Vodafone for preorders (777CZK/month ~ 10500CZK price for phone)
HTC Desire Z not sure