Three have been selling most of their phone range on PAYG for a while now. Normally only certain phones are on Pay As You Go from launch, perhaps to have enough stock for the contract customers who will be committing to a longer deal.
Recently the company changed their unlocking policy. They used to charge £15 to unlock, plus you had to email in proof of purchase to match the IMEI if it wasn’t the original one on your account.
Three have confirmed unlocking is now totally free of charge and can be arranged by either filling in a form at three.co.uk/unlock or calling customer services.
The company, it seems, has not stopped there and we have been seeing reports that from now on ALL handsets sold by Three will in fact be unlocked right out of the box. So you do not have to request a code or wait for an email.
We have contacted Three to see if we can get this officially confirmed by them, but sources close to Three have told us that phones are indeed unlocked, including new ones such as the HTC One M8. This retails on Three PAYG for just £459.99, so that can be either unlocked for free by Three or it might well arrive unlocked. Compare this against £529 from stores such as Carphone Warehouse and you can see it’s a big saving.
Whilst the phone may be unlocked, the Three boot screen will still be there and maybe a few installed apps, but consider the amount you will save, does this really matter?
We will update this story once we get official information from Three direct.