Hi all,

My situation is this: I'm a Briton who is currently studying in
Austria, and will remain there for the next 20 months. I'm currently
using my old ex-Orange Nokia 6100 phone on pay-as-you-go, which was
trivial to unlock, just by downloading a program and entering the
generated unlock code. However, this nice little phone is really
showing its age, and beginning to play up. The buttons are becoming
stiff. As most phone contracts in Austria seem to be for an 18-month
minimum period, now would seem like a good time to start a new
contract.

I'm assuming that the handsets shipped with Austrian contracts are
locked to that particular network, like in the UK. Is this correct, or
not? I will also need to use this handset with a British SIM while in
the UK.

Could anyone recommend a good, no-nonsense handset which is small (the
size of my old Nokia 6100 or slightly bigger), has a powerful vibrate
function, and is relatively easy to unlock? Ability to spoof the IMEI
easily would also be a plus, as my current British PAYG sim is locked
to a particular number. This handset would need to be available as
part of a contract in Austria.

I've heard that the more recent phones are becoming more difficult to
unlock, etc. I don't give a monkey's about toys such as a colour
screen, silly noises or something that claims to be a camera. I just
want a phone that is small, has a powerful vibrate (so I can set it to
'silent') and won't give me any hassle when using between two countries
and sim cards. Is it even worth going for a new contract phone (with
the minimum period) or would it be better to buy a second-hand one
(Nokia 8250 perhaps?) off Ebay?

Any advice would be appreciated.




See More: Advice needed for a no-nonsense phone in Europe