Information on how to unlock your Tesco mobile device.

About Tesco Mobile

Tesco Mobile was established in May 2003. In January 2014, the network in the United Kingdom started offering 4G service, for its pay monthly and SIM only customers at no extra cost, extending the service to pay as you go customers in July of that year. As of December 2017, the company was a 50:50 joint venture between Tesco (through its subsidiaries Tesco Mobile Communications Limited and Tesco Mobile Services Limited) and Telefonica (through its subsidiary O2 Communications Limited). Tesco Mobile Limited (trading as Tesco Mobile) is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. It is operated by British retailer Tesco, using the network O2 as its carrier except in Ireland, where the network operator is Three Ireland.

Customer care services in the United Kingdom are contracted out to O2 Communications Ltd in Bury, Greater Manchester. Device technical support services are contracted out to LucidCX, based in Bristol. Device repair services are contracted to A Novo UK Ltd. In January 2014, the network in the United Kingdom started offering 4G service, for its pay monthly and SIM only customers at no extra cost, extending the service to pay as you go customers in July of that year.

source: wikipedia

About Tesco device Sim Lock

A network lock, SIM lock, simlock, carrier lock or (master) subsidy lock are terms used to represent the technical restriction that is built into some Tesco phones during the manufacturing process. This restriction allows Tesco to restrict usage of these phones to specific countries and/or networks. Although some phones can be unlocked OTA (over-the-air) however most phones require a sim network unlock pin Tesco . The opposite of this is a phone called SIM-free, Network unlocked or Factory Unlocked. A Network Unlocked Tesco phone does not  impose any type of SIM restrictions, meaning that you can use your Tesco phone on any compatible network in the world.

Phones can be locked to accept only SIM cards with certain International Mobile Subscriber Identities (IMSIs); International Mobile Subscriber Identities can be restricted by either:

Mobile country code (MCC; e.g., will only work with SIM issued within one country)  or Mobile network code (MNC; e.g., AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile, Rogers, Cricket, Koodo, Fido, Wind, Telus, Claro, Movistar, Docomo, Vodafone, Bell Mobility, Tesco, O2, EE etc.)

source: wikipedia

What do i need to know BEFORE Network Unlocking a Tesco device?:

1. Make sure to Check That the IMEI is not stolen or Blacklisted (it won't work on any network in North America if it is reported stolen, even if it is network unlocked)
2. Make sure it is not  ROOTED  or Activation locked
3. Make sure it asks for a SIM Network Unlock Pin automatically when you insert a SIM card from a different network.
4. Make sure your phone is not Hard locked which means someone entered the incorrect code too many times. If it is a brand new phone or you have never tried to unlock it before then there is nothing to worry about.

* Only if the above is resolved, can you can safety proceed to order the phone lock removal service for Tesco.

If you bought the Tesco second-hand or got it from a friend then you may not  be sure If  your Tesco is locked or not,  the  simple way to find out is to pop in a SIMcard from a different Network. If it's locked, then the Tesco won't work on that network.  If it works then you can be sure that the Tesco is unlocked and not blacklisted.

However if it does not work with a SIMcard from a different carrier, this can also mean that it is blacklisted.  You are better off spending a dollar or two and purchasing a IMEI Check service , just to be sure.

If you discover that it definitely is locked, and not blacklisted then we can help you network unlock it.

Is it Legal to Unbar a Tesco device?

Unlocking your Tesco device is not only completely legal in most Countries but it is also your right as a consumer. If you are still financing the phone through your carrier then technically they still own the phone until you pay it off completely. In that case your carrier may not want you to unlock it for they fear you will run away to another carrier without actually paying the remaining balance owed on your Tesco phone!

Since laws differ from Country to Country and there are new changes often we cannot provide legal advice regarding Phone unlocking. In the USA, Cell Phone Unlocking became legal on August 1st, 2014 when Obama signed a bill into law allowing consumers to unlock their cell phones.

To find the latest information about your countries consumer protection laws relating to cell phone locking please visit these pages: CRTC in Canada , the ACCC in Australia, the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) in Europe and the FCC is the USA.

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