[MDA III, XDA III, PDA2k, 9090 General] TheMadScot:
Ludicrous, really...

It seems that every time you speak to someone at O2 customer services you get different answers; it's verging on the ridiculous.

My situation is that I will be travelling to Montana in the US on business next month, but the city which I'm going to is not covered by any of O2's roaming network partners - information that I double-checked before contacting O2.

Armed with this knowledge, I set about emailing O2 support. I explained the situation, and the responses were as follows (edited for brevity)

Me: I'd like to SIM unlock my XDA IIs as I'm going abroad to an area that O2 do not have sufficient roaming partner network coverage.

O2: SIM Unlocking costs £15, but we don't unlock handests until after your 12 month contract is up.

Me: Hang on a minute, I'm locked into the contract for 12 months anyway, and on my O2 Max tarriff, you'll get at least £900 out of me for the duration. If I were to cancel my contract, I'd still have to pay O2 the remainder of my line rental and, if I didn't, you could but a global bar on the handset's IMEI... so where's the risk to O2?

O2 Yes, we confirm you've had your handset for less than 12 months; if you wish to cancel, you'll need to pay us for the remaining line rental. If you wish to use your handset abroad, you need to have international roaming activated. To do this, you will need to lodge a £100 deposit against your account, which is refundable after three months.

Me FFS! I never said I wanted to cancel, and my tariff already includes ITS (as published) and now you say I have to pay £100 to roam? Did you miss the part where I mentioned that you have NO PARTNER COVERAGE in the area which I'm travelling to?? Please escalate this issue to a supervisor.

O2 Hello. You have had your contract for less than twelve months. If you wish to SIM unlock your handset, you will have to cancel your contract, pay for any outstanding call charges and the line due for the remaining portion of your contract, plus a £15 unlock fee.

... at this point, I could kill... so I telephone O2 customer services instead.

I get told:

1. The O2 shop can do it for you

2. The O2 shop tells me they'll call customer services on my behalf

3. The O2 shop calls me and says "They say it'll cost over £900"

4. I call O2 customer services - again - and ask for a supervisor, and get told to contact O2 network services on a different number

5. O2 network services say they DO have partner coverage in Montana, and that this info is on their website... I'm not near a PC when I take this call, so I cant check.

I get to my desk, get to the O2 website and check for Billings, Montana, USA under international coverage. Guess what? No Coverage

6. I call O2 customer services again, thinking to myself that perhaps a lesser person would have resorted to mass-murder by now. I explain the situation in detail again, get told "can't unlock under 12 months yada yada" and then ask to speak to a manager. Two minutes of being on hold and then I'm told - "Right, we're organising your unlock code for you"

A half dozen emails and about 1 hour of 0870 calls to get there.

Compare and contrast this with my call to Orange to SIM unlock my SPV C500 yesterday:

Me Hello, SIM unlock yada yada

Orange Fine; we've requested the code and will call you for your £20 payment once we have it, which will be around 5 business days time.

I've had my C500 since August 26th... yes, five whole months

So, in summation

O2 = first to market with the goods, but crap support

Orange = late getting the handsets, but very little hassle