I think (but im not sure) that perhaps if you bought a phone somewhere else (like france) it would only be blocked against french networks and when you brought it to england or where ever you live, you could choose your network. the reason i think it might happen is because when i went to france (my phone is on bt/o2) i could choose any of the networks, so it might work the other way, and also prices were a bit cheaper over there.

anyone ever tried it?

topping up might be a problem though, and im not sure if it would work, its just an idea and would be like having an unlocked phone for use on any network.......

true, it could work, sum1 will have 2 try, i'm going 2 france next year so i will play around and see what i an figure out. Basically the phone would be roaming though, and normally the networks only have a roaming agreement with 1 network.

if a new dct4 handset is bared on 1 network in the uk it will in efect be barred on all uk networks... if u take the same fone abroad itl be unbared as the network oparators change...same as bring a barred fone frm another country to the uk.. it shud wrk

thats is not 100 percent true, as if your country has a va network as same as one in the uk, it will be barred on that network aswel.