How to unlock your Virgin Mobile phone
If your phone has locked you out, you’ll need a Personal Unlocking Key (PUK) to get back in to it.
How to get PUK code to unlock my phone
If your phone has locked you out, you’ll need a Personal Unlocking Key (PUK) to get back in to it. The reason for being locked out is usually that you've entered your PIN incorrectly 3 times.
- Sign in on your Virgin Mobile account and find your code in: Plan & Device > Summary.
- Enter your PUK code on your phone’s lock screen.
Get this wrong 10 times, you’ll block your SIM card, but don’t worry: text 07533 016 422* for a replacement and follow these steps for how to activate your new SIM.
Messages to this number are free on a Virgin Mobile or charged at your network’s standard rate – help’s available Monday to Friday (7am to 11pm); Saturday and Sunday (8am to 8pm). Online, you also have our online device support.
How to unlock your Virgin Mobile to join our network?
Know your phone’s locked to your current network? When you put our SIM card in, are you told it’s incompatible or asked for a network security code? Here’s what to do…
- Find out your mobile’s 15 digit IMEI number
Type *#06# on your mobile to see its IMEI or you can go to:
- Your iPhone’s Settings app > General > About.
- Your Android’s Settings > About > Device > Status.
- Ask your network to unlock your handset
Call or contact them online. They’ll ask for your IMEI number. If you meet your network’s criteria, they’ll unlock your phone or maybe send you an unlock code by email or text – messages can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 days to arrive. If you’ve had your phone a long time, maybe they’ll have to ask the device manufacturer for the code? Good networks will let you know if there’s a delay.
If you’re leaving us, remember you don’t have to unlock your Virgin Mobile handset (it was never locked).
- Enter your network’s unlock code
Go to Apple Support and follow the instructions for your iPhone’s version of iOS. Or pop in our SIM card, switch on your mobile and enter your network unlock code. Afterwards, press OK on your Windows phone; or follow the instructions on your Android until you get the message confirming it’s unlocked.
Many networks (Virgin Media O2, Vodafone) can do it free. EE’s charged up to £8.99 to unlock a handset, while prices elsewhere could reach the £10 mark. Going to a phone repair shop’s probably in this range as well – perhaps your best bet, if you bought your phone second hand and you’re unsure what network it was on.
Remember you could invalidate your warranty by using high street or online unlocking services, or unlocking your own phone with a cable and high-tech software.
The UK has no laws against it, so yes – it’s perfectly legal. Just be careful when you’re buying a second hand handset because networks, say EE, won’t unlock a mobile that’s reported lost or stolen.
- Freedom to switch networks when you spot better SIM only deal. If EE, Tesco Mobile or somewhere else sold you a phone that’s locked to their network, only their SIM cards will work for you, until you unlock your handset. When your mobile isn’t chained to a network, you never have to settle – see if you can get better signal coverage, bigger allowances for your buck or even a foreign SIM card for going abroad so you can save on roaming charges.
- Start using a phone you’ve bought second hand.
- When it’s unlocked from its old network, you can pop in one of our pay monthly SIMs.
- Fetch a higher price: unlocked mobiles tend to sell better and faster.
How to get O2 PUK code on a Volt package?
If your household is with both Virgin Media and O2 and you have Volt benefits, you can unlock your phone by getting an O2 PUK code on the O2 website.
Need more help?
Still having trouble unlocking your O2 phone? You can ring O2 by dialling 202 from your O2 phone from 8am to 8pm on Monday to Saturday and 10am to 5pm on Sunday.
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