Is it possible for a 3G SIM for a USB modem to be locked so it won't work in a phone?

[slightly]

Hi all,

I'm in Spain and there's a mobile data tariff Orange do here called 'Internet Everywhere' that has a 5GB data allowance, but it's for laptops with a USB modem dongle. The normal 3G tariffs for phones only go up to 512MB which is a bit low for what I want.

Now a guy in the Orange shop here said you can't use the SIM for the USB dongle in a normal phone, even just for data (I'm aware it won't work for voice), but I suspect this is BS, but obviously before signing up for an 18 month contract I want to be sure.

Orange offer the same tariff (and dongle) in the UK, and from a bit of Googling around it *seems* people have used the SIM in a regular mobile for data and it's worked, but the posts I found were a bit unclear. I've not managed to find any info about the Spanish version.

So! My question is, does anyone know of any way that Orange could be locking these SIMs so they'll only work in a dongle and not with a regular mobile?

I have a lock-free Touch Pro (you can't get these with a contract here so I paid the full price... ouch).

Thanks!

[nir36]

In israel Orange locks the SIM cards using a specific code for each of the modems so that you can't even moהe them between modems.
I think you should search in the Network section of the forum first.. if you don't find anything.. maybe someone could break it.. tho i'm pretty sure it isn't as simple as it seems.

[slightly]

Thanks for the reply :)