I had to unlock my Sony Ericsson v630i recently because I needed to use a Spanish SIM and I didn't want to carry (care about) another phone.

On the net there are a lot of weird services where you send your IMEI and they give you the code to unblock it (NUC) for £60 or so. Same price they will charge on the streets.

Well, in the end, after googling a bit it was much more easier than that, and for free.

Just email them asking for your NUC code and they will give it to you the same day. This was the answer:

Good afternoon Ricardo,

Thanks for asking about the NUC for your pone.

I will assist you with the procedure ahead.

The NUC for your phone is ****************.

The procedure is given below:

1. Remove the Vodafone SIM from the handset. Replace the battery and switch on.
2. Move the jog dial left then press the * key twice and then move the jog dial left
3. Network appears on screen
4. Then select YES.
5. NCK will appear - key in NUC and Yes, phone should then be unlocked

...

Counldn't be easier. Seems like new vodafone uk contract phones are delievered open nowadays, so asking for the unlock code shouldn't be hard nowadays.