Should A Phone Browse Net Without a Phone Account?

System

 We have an old nokia lumia 710 and long ago the phone account expired.

 Now we notice it sees our home wifi and connects with it.

But the browser won't browse the web and email doesn't work.

Should it?

We think so because we have another phone in the same situation: no phone account - but it browses the web quite happily whenever it finds a public wifi or our home wifi.   that's galaxy j1,  that one.

madbilly

When you say phone account do you mean SIM with a working phone number?

In short, yes smartphones should connect to internet via wifi with no problem even if they've not got a working SIM.

For a Lumia 710 you'll have to ask on the Microsoft support forums, answers.microsoft.com.

Unknown

 Thank you.  I've been looking for that answer for nearly a week now, would you believe?

I thought as much.  On microsoft forums?  Okay, I'll try.  Thanks.

madbilly

 Yes, All Nokia phones prior to 31st December 2016 are Microsoft's responsibility I think - there is an FAQ about this: https://community.phones.nokia.com/support/discussions/topics/7000011084

Still, I agree it's confusing!