orange iPhone unlock?

vicx

vixmony wrote: »

ok so if the chap doesnt pay, his bill, can the network block the phone?
and also can i still unlock the handset if its now registered in my name, even if the origional owner doesnt pay his bills. am asking cause the orange staff, just cannot be bothered, all they are saying is for me to wait,, untill 3 months, when they can unlock it, but i dont want to get there, to find i cant, and worse still, the phone is locked and its deadwood?

It might be worth having a look on the Orange website and forum (if they have one) regarding the unlock code.

When my brother was on Vodafone contract plus phone he decided he wanted a different phone before he was able to upgrade so he purchased a Vodafone contract phone on Ebay which was locked to Vodafone. He wanted to be able to use the phone with a different network so he looked on the Vodafone website and forum to see how much it would cost. Even though the phone wasnt originally his he was still able to get it unlocked for free as he had a Vodafone contract.

Now my point is, when he took the phone in the Vodafone store and called Vodafone Customer Services they wanted to charge him £20 for the unlock code, Apparently they knew nothing about the code being provided free for contract customers despite it being stated on their website and forum. I would look on the Orange website and forum if you havent already and see what information you can find about the code and why you have to wait 3 months. My brother was provided his code within 24 hours of emailing.

teamcullen

If he doesn't pay his bills, no the handset wouldn't be barred. The handset is only barred if reported lost or stolen.

I think Orange had the three-month rule so that they could make their money back on the handsets through top-ups, and the unlock code can take up to 28days. Saying that though, I didn't think you could unlock an iPhone at all.

vicx

iPhones can be unlocked but I'm sure they can only be done by the network provider. People sell unlock codes for all different handsets on eBay but there is none for an iPhone so they must be hard to unlock.

vixmony

cornishstud wrote: »

In contrast to common belief, the iPhone is one of the simplest phones to unlock, providing you have the correct firmware version(s).

The iPhone can be unlocked using the USB cable that was supplied with it, and a piece of free software you can google for called "ZiPhone".

In actual fact, Orange are the only UK network that have reportedly been known to bar handsets for non-payment of a contract (unfortunately enough for OP!).

I don't know what the forums position is on this, so mods feel free to remove the following part of my comment if censorship is required by the forums rules;

If the handset is barred by Orange for non-payment, using the above mentioned "ZiPhone" software, you can also change the iPhone's IMEI. So long as you change this to that of another old phone you have kicking about and don't use (is broken for example), this will not cause any problems, and will result in the iPhone being "unbarred" as it were. (NOTE: Using a random or working phone's IMEI number could cause network issues if both were to come online at the same time.)

You should note that changing the IMEI is however illegal, so whilst you can do it, it's purely your choice whether you do or not, and you obviously accept the responsibility for doing this.

**I wouldn't normally share this sort of knowledge, but the OP has stated that he has purchased this handset on ebay, and basically been screwed by the seller. If his phone is barred for another bloke's non-payment, it's only fair he should be able to "unbar" it right?**

mate thanks for your advice, but all be honest, at the moment, i dont think theirs any software on the planet, to unlock the ipone 3gs, running the latest firmware, 3.1.3 and the new base band 5.12.01. i believe, so i really doubt the authencity, of that ziphone anyone else used this ziphone, on the new 3gs firmware, 3.1.3 please, and apparently their is a new jail breaking software called spirit, but it doesnt unlock , so something should be in the pipeline.