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Unlock T-mobile iPhone?

MrsE_2
MrsE_2 Posts: 24,162 Forumite
10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
I want to get an iPhone 4S unlocked from t-mobile to work on O2.
It seems since the merger with orange this is more difficult/expensive?
Found a website that says it £80. I've taken it into those phone shops & been told they can't unlock t-mobile/EE ones.

Do I have to pay £80 or will it get cheaper when people break the code?
«1345

Comments

  • grumbler
    grumbler Posts: 58,629 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Where have you seen £80? AFAIK, Orange charge £20, but often take ages to do this. On ebay this does cost about £80.
    Unlocking ORANGE Iphone PROBLEMS!
    I-Phone 4s Legit Unlocking
  • MrsE_2
    MrsE_2 Posts: 24,162 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    It's t-mobile. It's still in contract but person has second contact so t-mobile wont do it.
  • grumbler
    grumbler Posts: 58,629 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I don't understand what the second contract has to do with unlocking and why t-mobile "won't do it".
  • Buzby
    Buzby Posts: 8,275 Forumite
    This should be irrelevant it is the SIM That is 'In contract' not the handset. The simple way to do this is to buy a T Mob PAYG SIM as if a new customer, top it up and use it for 12 weeks. Then request it to be unlocked. The £20 charge for this will be taken from the PAYG available credit.

    The other services are for jailbreaking (not unlocking) and will cause he phone to relock with an OS update.
  • grumbler
    grumbler Posts: 58,629 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Buzby wrote: »
    ...The other services are for jailbreaking (not unlocking) and will cause he phone to relock with an OS update.
    This is incorrect.
    Again and again.
  • MrsE_2
    MrsE_2 Posts: 24,162 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Buzby wrote: »
    This should be irrelevant it is the SIM That is 'In contract' not the handset. The simple way to do this is to buy a T Mob PAYG SIM as if a new customer, top it up and use it for 12 weeks. Then request it to be unlocked. The £20 charge for this will be taken from the PAYG available credit.

    The other services are for jailbreaking (not unlocking) and will cause he phone to relock with an OS update.

    Really? That easy?
  • bignred05
    bignred05 Posts: 1,209 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Tmobile (EE) will only unlock your iphone if you purchased it from Tmobile (EE) and they charge £15 for it

    I know this as I recently tried this myself, and Tmobile would not unlock my iphone4, as I bought if from a third party (smartphonestore)
  • gjchester
    gjchester Posts: 5,741 Forumite
    grumbler wrote: »
    This is incorrect.
    Again and again.

    Yes and no.

    Most phones are locked in the handset, Apples lock them via a database on Apples servers. When unlocked Apple mark the database and the next time the phone has a different SIM in it the phone will contact Apple to be activated.

    If it's marked as being Sim Free fine, if it's not it remains locked to the particular network.

    You can jailbreak and unlock an iPhone however if it's takes an Apple update (say IOS6.1) there is the chance it MAY be re-locked to the original network, UNLESS the unlock was done on Apples servers.

    You CAN unlock by other means the iphone and it remain unlocked as long as you don't take updates.

    There are a lot of providers out there who claim they can unlock an Iphone permanently, some may be able to if they have access to someone who can put request in in to Apple but there are a lot of scammers, I've just tried one of the top 5 hits in Google who asked for the phone details and network, by putting in the IMEI of an old Motorola SLVR instead of my iPhones the site generated an "unlock report" saying it could be unlocked quickly, they are no even validating the IMEI is a genuine iPhone.
    PLEASE be careful who you give money to, chances are pretty good they may unlock it for the moment, but once it's updated it will re-lock.
  • MrsE_2
    MrsE_2 Posts: 24,162 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    gjchester wrote: »
    Yes and no.

    Most phones are locked in the handset, Apples lock them via a database on Apples servers. When unlocked Apple mark the database and the next time the phone has a different SIM in it the phone will contact Apple to be activated.

    If it's marked as being Sim Free fine, if it's not it remains locked to the particular network.

    You can jailbreak and unlock an iPhone however if it's takes an Apple update (say IOS6.1) there is the chance it MAY be re-locked to the original network, UNLESS the unlock was done on Apples servers.

    You CAN unlock by other means the iphone and it remain unlocked as long as you don't take updates.

    There are a lot of providers out there who claim they can unlock an Iphone permanently, some may be able to if they have access to someone who can put request in in to Apple but there are a lot of scammers, I've just tried one of the top 5 hits in Google who asked for the phone details and network, by putting in the IMEI of an old Motorola SLVR instead of my iPhones the site generated an "unlock report" saying it could be unlocked quickly, they are no even validating the IMEI is a genuine iPhone.
    PLEASE be careful who you give money to, chances are pretty good they may unlock it for the moment, but once it's updated it will re-lock.

    Thank you - so iPhones are a bit of a nightmare to unlock!!!! I had no idea it was so complicated.
    So how do I get it unlocked via the apple database?
  • grumbler
    grumbler Posts: 58,629 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    The only reliable way is to do this is via a network.
    See the threads posted above for e-bay options.
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