Unlocking second hand Orange/T-mobile/EE/Virgin locked iPhone 5

awidgery

I have just bought an iPhone 5 locked to Orange/T-mobile/EE/Virgin from an Amazon seller. It is a used phone.

I'd like to get it unlocked. No rush, but I'd like to get the balls in motion.

I have heard:
1. Only the original network it was bought from will unlock it
2. That T-mobile do not normally talk to anyone except the original purchaser about unlocking, even if the second-hand owner is a customer.
3. That Orange might unlock second-hand phones once you've been with them for 3 or 6 months, having registered the handset to your account (either PAYG or contract).

I am on a Virgin SIM-only contract currently.

Here's my question:
1. How do you find out which of the 3 "merged" networks (EE, T-mobile, Orange) the phone is *mainly* locked to, and thus which network you are going to have to deal with? Or can I try to deal with any of them?
2. Has anyone been in this situation (second hand phone, post-merger) and successfully managed to get an iPhone unlock?
3. Am happy to get PAYG Orange/T-mobile/EE SIMs, set them up and register with the phone and after however long they stipulate to attempt to unlock - but I don't know if that's the way forward.

Any advice/experience much appreciated!

grumbler

simax wrote: »

New unlocking rules for T-Mobile/Orange/EE from yesterday. Same criteria for all 3 brands now.....

£20.42 cost
Also, the handset needs to have been linked onto the account (ie: bought with the contract) for 6 months now before it will be considered for unlocking.

Apparenty you can get it unlocked via ebay for £60+: Unlock T-mobile iPhone?

ETA: I don't think that it can be locked to "Orange/T-mobile/EE/Virgin" at the same time. Even if Orange/T-mobile/EE are all the same now in terms of locking, a phone locked to Virgin is unlikely to work on Orange/T-mobile/EE. However, it's probably different for iPhones, as Virgin don't sell iPhones and iPhones locking is different from other handsets.