iphone locked to vodafone advice

papoosue

Hi there.

Just got a second hand iphone 4 and it's locked to Vodafone. As far as I am aware the owner was on a sim only contract with the phone for 12 months (and before that I think it was a pay monthly contract)- now the owner has upgraded and sold me their phone. What I want to know is how do I get the phone unlocked? Can the owner get it unlocked free for me if I tell them the IMEI number?

Also, my current provider is giffgaff and I want to stay with them - I know I can get my sim card cut down to fit in the iphone but if I can't get the phone unlocked for free I'm a bit confused about what I need to do...

Can I get the phone unlocked elsewhere?
Do I need to buy a Vodafone sim to do that?
Do I even need a sim in the phone to unlock it?

I am a total novice in this sort of thing, so any advice would be really helpful.

Buzby

Get the original owner to ask Vodafone to unlock it. You then use iTunes to complete the process.

No, you cannot get it done elsewhere, no need for any Vodafone SIM, yes you'll need a non Voda SIM in the handset to complete the unlock process.

papoosue

Buzby wrote: »

Get the original owner to ask Vodafone to unlock it. You then use iTunes to complete the process.

No, you cannot get it done elsewhere, no need for any Vodafone SIM, yes you'll need a non Voda SIM in the handset to complete the unlock process.

I see. Thanks for the advice - greatly appreciated. Does that mean that the original owner has to unlock it with Vodafone or that the owner or myself can unlock it with Vodafone?

ToxicVoices

You can do it.

You'll need to stick a Vodafone SIM in it, top up £20 and call them/talk to them on their live chat and ask them to unlock it. They just need the IMEI and will take the £20 from your balance.

I dunno if it'll be free if you can get the original owner to do it, but I purchased a 2nd hand iPhone from eBay and that's how I had to do it.

It can take a few days though.

papoosue

ToxicVoices wrote: »

You can do it.

You'll need to stick a Vodafone SIM in it, top up £20 and call them/talk to them on their live chat and ask them to unlock it. They just need the IMEI and will take the £20 from your balance.

I dunno if it'll be free if you can get the original owner to do it, but I purchased a 2nd hand iPhone from eBay and that's how I had to do it.

It can take a few days though.

Thanks, that's great. I thought I just wasn't going to be able to unlock it at all for a moment there! I'm assuming I can do this in a store as well.

Annie._2

Only the original owner of the phone who had the iphone registered to their account can get it unlocked.

You will have to go back to the person you purchased the phone from and ask that person to complete the unlock request form below.

http://campaigns.vodafone.co.uk/UnlockCodeRequestForm/

If you do a Google, you will be able to find plenty of information on unlocking an iphone on Vodafone.

NFH

Ann_S wrote: »

Only the original owner of the phone who had the iphone registered to their account can get it unlocked.

Really? What happens if the original owner of the phone is no longer a Vodafone customer?

ToxicVoices

Ann_S wrote: »

Only the original owner of the phone who had the iphone registered to their account can get it unlocked.

You will have to go back to the person you purchased the phone from and ask that person to complete the unlock request form below.

If you do a Google, you will be able to find plenty of information on unlocking an iphone on Vodafone.

That's funny, because I was not the original/registered owner and...

Dear Customer,

Reference Number : XXXXXX
Mobile Number : 07XXXXXXXX
IMEI Number : 0XXXXXXXXXXXX

The iPhone has now been unlocked – Please replace the SIM (use a SIM which has never been used with this iPhone) and connect to iTunes or perform a software restore via iTunes.

Kind Regards
Divya Gounder
NUC Resolutions

OP, I doubt they could help in store. Call them or talk to them on their live help chat. You will be able to do it though, unless they have changed the process in the last 2 months since I did it.

Annie._2

NFH wrote: »

Really? What happens if the original owner of the phone is no longer a Vodafone customer?

Vodafone will still be able to access the previous owners details.

All the details have to match if the phone was previously on a contract, or the unlock request will be rejected by Apple.

Annie._2

ToxicVoices wrote: »

That's funny, because I was not the original/registered owner and...

Dear Customer,

Reference Number : XXXXXX
Mobile Number : 07XXXXXXXX
IMEI Number : 0XXXXXXXXXXXX

The iPhone has now been unlocked – Please replace the SIM (use a SIM which has never been used with this iPhone) and connect to iTunes or perform a software restore via iTunes.

Kind Regards
Divya Gounder
NUC Resolutions

OP, I doubt they could help in store. Call them or talk to them on their live help chat. You will be able to do it though, unless they have changed the process in the last 2 months since I did it.

If the iphone was previously on a contract, only the original owner who had the phone registered to their account will be able to complete the unlock request form.

If the phone was purchased outright on PAYG paying the full price, you can get the phone unlocked by completing the form and paying for the unlock.

NFH

Ann_S wrote: »

All the details have to match if the phone was previously on a contract, or the unlock request will be rejected by Apple.

Why would Apple reject it? Apple needs only the IMEI number or serial number to unlock it. For this purpose, Apple doesn't care what the name of the original customer was.