Locked Tesco 3GS

albionrovers

Hi - bullet points

I got a replacement 3GS under warranty from Apple Store.
I used it for 2 months with my existing Tesco contract.
I sold it as 'unlocked' online.
Buyer tells me it is locked to Tesco - I guess he must be telling the truth? Else he would have to guess the provider to try and scam me. I'm settling for a partial refund to pay for the unlock, everyone happy.

My Q is :-
How and when did the lock process occur? If it helps, the original broken 3GS was not a Tesco phone either. So the only link to Tesco were the contract SIM card in each case.

jessmist

Hi,
I am sure i read somewhere that the iphone locks itself to the first sim card that is used in it.
I'm sure someone else will be along soon to explain it better.

19lottie82

It may be difficult for the buyer to unlock the phone himself, if he is not the original owner.

Rather than refund cash, it would prob be best for both parties if you unlocked the phone yourself.

All you will need is the IMEI number. Once you have this phone Tesco and they shoudl be able to advise you how to proceed.

Usually it involves them taking your details and a fee (tho some network providers so this for free), then coming back to you in about 7-14 days (they say up to 30 days, but its usually shorter than this) and telling you the phone is now unlocked. The phoen can then be hooked up to itunes, restored and voila!

Frozen_up_north

There appear to be two flavours of "SIM free" iPhone... Those bought directly from Apple should be truly SIM free and those bought from high street stores such as Car Phone Warehouse become network locked when first used. The CPW web page states that "iPhone will lock to the network of the SIM first used". So was the original iPhone bought directly from Apple or a high street store?

My guess is the original phone network locked on the inserted SIM and the Apple Store supplied a similar replacement...

albionrovers

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

There appear to be two flavours of "SIM free" iPhone... Those bought directly from Apple should be truly SIM free and those bought from high street stores such as Car Phone Warehouse become network locked when first used. The CPW web page states that "iPhone will lock to the network of the SIM first used". So was the original iPhone bought directly from Apple or a high street store?

My guess is the original phone network locked on the inserted SIM and the Apple Store supplied a similar replacement...

I got the original phone online so no idea. And therein lies the problem. Thanks for replies.

macman

Could you not have tested it with a non-Tesco SIM before advertising it as unlocked though?

jap200

albionrovers wrote: »

I got the original phone online so no idea. And therein lies the problem. Thanks for replies.

Surely you know where you got it from 'online' though. Either you bought it online directly from Apple or you didn't.

albionrovers

macman wrote: »

Could you not have tested it with a non-Tesco SIM before advertising it as unlocked though?

I don't have a non-Tesco SIM.

albionrovers

jap200 wrote: »

Surely you know where you got it from 'online' though. Either you bought it online directly from Apple or you didn't.

I didn't. I bought it via online market place.

macman

albionrovers wrote: »

I don't have a non-Tesco SIM.

Borrow one or get a free one then?

albionrovers

macman wrote: »

Borrow one or get a free one then?

Why? The phone has gone already. Clearly?

Edit: I made an error when advertising the phone. I thought my original post made that pretty obvious? Anyhoo ....