iPhone 4 locked to Orange

gk172

Hey can anyone please help, we bought an iPhone 4 for my daughters birthday off a friend thinking it was unlocked but after a full reset it wouldn't accept 02 sim and after many phone calls it appears its locked to orange but after even more phone calls the only place we might be able to get it unlock would be direct with orange who when I asked said 20 working days and that was without confirming who was the original owner which we were not:( I'm stuck as to what to do next my daughter really wants the one but with it being her birthday purchase doesn't want to wait 20 days and we do have the option to return the phone for a full refund any ideas??

Thanks in advance

sdduk

I think you would be better of getting your money back because even if you paid the £20 you could be waiting about a month for orange to unlock it

What Orange say and what they do are two different things
Many people on here have complained about waiting for orange to unlock there iPhone.

Buzby

You were told it was unlocked, and it wasn't. Even for a private seller, that's a mis description. Get them (as the owner) to unlock it - if they cannot do it in time through Orange, that is their loss.

gk172

Thanks for your replies I've just been back onto orange who now say I have to use the orange sim in the iPhone for 6 months then wait 20 days for unlock code:eek:

d123

gk172 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies I've just been back onto orange who now say I have to use the orange sim in the iPhone for 6 months then wait 20 days for unlock code:eek:

That's been their policy since early this year. It used to be 3 months and £15, they increased it to 6 months and £20.

Even then, many people have waited a lot longer than 20 days, the official wait is actually 28 days, many people have waited 2-3 months after requesting the unlock for it to be processed.

gjchester

gk172 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies I've just been back onto orange who now say I have to use the orange sim in the iPhone for 6 months then wait 20 days for unlock code:eek:

I'm not even sure that will work.

The way Apples are unlocked is on Apples server, when the iphone is activated on sim card change it checks with Apple what it should be locked to an unlocks. The only people who can request an unlock are the originating network, so I suspect you'll need to get your friend to request the unlock.

The phone does NOT have to have an Orange sim in to unlock it, nor do you have to give it them back, but they DO Need to request it and pay the costs. Once Orange request the unlock the next time you just re-sync it in iTunes and it will unlock.

Will still take a month or so, but will be done correctly and faster than if you do it yourself with a new sim card.

On the positive side, you know the history of it and your friend, buying an unlocked one from somewhere like Ebay may lead to it being blocked if reported stolen later on.

You could buy a PAYG orange sim card as a short term measure to at least use the phone while the unlock is processed.

JAYMARSH2005

Hi gk172,

What I think has happened is that the phone may of been jail broken unlocked, which is not a full unlock, it was a free way of unlocking in which apple have now blocked, basicly when the phone was factory restored it would of locked the phone back to Orange, what usually happens is if the Original person of the Phone (Contract Holder) phones orange up usually a year after having the phone, then Orange will unlock it for free, the only other way to unlock it nowadays is to buy the Full Unlock code off ebay, and unfortunately Orange are one of the most expensive to get the codes for, they are £100 at the moment. Or thirdly, you have the option of leaving O2 and asking for a PAC code when your daughter leaves them and then Provide that PAC code to Orange and they will transfer her phone number so she has the same phone number but will now be with Orange.

gjchester

JAYMARSH2005 wrote: »

the only other way to unlock it nowadays is to buy the Full Unlock code off ebay, and unfortunately Orange are one of the most expensive to get the codes for, they are £100 at the moment.

There are no "Full Unlock Codes" on Apple devices, it's all controlled by Apples servers. Anyone selling such a code relies on someone at the appropriate network doing code entries "on the side".

I guess there are few people who can do it at Orange so they can charge more for their services.

Will they work, probably, until the insider is found out or an audit done at which point it may be re-locked without notice. How long it will take and the fact you'll have very little comeback is another matter.

FloFlo

I waited for months for orange to unlock my iphone after a 2 year contract finished, I eventually got it unlocked by hounding them orange/ee on fb