New 3 contract not active with iPhone 5s

crufader

Hi, I recently upgraded through carphonewarehouse to a iPhone 5s on 3. I went the day it came out and requested that I want it on the 3 network. All seemed fine, it all went through ok (seemingly) and I got my phone and new sim. I get home and put my sim in etc and it said my sim was not active. I call 3, they have no trace of me or my details. So I go back to cpw to see what's going on. I got told that sometimes new contracts don't get connected for whatever reason. Customer service was shocking and basically with a wink and a nudge the advisor told me I have now got a free phone to do what ever I wish. Now I am tempted to get it unblocked and sell it on. It's their error and they have basically given me the go ahead. Any thoughts guys?

NFH

If your SIM was never active, it might have never become SIM-locked to Three. When you buy an iPhone from the Carphone Warehouse, it becomes SIM-locked to the first SIM inserted. If it is not SIM-locked already, it soon will be as soon as you insert an active SIM.

crufader

Thanks for the reply, So I'm guessing that as it never became active, I should technically be able to try a pay as u go nano sim and it should work?

NFH

crufader wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, So I'm guessing that as it never became active, I should technically be able to try a pay as u go nano sim and it should work?

It might do, but I don't know precisely how the unusual SIM-locking process works with iPhones supplied by the Carphone Warehouse. I don't know whether it becomes SIM-locked only to the network of an active SIM card. Given that it's possible to activate an iPhone by inserting any inactive SIM card, it's possible that your iPhone has already become SIM-locked to Three.

crufader

Ok best bet would be to try a payg sim and see if it works. They have 28 days from sale to ask for the phone back so will wait until end of October to sell it. I wonder how often this happens!

NFH

crufader wrote: »

Ok best bet would be to try a payg sim and see if it works.

Use a PAYG SIM of a network with which SIM-unlocking is cheap and easy. Or you could go down the very risky route of using a SIM card from an obscure network with whom Apple has no relationship and you would then have to request Apple to unlock it for free.

crufader

ok will try that, thanks for your assistance. Has anyone else been in this situation, would be interesting to hear what you did???

Cycrow

you could also take it into apple, they should be able to tell you if its locked or not

Frozen_up_north

crufader wrote: »

Customer service was shocking and basically with a wink and a nudge the advisor told me I have now got a free phone to do what ever I wish. Now I am tempted to get it unblocked and sell it on. It's their error and they have basically given me the go ahead. Any thoughts guys?

Handling stolen goods?

crufader

Not really, still paid £100 for the handset.

Roland_Sausage

I would just take out a SIM only contract with 3 and enjoy the monthly saving