Iphone 5s locked to Tesco/O2

amf

Several months ago I bought my daughter a new SIM free iphone 5S on ebay. Since it originally came from Carphonewarehouse it locked to the network of the first SIM inserted - Tesco/O2.

Her 12 months contract is almost up and I'm thinking of switching to Giffgaff. I know that Giffgaff piggy backs O2. Will a Giffgaff SIM work in her now locked phone or do I need to get Tesco (or O2) to unlock it first?

grumbler

If the phone is locked to Tesco, it won't work work with giffgaff sim.
And if it's locked to Tesco, O2 have nothing to do with this.

amf

Ah, seems like she may be stuck with Tesco then. :eek:

indesisiv

amf wrote: »

Ah, seems like she may be stuck with Tesco then. :eek:

Just get tesco to unlock it. It will then work with gifgaf

gjchester

indesisiv wrote: »

Just get tesco to unlock it. It will then work with gifgaf

Hopefully its that simple, but as Tesco did not supply the iPhone and the poster is not the original purchaser it may not be.

Networks have started to only unlock phones when the original owner requests it, mainly to ensure stolen phones cannot be unlocked by a thief. I understand that this may not be the case here, but Tesco would not have any way to know if the phone was purchased new/2nd hand or had been stolen.

grumbler

gjchester wrote: »

.... to ensure stolen phones cannot be unlocked by a thief.

Why on earth would they care?! Do they not have more important things to "ensure"? It's unlocking after all, not unblocking.

I understand that this may not be the case here, but Tesco would not have any way to know if the phone was purchased new/2nd hand or had been stolen.

They don't need to know this, but they do know that they locked the phone when this particular their customer started using it on their network.

gjchester

grumbler wrote: »

They don't need to know this, but they do know that they locked the phone when this particular their customer started using it on their network.

I don't doubt it.

The locking network is the network that has to authorise the unlock, however there are many many reports of problem with a CPW supplied "Sim Free" iPhone then being a PITA to unlock as the networks say they cannot help as they did not supply it, leading to a merry go round of the network blaming CPW and CPW blaming the network.

As an example this was last year - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5133202

I hope the OP's phone is unlocked without bother, but posts on here suggest they networks may want more details when the phone was not supplied by them, or even flatly refuse.

grumbler

I know about the problems. My point was that the problems had nothing to do with possible theft.

gjchester

grumbler wrote: »

I know about the problems. My point was that the problems had nothing to do with possible theft.

Some networks (voda and EE) will not unlock a device if you are not the original owner that they supplied the phone to, how can that be anything other than an anti theft measure?

burnsguitarman

As Tesco and Giff Gaff both piggyback the O2 network, they should work, without unlocking, definitley did on iphone4s.

grumbler

gjchester wrote: »

Some networks (voda and EE) will not unlock a device if you are not the original owner that they supplied the phone to,

Any proofs? What about iPhones supplied by CPW?

how can that be anything other than an anti theft measure?

It can be anything. E.g. they are just overwhelmed with unlocking and are too lazy to work more efficiently.

Blocking (blacklisting) is a far more efficient anti-theft measure that doesn't need duplicating.