Unlocked iPhone Question - selling phone on

Gaz83

A quick question guys, would appreciate if anyone knows any info.

My boss had an iPhone 4S on Orange and accidentally put it through the washing machine. Her insurance told her to go into an Apple store and give her details and they'd give her a replacement, which they did - they gave her a brand new iPhone 4S and, because it came from Apple, presumably it would have been unlocked. She put her Orange SIM card in it and began using it, no problem.

Now, she's recently got a new phone and sold the 4S on, advertising it as being unlocked. However the new owner is saying that they can't use their SIM card as it's been locked to Orange. My boss has been in touch with the Apple shop and they've confirmed that the phone should have been unlocked.

Anyone any idea how this could have happened? I'm a bit stumped but can think of two possible reasons:

1) Putting her Orange SIM card into an unlocked iPhone then locked it back to Orange (is this even possible?)

2) The shop have given her a Grade A refurbished one, possibly by accident, instead of a brand new one - and this refurbished one is locked to Orange.

Any thoughts, folks?

Kingsd316

Did you have to hand Apple back the original water damaged phone or was that sent back to your insurers?

Sounds to me that the insurance company only paid the OOW replacement charge which will then have the same network lock as the original phone as that is the only way an iphone bought fully priced directly from apple could ever lock

InsideInsurance

All iPhones are network unlocked when purchased. Some are setup such that the first sim inserted gets it networked locked to them and others are such that it always remains unlocked.

It will be simple for your boss to contact Orange to ask them to unlock it and once the confirmation is received the new owner will just need to do a sync with an internet connected computer (or directly with iCloud) and it will become unlocked.

I cannot speak for Orange but O2 do it for free if its a Contract phone or about £20 for a PAYG. Normally its done within 48 hours.

tronator

I thought that iPhones lock to the first network you use.

http://kenstechtips.com/index.php/how-to-unlock-your-iphone-from-o2-and-orange#EE_Orange_T-Mobile

teffers

tronator wrote: »

I thought that iPhones lock to the first network you use.

http://kenstechtips.com/index.php/how-to-unlock-your-iphone-from-o2-and-orange#EE_Orange_T-Mobile

iPhones supplied directly from the Apple store should be fully unlocked and not lock to the first sim.

grumbler

tronator wrote: »

I thought that iPhones lock to the first network you use.

teffers wrote: »

iPhones supplied directly from the Apple store should be fully unlocked and not lock to the first sim.

So are iPhones supplied by Giffgaff and, reportedly, by Three.

macman

Who would buy a phone that has been advertised as having gone through a washing machine, unless sold for spares? It may work for a while, but corrosion will probably kill it before long.

J_B

macman wrote: »

Who would buy a phone that has been advertised as having gone through a washing machine, unless sold for spares? It may work for a while, but corrosion will probably kill it before long.

Hmmm .... did you read the OP????

Gaz83

Kingsd316 wrote: »

Did you have to hand Apple back the original water damaged phone or was that sent back to your insurers?

Sounds to me that the insurance company only paid the OOW replacement charge which will then have the same network lock as the original phone as that is the only way an iphone bought fully priced directly from apple could ever lock

No idea, wasn't my phone - was my boss's. I was just looking into it as she's a bit of a technophobe.

Gaz83

InsideInsurance wrote: »

It will be simple for your boss to contact Orange to ask them to unlock it and once the confirmation is received the new owner will just need to do a sync with an internet connected computer (or directly with iCloud) and it will become unlocked.

Nah, wasn't so simple - because she was given a new phone from the Apple store Orange had no record of the IMEI, and so couldn't unlock it from their end.

Gaz83

teffers wrote: »

iPhones supplied directly from the Apple store should be fully unlocked and not lock to the first sim.

Well, this is the thing. I ended up phoning Applecare and the bloke I spoke to said that even phones supplied by Apple lock to the first SIM inserted's network.

I believed what you had said as well, that iPhones supplied directly by Apple were unlocked. But apparently that's not the case.

So problem solved, in a way - her new phone will have locked to Orange, but he did say that doing a factory reset from recovery mode will restore it to its 'unlocked' status and then it can work with any SIM.