new iPhone from Hong Kong and she needs to use with carrier in New York, spectrum mobile. The carrier said her phone is not compatible and needs to trade her phone in and buy one from them. Please help …

It’s not locked with any carrier but spectrum says it’s not compatible…

It is locked to the carrier that you used in Hong Kong. That is why it is incompatible with Spectrum....or any other carrier that you want to use.

Somehow, you will need to get the phone unlocked by the Hong Kong carrier.....if the carrier is willing to do this.

Did the employee say the phone is locked to a Hong Kong carrier? Or did they say it's not compatible with their network?

If it's locked to a Hong Kong Carrier, only that carrier can unlock it.

~Lyssa

Only the carrier that it was locked by can unlock it. If it doesn’t show as eligible when checking via Spectrums BYOD site you won’t be able to use it. Contact the carrier it is locked to and ask if they will unlock it. They aren’t required to but if the will you would need to meet their unlocking policy requirements

......can someone please help me set up or unlock the iPhone. But we did use it with a local SIM card here in hong for a couple of weeks.

Well, the phone was unlocked when it was purchased at the Apple Store, but it was locked by the carrier in Hong Kong.

Only the carrier in Hong Kong can remove the lock on the phone. Apple cannot do this. No one except the carrier that locked the phone can unlock it.