I have recently been given my mums iphone which was on an 02 contract. The contract is about to/has run out and I am now living in Australia so i don't want to renew/upgrade my phone or anything. I've brought a new Australian Sim card and have a puk code to enter to unlock the phone but when i enter the sim card nothing happens and i can't figure out where i have to enter the code?! Can any-one help?! Thanks
iPhone 3G
A PUK (PIN Unlock Key) does not unlock the phone. It is used to unlock a SIM card when you have incorrectly entered the SIM lock PIN multiple times (usually three).
In such a situation, you will be prompted by the phone to enter the PUK. Otherwise, it has no use.
Oh okay, so how do i unlock the phone so that i can use a new sim card?
Typically, the original provider (in this case, O2) would have to unlock it.
You cannot unlock the screen but I'm guessing you're not talking about not having that code from your Mum. (If so, you can only wipe it and start over using iTunes.)
You are probably talking about it being locked to O2 (won't accept SIMs from other carriers), then you may not have any option that Apple wants you to know about but Google might be very insightful/helpful especially with the right keyword. I would share that but then Apple would probably kill this post instantly. All carriers in the US (except Vz?) now lock their phones so we cannot use other carrier's SIMs while abroad (or change carriers to cheat on our contracts that subsidize phone purchases).
Your iPhone is locked to O2 but they will unlock it happily
http://www.o2.co.uk/unlockmyiphone
You may need to get your mother to arrange as she is the contract holder .Get her to call O2 CS and they are usually very helpful .
There is a possible problem that the iPhone may need to be active on the O2 network in UK but check out O2 before worrying about that
PS
PUK codes are irrelevant in this situation, only O2 can sanction Apple releasing your iPhone from lock which is achieved through iTunes
So is there actually a way to unlock without the carrier? I have a phone I am in Saskatchewan and I bought a phone for my son. The person that sold it said it was unlocked but now i found out it is locked onto a manitoba company. I checked it is not stolen and is reset but with it being locked I would have to go to Manutoba and start up a serivce with them and get them to unlock it. At that point it is too much. so is there actually a way to unlock it from the start up portion where it informs you that it is locked by another carrier?
Thank you
Jodie Charbonneau
Disregard. Responded to wrong post.
No. ONLY the carrier it is locked to can unlock it.
How to unlock my iphone and enter the PUK code
