replaced unlocked iphone is locked

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Khatija2011 Author

Level 1

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replaced unlocked iphone is locked

While traveling to USA I had my unlocked IPhone replaced under warranty. The guys in the store were fantastic and told me not to worry about my replacement phone as it would be unlocked, however it would take a few days for my carrier to sort it out. When I returned from USA I found that my replacement iPhone is locked and no one can sort it out, my carrier Etisalat is taking no responsibility for unlocking it and when I contacted UAE Apple Support they also refused to help me and told me the phone was locked to AT&T and I would have to email them to unlock it. There seems no way of me to be able to contact AT&T via email and as I am in UAE I am unable to call them as their is a 10 hour time difference, hence the reason I am also unable to call the Apple store in Chicago who replaced my iPhone. Please can someone help/advise me does anyone have an email address for the Apple store on 5th Avenue in Chicago or even an email address fro AT&T. Or does anyone know how i can sort this issue out.

Many Thanks

iPhone 3GS

Posted on Nov 14, 2011 7:17 AM

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Answer 1

roaminggnome

Level 10

106,365 points

Nov 14, 2011 7:21 AM in response to Khatija2011

AT&T will not unlock any iphone for any reason.

Sorry.

There were never any unlocked iphone 3gs sold in the U.S at all.

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Answer 2

May 1, 2014 11:57 AM in response to Khatija2011

I know this is super old but I just had the same problem so I thought I'd post my solution in case it can help anyone. My situation didn't involve AT&T, as I live in Canada but it sounds like the same issue just involving different companies.

I bought a phone that was locked to Virgin Mobile (Canada) except it turns out it really wasn't. When I called Virgin to unlock it they couldn't do it because they had no record of the phone at all. It was frustrating and surprising to say the least. How can the phone be locked and be used on the Virgin network, yet Virgin has no record of it?

Here's what happened: when the original owner got a replacement phone at the Apple store they gave her one that was locked to the parent company which is Bell, but she was not informed and continued to use it on Virgin, which was fine because Bell and Virgin are kind of the same company, except not really.

So when I called Virgin to unlock it they didn't have it in their database. When I called Bell they had it in their database and it was no problem.

The way I found out was to phone Apple support and when I gave them the serial number they were able to tell me who the phone was locked with.

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