Unlocked iPhone 5 bought in Canada not working in Brazil

Perhaps the phone that you purchased from the Apple store was not actually unlocked, but sim free instead, which means that the phone will lock to the first sim card that you insert into the phone - ie Fido.

To get the phone unlocked, you would need to contract Fido and see if they will unlock it for you. Failing this, you would need to return to or contact the Apple store in Canada where you purchased the phone to see if the phone was truly unlocked or sim free and see what they will do about it. If it was their mistake and the phone is still in warranty she should exchange it for you - if it was not an unlocked phone and you requested an unlocked phone, then they should still replace it for you.

Do you still have your receipt for this phone? If so, it should tell you on this whether the phone is unlocked or not. Check it and see.

My girlfriend has run into this exact same problem in Italy. She bought an iPhone 5 supposedly unlocked at an Apple Store, used it in Canada for a few months and now gets the same error trying to use a SIM from the Tim carrier in Italy.

Is there a way to get it unlocked remotely or will she have to bring the phone into the Apple Store to get this resolved. And how is it the Apple Store is selling these phones as unlocked when they aren't at all unlocked? 😠

Only the carrier a phone is lock to can unlock it. Not Apple.

SIM free and unlocked are different and consumers may not be aware of the difference.

Apparently Apple Store employees aren't aware of the difference between SIM free and unlocked. What do we do now if we were given SIM free in place of the unlocked phone that was purchased?