Virgin Mobile unlocks iPhones for free?

Check with the carrier for the costs and procedures involved.

Virgin Mobile is CDMA. There is no such thing as an unlocked CDMA device.

That Virgin Mobile iPhone will not be able to be used on any other carrier.

Several confusing pieces of information here.

First, the link to Virgin Mobile in the first post is for Virgin Mobile Australia. They will unlock their phones if you ask them.

Virgin Mobile USA is a different company (in a different country) and does NOT unlock phones.

Second, the iPhone sold on Virgin Mobile USA does have a SIMM card slot, even though VM network is CDMA. These iPhones are hybrids and have radio circuitry that supports both CDMA (Verizon, Sprint, VM USA), as well as GSM (T-Mobile, AT&T in US, as well as the rest of the world). When activated on Virgin Mobile, phone uses CDMA and the SIMM card is inactive (as well as the circuitry supporting it). However, when you put an active SIMM card (for example, T-Mobile's), the phone should be able connect to a GSM network. The problem is, this doesn't work because the SIMM slot is locked and doesn't allow SIMM cards from other carriers.

Virgin Mobile iPhones are somewhat different from other American carriers, and it appears that there is no unlocking solution for these. I have searched the web thoroughly and haven't been able to find anyone who would be able to unlock an iPhone sold by Virgin Mobile USA, so that it can be used with a SIMM card of another mobile carrier (domestic or foreign). For iPhones on Verizon, unlocking isn't even necessary; they are CDMA phones, which means that the CDMA circuitry can only be activated on Verizon (therefore no Sprint or Virgin Mobile), but the SIMM slot is unlocked and can be used with any global carrier. With AT&T and T-Mobile, unlocking is required, since the two are GSM operators which use SIMM cards, so the phone is locked to the carrier. Unlocking can be done, in some cases (if you've been a customer long enough) even by the carrier itself, and there are third-party unlocking services out there. Unfortunately, Virgin is the only one where this, for some reason, cannot be done.

Thanks for the information. I still believe there is some way to unlock or use another country carrier. Can you help me identifying if this iphone is unlockable or if i can use it in Mexico?:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/141227441998?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STR K%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Ive heard of R-SIM, will it be compatible with that iphone? Ive also heard about many sites where you pay and give your IMEI to od the factory unlock.

I hpoe you can help me, thank you

The R-SIM is illegal in every country on the planet.

The auction indicates that phone is for Virgin Mobile in the US. Virgin Mobile in the US does NOT offer unlocking at all.

You will not be able to use that phone on any carrier other than Virgin Mobile in the US.

Vasick and KiltedTim are right.

I'm currently a VirginMobile USA user and bought the 4S from Virgin, and they (just like Sprint) have CDMA phones and will not unlock them. The iPhone 4S has a GSM functionality but with Sprint and Virgin, it is useless. There may be other ways to unlock the phone, but it is considered illegal.

If you want a truly unlocked phone, go with the 5S, either ask for Verizon device-only or go unlocked Sim-free. More carriers like T-Mobile are starting to catch on to providing service for the iPhone 5S off-contract. When I signed up with Virgin, it was the only provider to offer the iPhone off-contract. But even after spending 400$ on the device, it is still not really mine to own since I cannot use it with any other service.

Hope this helps, and sorry to resurrect the thread.

HI Everyone

i was in a similar position with my Virgin Mobile USA CDMA 4S IPhone. Basically when I was outside of the U.S. It was an expensive paperweight.

Until I noticed that I could move the 12 month old IPhone to ting.com. There an MVNO in the states. You can sign up with an Amazon account which means you don't need a U.S. address. So signed up with them, programmed the phone via wifi then requested an international SIM unlock for FREE, they contact sprint on your behalf, whitelist the phone for all SIM's except US SIM's.

All you will pay is the basic line rental of $6 per month until you cancel the service.

SO now it's possible to unlock your IPhone 4S :-)

Hi,

I am trying to unlock an iPhone 4s from virgin to use internationally - in Canada. They gave me a MLS code but the iPhone 4S is still locked to the US network. Will your advice work for Virgin mobile US? what does white list mean? I really do not need to use it in the US anymore as I have an iPhone 6 now with virgin. Will apple help at all?

Thank you.

iPhones don't use MLS codes. Only Virgin can begin the unlock process, Apple cannot help you.

Thanks for reply - any thoughts on the ting.com route - to get international SIM unlock through them.....

Until you get the iphone unlocked by Virgin, you cannot use ting as your wireless provider.

ting.com cannot unlock an iPhone locked to another wireless provider.

I have a Virgin Mobile USA iPhone 4S. I stopped using their service in 2014, so iPhone 4S was lying around since 2014.

After digging into this forum, I called up Virgin Mobile USA and asked them to unlock my phone, they kept me on phone for an hour or so, did some lookup and they said will call me back after unlocking, so I do got the call back after 2 hours and they mentioned that my iPhone is unlocked (and gave a pitch, that it may and may not work on any other network).

2 Observations

1> I tried switching it off and on and tried my T-Mobile SIM on it (it still shows Virgin service, Not recognizing T-Mobile).

2> I looked up with my IMEI number at ting.com (they have a verify iPhone section), it shows that my phone can be ported.I

I still want to use my phone with my existing T-Mobile service, so will contact T-Mobile or dig some more (as I don't want to use ting.com just to use my iPhone)

Now I still have to try this step (I saw on apple's site)

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201328

First, your carrier will need to process your unlock request. Then you'll back up, erase, and restore your iPhone to unlock it.

- I am going to backup my phone and give this a try soon (will post update soon)

you're wrong, Virgin Mobile Iphones, have GSM bands as well, if the iphone is unlocked, it should work on any GSM network. In now days, smart cellphones, have both CDMA and GSM bands.