Q: Can I unlock an ATT iPhone 5s??

No. You can not. AT&T are the only ones who can authorize unlocking it. Anything else is a hack and is illegal, not to mention the fact that it will void the warranty and forfeit all rights to support.

If AT&T says it can't be unlocked, then it can't be unlocked.

Your friend illegally unlocked their iphone and will likely have problems.

ONLY the carreir to which an iphone is locked can unlock it.  No one else at all.

Contact AT&T

They have requirements to unlock.  You can simply contact them and ask them why.

Your friend will likely have her iphone locked again when she tries tp update.  She has also voided her warranty and can no longer get support from Apple or this forum.  Hacking the iphone will generally result in problems.

AT&T can answer why they will not permit unlocking of that device.

No one in these forums can say any more that the device does not meet their unlocking requirements.

My understanding is this:  carriers who lock cellphones do so because, in general, they have subsidized the original purchase price of the phone in exchange for a commitment to use their carrier services for a certain length of time.  During that period, they are charging the user and thus recouping their original investment.  If a phone hasn't paid off that original investment, they won't unlock it (because they haven't gotten their original investment back).

It is similar to a mortgage.  When you take out a mortgage, the bank lets you live in the house, but it still belongs to them until you've paid off the loan.  If you don't make all the payments, they repossess the house.  Refusing to unlock a phone is tantamount (I love that word) to repossessing a home.

If you call AT&T, they may let you switch the contract on the phone over to you, so you pay off the balance.  Then again, they may not.  It'd be worth a try.  Their web page for unlocking a phone would apply to people who have reached the end of the contract period (thus paying off the subsidized price) and want the phone unlocked.  Kind of like when you've paid off your mortgage and the bank gives you title to the house.

So did you ever get your phone unlocked?

I'm having a similar issue.  ATT says my iPhone 5 is eligible to be unlocked, but the request via webform gets denied, then they submitted an IT case and emailed me a few days later saying it should be unlocked.  I did the steps in iTunes to restore the device, but it's still locked.  So I called again and they're opening another IT case.  I just don't see why this time would be different.  Basically I have no recourse, no one in a store will talk to me about the problem and the phone team just keeps giving me the run around (yes they can unlock it, but for some reason that they can't explain/help me with they can't and it's still not unlocked 2 weeks later).

hake0305 wrote:

 

So did you ever get your phone unlocked?

 

I'm having a similar issue.  ATT says my iPhone 5 is eligible to be unlocked, but the request via webform gets denied, then they submitted an IT case and emailed me a few days later saying it should be unlocked.  I did the steps in iTunes to restore the device, but it's still locked.  So I called again and they're opening another IT case.  I just don't see why this time would be different.  Basically I have no recourse, no one in a store will talk to me about the problem and the phone team just keeps giving me the run around (yes they can unlock it, but for some reason that they can't explain/help me with they can't and it's still not unlocked 2 weeks later).

Have you restored the iPhone through iTunes?  That's usually the next step to complete the unlock:

[How to unlock your iPhone for use with another carrier - Apple Support]