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Unlock Verizon iPhone 4S

Hey, I'm looking to Unlock my Verizon iPhone 4S and I was wandering how I go about this?


Thanks.

Posted on Dec 22, 2013 9:44 AM

Reply
23 replies

Dec 25, 2013 8:47 AM in response to wjosten

wjosten wrote:


You can't use a Verizon iPhone 4S on any carrier, other than Verizon, in the US. The phone won't work on T-Mobile's network, whether the sim slot is unlocked or not.

Actually it does work. If you put a foreign SIM in your Verizon (or Sprint) iPhone 4S, it will work fine on both AT&T and T-Mobile. Pull the SIM out and it will switch back to CDMA. I have an active Rogers SIM from Canada that works fine in the United States on both T-Mobile and AT&T. The hangup is that neither Verizon or Sprint are removing the SIM block for SIM's with MCC codes 310 and 311 (United States). Therefore, an AT&T or T-Mobile SIM card will continue to be rejected even though the phone is perfectly capable of working on those networks.

Dec 25, 2013 9:00 AM in response to Allan Sampson

Allan Sampson wrote:


The question was using a Verizon iPhone 4S with a SIM card issued by a U.S. carrier, which is not possible.


Yes, but the comment I quoted and to which I replied says "The phone won't work on T-Mobile's network, whether the sim slot is unlocked or not". That is incorrect. It will work if you insert a SIM from a foreign carrier that has an agreement to roam on either AT&T or T-Mobile.

Dec 28, 2013 9:40 AM in response to TechDudeIsRight

I requested a SIM unlock from Verizon for my 4S and they were more than accomodating and unlocked it. Once I placed my third party SIM in the phone, it indicated that I needed to connect to iTunes for activation. I connect the phone to iTunes and it comes up with an SIM is not supported due to carrier lock or whatever the whole blurb was. I called Verizon a second time and verified the SIM unlock had been applied to my phone. Is there a time frame I need to wait for iTunes/Apple to catch up to the phone to apply the unlock? It has been 2 days and still get the same error about the phone being locked. Thanks for the help and sorry to hijack the post.

Dec 28, 2013 10:02 AM in response to KiltedTim

Agreed, KiltedTim....I am using a third party (not AT&T or T-Mobile) SIM as I am deployed to Afghanistan. I am just having difficulty in applying the unlock to my phone via iTunes. My Wi-Fi doesnt work as I upgraded to iOS 7.0.4 and it is greyed out, regardless of what I reset so I can activate it that way. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks for the help!

Dec 28, 2013 10:48 AM in response to jdw92971

jdw92971 wrote:


Agreed, KiltedTim....I am using a third party (not AT&T or T-Mobile) SIM as I am deployed to Afghanistan. I am just having difficulty in applying the unlock to my phone via iTunes. My Wi-Fi doesnt work as I upgraded to iOS 7.0.4 and it is greyed out, regardless of what I reset so I can activate it that way. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks for the help!

Is your third-party SIM from a United States carrier or a foreign carrier? If it is from a United States carrier then it will not work unfortunately if/until the whole iPhone 4S domestic unlocking issue is resolved (both Verizon and Sprint). If it is indeed a foreign carrier and Verizon has authorized the unlock, a full backup in iTunes followed by a restore should bring up the "Congratulations..." message. My younger sisters Verizon iPhone 4S presented that message in iTunes recently during the upgrade from iOS 6 to iOS 7 where I had to do a full restore due to a snafu in the in upgrade process that aborted the in place upgrade (it worked out fine in the end as the restoration process also upgraded the phone to 7.0.4 - it just took longer having to restore everything). However, she was still able to use a foreign SIM (Rogers Canada) via WiFi activation prior to that. I note that you say your WiFi is not working so it seems like there may be more wrong with your device than just the SIM slot.


If you have the time, I would strongly suggest backing up the phone completely and then during a full restore in iTunes. Besides pushing the unlock from Apple, it might also fix your WiFi problem as well.

Unlock Verizon iPhone 4S

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