If a sim hasn't been activated/provisioned has the handset been locked yet?

Question

If a sim hasn't been activated/provisioned has the handset been locked yet?

I have an iPhone 3GS, originally bought direct from Apple, which was not locked to any particular carrier, for development/testing purposes.

To get the phone to work at all, it required a SIM, so I acquired a pay-as-you-go one from O2 which was then inserted into the phone. This SIM was never activated with the carrier, there is 'no service' and gives the message 'not provisioned' when you look in the settings. It does show a phone number though, and the 'Phone' section under settings has an O2 section. None of the options under this section work however.

I'd now like to use this phone as a phone but use Three instead of O2. So my question is - do I still need to unlock the handset with O2? A bit of research shows that an unactivated SIM hasn't been registered with Apple's servers yet, but a new SIM from Three isn't recognised when I insert it.

Any help appreciated.

iPhone 3GS, iOS 6.1.6

Posted on Apr 20, 2014 1:49 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Ocean20

Level 6

13,727 points

Apr 20, 2014 1:53 AM in response to jbrocklehurst

An unlcoked iphone can be activated with any sim. The sim does not need to be an active sim. Any sim from any carrier can be used to activate an unlocked phone. You should be able to activate the phone with a SIM from 3

Reply

Answer 2

Apr 20, 2014 4:55 AM in response to Ocean20

Yes, but has my phone been locked by adding the O2 SIM, even though it hasn't been activated yet? i.e. does simply inserting the SIM lock it to that network? Or does the SIM need to be activated to complete the locking process?

As you can probably guess, I'm trying to avoid unlocking if it isn't necessary.

Reply

Answer 3

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,501 points

Apr 20, 2014 5:10 AM in response to jbrocklehurst

No. If you purchase an unlocked phone directly from Apple, it's unlocked. Permanently. Only phones sold at places like Carphone Warehouse in the UK will lock to the first carrier used.

Reply

Answer 4

Apr 20, 2014 5:36 AM in response to KiltedTim

Any ideas how I can get it recognise my Three SIM? Will a software reset via iTunes do the job?

Thanks.

Reply

Answer 5

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,501 points

Apr 20, 2014 5:54 AM in response to jbrocklehurst

The SIM has to be valid. That is, it has to have been provisioned at some point. It does not need to be tied to an active line of service, but one that's new out of the box and was never provisioned won't work. It's not a valid SIM.

Reply

Answer 6

Apr 23, 2014 4:09 AM in response to KiltedTim

Thanks for your help so far KiltedTim.

I've tried to set up a My3 account to register the SIM but the website isn't accepting the SIMs details. About to go over to a physical 3 store to query this, but in meantime I have restored the iPhone to it's factory defaults and when inserting the SIM I get the following message in iTunes and on the setup screen of the phone:

"The SIM card that you currently have installed in this iPhone is from a carrier that is not supported under the activation policy that is currently assigned to the activation server. This is not a hardware issue with the iPhone. Please insert another SIM card from a supported carrier or request that this iPhone be unlocked by the carrier..."

That sounds pretty much like it's locked to O2 and I'll need to contact them. Would you agree? This seems to be at odds with your previous comment about unlocked handsets from Apple being permanently unlocked. I definitely definitely bought it new from Apple prior to putting the O2 pay-as-you-go SIM in.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Reply

Answer 7

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,501 points

Apr 23, 2014 4:15 AM in response to jbrocklehurst

I'd agree that it definitely sounds like it's locked.

Reply