Can't activate iphone

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Level 1

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Can't activate iphone

Hi, I have recently exchanged my iphone for a refurbished one at an apple store in the UK. I then purchased an O2 pay as you go sim card and activated the phone and used it fine. I'm now travelling in Australia and wanted to use a local sim to Australia. Sadly for me it seems by using the O2 sim that my iphone had become locked to O2. (For what its worth the iphone i exchanged was an out of contract Vodafone UK phone, that had already been previously exchanged March last year)

I contacted Apple support who stated that the phone had been locked to o2 and that i need to contact them to get the phone unlocked.

I contacted O2 who stated they wanted £15 to unlock it.

This annoyed me, so i erased and reset the phones settings via the iphone menu it's self in a hope to remove the carrier block so that i could use the phone with my own choice of sim card

Now the phone is at the "Hello" "Hula" screen but when it goes to activate it still says SIM invalid, whether i use the O2 sim or the australian one.

I have paid under duress the £15 to O2 to unlock the phone but the problem still remains.

Does anyone know whats going on?

Apple state that this may be a regional thing, which i've taken to mean that i need the phone to activate to o2 again before the unlock can happen however as i am not in the UK the phone can't activate meaning i effectively have a 7 day old bricked iphone...

iPhone 4S

Posted on Jan 21, 2015 11:17 AM

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Answer 1

sberman

Level 10

273,240 points

Jan 21, 2015 11:36 AM in response to M52E30

I believe your analysis of what happened is exactly correct.

At least the brick will crumble, so to speak, when you return to the UK and can connect to O2.

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Answer 2

wegras

Level 6

15,311 points

Jan 21, 2015 11:42 AM in response to M52E30

This is how the process works

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

In the UK the only iPhone that locks to the first carrier sim that is used are iPhones from Carphone Warehouse

Where did you buy the original iPhone and which Carrier were you using

When you get an exchange device from Apple it is identical in every way to the donor ,including the lock status and that includes an iPhone that has been hacked to unlock it from a carrier

The exchange device picks up the lock status from the Apple Activation servers

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Answer 3

M52E30 Author

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Jan 21, 2015 11:48 AM in response to sberman

Thank you for your swift reply. What a situation, it would be hilarious if it wasn't happening to me, in a strange country, trying to get work with no phone!

Is it common practice for carriers, in this case o2, to lock themselves to effectively your property? Its crazy i would've waited till i got here if i'd have known.

Is there nothing Apple can do their side and reset the phone on their activation servers to how it was when i purchased it? And also i have a back up of my old phone prior to this one. I can still boot this phone into DFU mode but can't access that back up via itunes, is this possible how do i tell it to load from that back up when in DFU? I'm using the latest itunes on a win7 pc.

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Answer 4

M52E30 Author

Level 1

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Jan 21, 2015 11:52 AM in response to wegras

Hi this iphone was exchanged from Churchill Apple Store Brighton on 13th January. The phone i exchanged was a previously exchanged phone (original phone exchanged March 2014) The original phone to that, purchased from Vodafone business July 2013

I was told that the phone would be unlocked, indeed it was as the o2 sim worked.

I have never hacked any of the phones or had them jailbroken or carrier unlocked using road side / online agents

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Answer 5

wegras

Level 6

15,311 points

Jan 21, 2015 2:17 PM in response to M52E30

There is nothing Apple can do or indeed will do

Carriers create the network lock and only they can remove them ,Apple provides the facility as part of the Carriers, world wide, requirements

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Answer 6

ManSinha

Level 6

12,183 points

Jan 21, 2015 2:20 PM in response to M52E30

A couple of things - first to your point

IF O2 unlocked the phone then you have to do a clean restore for the unlock flag to flow into the device

In other words - back the phone up to iTunes - then reset and then restore as new

If the unlock was correctly processed you should see a Congratulations your device is unlocked message right as iTunes offers to set up your phone

Secondly - what O2 did was extortion and if there is a version of a Better Business Bureau in the UK you can certainly file a complaint with them and also take it up with O2 since again, you are correct - they had no business locking it in the first place

Hope this helps and good luck with your travels!

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Answer 7

M52E30 Author

Level 1

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Jan 21, 2015 2:28 PM in response to ManSinha

Thanks ManSinha, that is my view also.

My main concern is that as I've already wiped the phone from the erase all content and settings menu on the phone itself, i'm presently stuck with a phone that will not activate even with the O2 sim card. This is due to me being outside the UK we believe.

So even with the phone unlocked we are not sure that the phone will ever work till/if i get back to the UK, re activate with O2 and then the unlock goes through.

I've spoken with Apple again and they say that the phone is still showing locked to O2 despite O2 saying they have unlocked it.

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Answer 8

ManSinha

Level 6

12,183 points

Jan 21, 2015 2:33 PM in response to M52E30

Yep - and I feel for you - but the processes that you did do not affect the SIM lock. On the T-Mobile forums and indeed even here - we see requests from individuals who have bought a second hand phone only to find it locked to the prior carrier with no hope of resolution besides selling their device on a site like E Bay listing it as locked to XXX

I suppose you could still contact O2 online and let them know what Apple said .....sometimes Apple reps will even do a three way call with the carrier to force the carrier to process the unlock - not sure what your calling situation is but that will probably have to wait until you are home

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