Q: I do not like the idea of ERASING my phone information and then hope to God that it backs up. What a hassle APPLE.

cadreamer20 wrote:

 

I need to unlock my IPHONE as I will be traveling out of the country ...

You are not required to use a different SIM card simply because you are traveling out of your country.  You could, if you wish, use your standard home cellular carrier and do international roaming.  Yes, that is generally costly, but perhaps in your case that would be a preferable alternative.

Your beef is with the carriers my friend.

Unlocking a phone is a carrier function, Driven by, and for the benefit of, the carrier.

You should be able to back up your device to iCloud via wifi before erasing it.

Only the carrier the iPhone is locked to can unlock it. Contact them and unlock it  before you leave.

If you choose to have it unlocked by just some random guy in the Cayman Islands it will undoubtedly be a hack, and will very likely revert to being locked the next time you update.

You can of course not unlock it, and see if your carrier offers some type of roaming plan for the duration of your stay in the Cayman Islands if that is easier for you. Most carriers do.

Waiting until your are in Cayman Islands to unlock it is definitely not the correct choice in this case.

Also not sure why you need to hope to God it's backed up.

You can manually engage a backup in either iTunes or iCloud and know for a fact it's been backed up.and should already be doing so regularly. Regardless of unlocking needs.

I have no idea why you are making this so complicated and dramatic. If you are eligible for unlocking, simply contact your carrier before you leave and arrange the unlock. Then simply backup to iCloud and/or iTunes (which as mentioned you should be doing regularly anyway), execute the unlock in iTunes, then restore the backup and go on with life.

Note that if your carrier responds you are not eligible for unlocking or they do not offer unlocking, then your whole post is moot as you cannot unlock your device.  No one but the carrier it is locked to can permanently unlock it. If you pay someone to unlock it, they will be applying a hack, not actually unlocking it. It will relock to the original carrier with the next iOS update or if you restore it for any reason.

The sole purpose for locking the phone is that most people get expensive phones for free, or far below the actual cost of the device. The carrier you got the phone from didn't really give it to you cheap, or for free. By locking the phone to their service, they guarantee you will pay for phone before you can scoot over to a different carrier with it.

Why do you think your monthly fee is $79 (or about) with a minimum three year contract? You're paying for the phone during that time over and above the actual usage fee. It's also the reason for the high early termination fees. You're paying them back for your heavily discounted phone. Staying with a high cost monthly service after that point is gouging yourself. It's also why some carriers added new plan features that include, "Get a new free phone every year!" It again is not free. They're keeping you hooked on the high cost service plan.

Once the service agreement has been completed, or is close, most carriers will agree to give you the unlocking code since you've already covered the cost of the phone. Not that they always will.

Now to my point regarding this topic. We just unlocked our phones earlier this year when visiting Jamaica. There's no need whatsoever to erase the phone to do it. You enter a setting or app (changes with the type of phone) to enter the unlocking code. You enter the numbers, touch OK, and you're done. The phone can now be used with any carrier that supports the model phone you have.

1. Yes, backup the phone before unlocking it. It's just a precaution you should take before updating any device.

2. Unlock the phone, following only the steps necessary to actually entering the unlocking code. Erasing is absolutely unnecessary to do this.

3. Use your current SIM in the country you are visiting. Your carrier's plan must support international calling, which will be more expensive.

4. With our unlocked phones, we opted for the second method. Mainly because Go Phones don't work outside the U.S. at all. But you can still do this with most any unlocked phone. It works very well when you're only going to be out of the country for a week or two. Call ahead first to see if the hotel you're staying at offers this service. When you get to your destination, you rent a SIM that can talk to the local cell phone network. This is the sole pupose for any SIM. It decides what cell service your phone can talk to. Take your normal SIM out and put in the rented SIM. You can now call on the local cell network instead of accruing expensive international roaming charges. When your visit is over, return the rented SIM and put yours back in.

The only reason you need a sim card from different provider is just to verify it is correctly unlocked.

The actual unlocking procedure should not require it.  Once the unlocking is complete, you can continue to use your iPhone with your current sim card normally until you have one from a different carrier you can use.

An iPhone 6+ uses a readily available Nano sim card. Pretty much any modern phone made within the last few years uses one of these. The only requirement for the card is the size. i.e does it physically fit or not. There' no other real considerations there.

You can totally borrow a sim card from a friend or relative simply to verify its been correctly unlocked before leaving, and so be ready to insert one from the Cayman islands upon arrival.

Beyond that, restoring the iPhone should not be a cause for concern. Backing up to iTunes is perfectly safe, and once the procedure is complete restoring from the iTunes backup should be quick and painless.

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

Forgot to add. If you do have international coverage, and the roaming fees are okay with you, then there's no need to unlock the phone at all.