Iphone 4S Question

JasonJason Posts: 76,557
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.. which i appreciate has probably been asked a million times, but I would appreciate the good people of DS's opinion.

Basically i'm a bit concerned that the 64gb iPhone 4s I bought today from CEX is actually locked when it was sold as unlocked.

The reason I ask is that when I tried inserting my Virgin Contract Sim (that, to be fair, i'd cut down to fit) into the phone, I got `Please insert valid SIM card with no PIN code` and it failed in activation.

Now googling around, it appears the reason for this error is, as i've suggested, that the phone is actually network locked.

Now i've ordered a proper micro SIM from Virgin which will arrive tomorrow, so once I get that activated, I'm hoping it will all be ok, but has anyone else had this error on trying to activate a 4s and did it turn out the phone was locked ?

Cheers :)
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Comments

  • The Lord LucanThe Lord Lucan Posts: 5,054
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    Try taking the pin code off the sim first..

    The iPhone usually tells you when it is locked to a network ie like this.. http://i40.tinypic.com/55fcxy.jpg

    As Virgin isn't a supported carrier by Apple I'm unsure wether they can activate a new iPhone, might be wrong though. The iPhone doesn't know it needs to be unlocked yet.. As it hasn't been activated.

    Anyone clarify that?
  • JasonJason Posts: 76,557
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    Try taking the pin code off the sim first..

    The iPhone usually tells you when it is locked to a network ie like this.. http://i40.tinypic.com/55fcxy.jpg

    As Virgin isn't a supported carrier by Apple I'm unsure wether they can activate a new iPhone, might be wrong though. The iPhone doesn't know it needs to be unlocked yet.. As it hasn't been activated.

    Anyone clarify that?

    Thanks for that, I've never actually had a pin code set on this sim though, although with the crappy little handset i'm using as a spare, I might not actually be able to do anything about it.

    I did look online beforehand and found a number of people who were happily using a 4s with a Virgin SIM without any issues, so that's part of the reason I went ahead and got one.
  • chenkschenks Posts: 13,231
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    are you sure you haven't damaged the sim when you cut it down to size?
    if you had a pin active on the sim you would know about it as it would request it on any phone you used it on.

    my thoughts are that you've cut the sim and it's now not working.
  • JasonJason Posts: 76,557
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    chenks wrote: »
    are you sure you haven't damaged the sim when you cut it down to size?
    if you had a pin active on the sim you would know about it as it would request it on any phone you used it on.

    my thoughts are that you've cut the sim and it's now not working.

    I suspect you might be right, although it does work on this LG GS101 i've been using as a spare

    http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobile-phones/lg-gs101-review-50002501/

    But I fully accept that the iPhone is a different animal in respect of sim quality, so it's certainly very possible i've cocked it up. I was just getting a bit paranoid when I read a few sites that suggested it might mean it's locked I suppose.
  • Lidtop2013Lidtop2013 Posts: 4,327
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    If the gold contact hasn't been cut then I don't see why it wouldn't work
  • JasonJason Posts: 76,557
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    If it comes down to it, i'll just have to take it back I suppose, although it was the only 64gb B Grade one in the branch I went to which is a major pain in the arse.
  • The Lord LucanThe Lord Lucan Posts: 5,054
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    Ahh I totally didn't know Cex was a second hand shop. If thry say the phone is previously unlocked then it should work fine with a Virgin sim. Hmm maybe just wait for that other sim to come, you could go back to the shop and ask they demonstrate it is actually unlocked.
  • Lidtop2013Lidtop2013 Posts: 4,327
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    Yeah that's probably the easiest and quickest option, take it back to the shop and explain, then if their SIM card works then you know that it will work when your new sim turns up. If however their sim doesn't work then they will have to refund you or get it unlocked for you
  • chenkschenks Posts: 13,231
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    Lidtop2013 wrote: »
    Yeah that's probably the easiest and quickest option, take it back to the shop and explain, then if their SIM card works then you know that it will work when your new sim turns up. If however their sim doesn't work then they will have to refund you or get it unlocked for you

    they could put a sim in that is on the correct network for the locked phone though (assuming they are clever or lucky enough to do that).
  • Lidtop2013Lidtop2013 Posts: 4,327
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    chenks wrote: »
    they could put a sim in that is on the correct network for the locked phone though (assuming they are clever or lucky enough to do that).

    Why would they want to be "clever" though? It's a high street shop, if they blag it he can just go back. And also he could ask them to try two different networks, I'm sure that's the pretty obvious thing to do considering the phone won't have any branding written on it like phones used to
  • chenkschenks Posts: 13,231
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    Lidtop2013 wrote: »
    Why would they want to be "clever" though? It's a high street shop, if they blag it he can just go back.

    because it's a high street shop and they already have his money.

    i merely replied to your post where you suggested they try a sim card (singular not plural), and i responded saying they could test it with a sim card that shows it working, but that doesn't prove it's unlocked.

    they would need to test it with 2 different networks to prove that.
  • JasonJason Posts: 76,557
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    It's just a pain to get back to the CEX in question as I live in Essex, and this one was in Dartford, Kent. It's do-able though, with 3 changes of bus ..
  • JasonJason Posts: 76,557
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    Problem solved - Micro Sim was waiting for me when I got home. Popped it in, rang Virgin to activate and switched the phone on and job done - all working.

    Now to spend the next 6 hours tinkering with my new toy ;)

    Thanks for all the replies.
  • chenkschenks Posts: 13,231
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    so the assumption is that you damaged the sim when cutting it then ?
  • JasonJason Posts: 76,557
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    chenks wrote: »
    so the assumption is that you damaged the sim when cutting it then ?

    That certainly does seem to be the most logical reason the other one didn't work. I did cut it fairly close to the 'bone', so to speak.
  • tellytart1tellytart1 Posts: 3,684
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    Or the SIM was an old one and not compatible with the iPhone.
  • JasonJason Posts: 76,557
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    tellytart1 wrote: »
    Or the SIM was an old one and not compatible with the iPhone.

    Well I only got it in November last year, so it would seem unlikely. But then maybe Micro Sims are different in some way to regular sims ?
  • JasonJason Posts: 76,557
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    So much to set up and tweak on this .. i'll be here a f'n week :)
  • Lidtop2013Lidtop2013 Posts: 4,327
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    When you've set it all up be sure to do a sync in iTunes then it will save all your settings,apps, contacts, texts, notes, pics,vids etc
  • chenkschenks Posts: 13,231
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    Lidtop2013 wrote: »
    When you've set it all up be sure to do a sync in iTunes then it will save all your settings,apps, contacts, texts, notes, pics,vids etc

    or just do an icloud backup
  • JasonJason Posts: 76,557
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    Lidtop2013 wrote: »
    When you've set it all up be sure to do a sync in iTunes then it will save all your settings,apps, contacts, texts, notes, pics,vids etc
    chenks wrote: »
    or just do an icloud backup

    Thankyou :)

    I've enabled iCloud backups on it at the moment, but i haven't done the "big" sync yet - i've got about 48gb of Music to upload, so what i'm trying to do is make sure i've added everything to iTunes first before I press the button.

    Just also remembered that I bought a load of apps when I had an iPhone 3g many years ago, so i've got a nice headstart app-wise :)
  • JasonJason Posts: 76,557
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    This was weird. Tried to sync some more pictures to the phone and it sort of "forgot" that i'd authorised it and asked me to do it again, which i did for the 2nd of 5.

    Can't remember exactly what I did though ..
  • Lidtop2013Lidtop2013 Posts: 4,327
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    itunes confuses the hell out of me, ive also used up my second authorisation attempt aswell, now idea why.

    I have synced it on my pc at my parents and also on my laptop, maybe thats where it got abit confuzzled?
  • chenkschenks Posts: 13,231
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    Lidtop2013 wrote: »
    I have synced it on my pc at my parents and also on my laptop, maybe thats where it got abit confuzzled?

    definitely.
    iphone (or ipod, ipad) can only be linked to 1 itunes library for syncing at any one time.

    if you sync it with a different library then it wil remove the link to the previous library.
  • Lidtop2013Lidtop2013 Posts: 4,327
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    chenks wrote: »
    definitely.
    iphone (or ipod, ipad) can only be linked to 1 itunes library for syncing at any one time.

    if you sync it with a different library then it wil remove the link to the previous library.

    Oh right ok, thats why i always get a message when i sync, something along the lines of "there are purchased items which are not on your phone" blah blah blah it always says something, now i know why. Thanks for that little tip ;)
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