Was asked for advice on a 5s today and found being able to give accurate advice difficult. Need to give someone advice on unlocking a 5s, so want to make sure I have it right. They are looking to buy a second hand 5s but the unlocking seems oddly complicated.

The phone locks to first sim placed in phone yes? so you need to contact the provider to unlock, however it seems they will only provide this to the original owner, yes/no? so are contract phones unlocked until this or pre locked anyway?

Unlocking from 3rd party seems very expensive.

Also you only ever seem to see EE/virgin second hand 5s for some reason.

Generally some advice on sim locks, as it is a big purchase and I don't want to steer them wrong.

The phone locks to first sim placed in phone yes?

I was never sure about this one but it's never being tested as you certainly would not want it locked to the wrong hetwork.

so you need to contact the provider to unlock, however it seems they will only provide this to the original owner, yes/no?

That is correct specially if the phone is still under contract the person buying the phone would need to contact the seller who then needs to contact the network provider to unlock the phone.

so are contract phones unlocked until this or pre locked anyway?

Not sure too be honest

I used this place before and the turn around is very quick and the prices reasonable I think when compared to others.

http://www.fonefunshop.co.uk/unlock/...pple-iphone_5s

Phones from Apple are unlocked and will work with any SIM
Phones from a network operator come locked to that network.
Phones from Carphone, Phones4U lock to the first network SIM used.

Vodafone will unlock free for contract customers after 12 months or £19.99 before 12 months.

O2 will unlock free at any time (but typically don't allow new model iPhones to be unlocked for around 4 months after it's released).

3 will unlock free for everyone (new change recently).

EE unlocking is a right pain - it's £20.42 and they're VERY fussy about the phone having to be yours and being used with YOUR SIM.

My wife has a 4s on T-Mobile contract. The contract expires end of July.

I was going to knock the tarrif down to SIM only on Aug 1st, but I want the option
to switch to another network's SIM only deal. So my wife needs to request unlocking
now ? How do you know the phone has been unlocked, and will it then lock itself
to the network of the new SIM you place in it ?

The network should tell you when it's unlocked and its then a case of putting in a sim from another network and plugging the phone into itunes and then it will be unlocked from that point onwards.

Once it's unlocked you can use any sim from anywhere in the world and it will never be locked again.

Not sure of the lead time for unlocking on t-mobile but if it's the same as Orange it took me 6 weeks and many phone calls to get it done and it was time consuming and painful (they spent 4 weeks trying to unlock a sim free Z1 and kept on saying you will get an unlock code sent to your phone which is completely wrong for apple handsets)

https://explore.ee.co.uk/unlock

Should be fine to do it when on SIM only but no harm in doing it now if you know you want it unlocked. Once unlocked it will never re-lock, it's done forever.

iPhones don't use an unlock code like other manufacturers. Instead, EE instruct Apple to unlock your phone's serial number and when you next sync with iTunes (or have wifi on when you insert a new SIM) the unlock will be picked up by the phone.

I submitted my EE request on Sunday and today it was done so pretty impressed, but others I know have had issues when the iPhone was not originally theirs etc.

My 4s took neatly 7 weeks, numerous phone calls and false promises from call centre staff to be unlocked by EE and I was the original owner! Needless to say I am no longer with them.....

Hmmm ok cheers does seem a bit of a nightmare have to say.

The process of unlocking itself is pretty simple. The issue seems to be with the network to which the phone is locked. Some are really quick and efficient at unlocking and some take weeks. Three unlocked my phone within 24 hours.

The thing I'd be more concerned about is if they are buying a phone which is effectively somebody's free upgrade phone off eBay or the like. There are a lot of stories where someone sells the free upgrade phone on, then a few weeks later reports it stolen, whereby the network blocks the phone as stolen, and the unsuspecting purchaser is left with a phone which doesn't work and is out of pocket.

Definitely a case for "buyer beware"!

Yes the unlock will be simply a code.

No this is from a trusted source just the unlocking issue the problem

No there isn't a code, you put the Sim card in that you want to use, then simply connect to iTunes and it will automatically be unlocked

I did this very recently, and whilst the actual process of doing the unlocking was pain free, the steps upto that point were rather painful and slow.

If you're going to unlock a T-Mobile or Orange iPhone then you will need to have their network's sim in your phone for 6 months, or they won't unlock it, no exceptions.

It doesn't matter who owned it before (as all of my iphones have been second hand) as long as it is not reported stolen/lost and the IMEI is in good standing.

Unlocks for iphones are permanent, once it is unlocked using the official method (ie. by the network operator/Apple).

If you unlock using an unofficial method (ie. jailbreak/modify the phone's software) then the phone may very well lock back up if you apply a software update. I would exercise extreme caution in getting someone else to unlock your phone that's not the network provider/Apple directly, as they tend to do this and charge a fortune for the privilege.

It took me three attempts to submit and an email to escalations to get EE into action, and waited nearly a month overall.

So yeah, they won't be getting a standing ovation any time soon for speed -- it's not helped by the fact that initial automated 'thank you for submitting your details' email comes from a no-reply address and so you enter the maze of trying to get someone to push your unlock further and check on its status. It is like talking to a brick wall at times...

It would be helpful if it was emailed from an address which you can reply to and have a dialogue!

When you say connect to iTunes, do you mean open your Apple account on the phone, by downloading an app etc ? I don't use ITunes per se

Downloading the iTunes app onto your PC to finish the unlocking process however nowadays it might work over wifi from your phone but don't quote me on that.

I don't understand, how does downloading iTunes to your PC, affect anything to do with your phone ?

The unlocking process of the phone is done through iTunes which communicates with the servers at Apple's end to say this phone with this IMEI is now unlocked.

So, you need to physically connect the phone to the PC ? (Sorry if I'm being thick, this all seems totally non intuitive !)

Yup indeed but like I said I am not 100% sure if that's still the case nowadays as the unlocking could be done OTA as well.

You used to have to do it in the past to unlock your phone.

I take it you're not used to Apple's love of itunes the concept was that the iphone would sync with everything on your itunes on the pc, and it would do everything in terms of maintainence - unlocking, downloading updates etc.

Now they have shifted the focus from using itunes for everything, to being able to do it without having to plug into itunes - it can be done 'over the air' ie. via wifi or cellular network.

Sorry, I'm still not clear, connect to what exactly via WifI ? An empty iTunes account ?

You dont need itunes anymore, when you are informed by the network it is unlocked you just need to put in a different network sim and it will activate the unlock, after this you can swap sim cards as and when you require

I believe iTunes is optional for the unlock process now. Last couple of times I did it, iTunes wasn't involved.

Thanks, is there a time limit to swap the SIM cards, or can that happen months after the notification ?

In some countries including the UK, "Sim Free" iPhones are sold. These are not officially unlocked, but will lock to the first supported carrier's sim inserted in the phone. Carphone Warehouse do this. Let the buyer beware!

Apple stores sell unlocked iPhones where you can use any Sim Card. But they also stock the dreaded Sim Free auto lock phones so do be careful! My other half took an iPhone 3GS to the Apple store. Was faulty as usual. They replaced it with a brand new iPhone still sealed as it was only a 3 months old. It auto locked to Three as I tried another sim card O2 in it to test it. Alas it was locked.

In theory months - as a new SIM will cause the iPhone to go into "Activation mode" - where it consults the IMEI database that Apple run (and which gets changed when ISPs request the handset gets unlocked).

Having said that most people would want to do it ASAP to check that it had worked!