unlock an iphone 3GS

[Cate Fox]

I currently have a BlackBerry, which is pissing me off as the keyboard is playing up. I now want to unlock my old iphone and use that for the remainder of my contract - there seems to be plenty of videos on youtube telling me how to do this, but I'm wary. Any pointers oh marvellous tech geeks???

 

[Nottingham Fox]

IIRC the majority of the YouTube vidoes will teach you how to 'jailbreak' the phone. That's not so much a problem now due to the age of the phone (it's more of an issue to newer phones as it invalidates the warranty). Jailbreaking the phone and Unlocking the phone are not the same.

You could phone up the service provider that you originally had the phone from, and as long as your contract was ended correctly they should do it for you free of charge, or at a very small nominal fee.

 

[M17TT C]

To DIY unlock i think you have to jailbreak first before you can unlock it though it has been a few years since i helped a mate with theirs.

Option 2 is definitely the one I would advise though if you are not confident in playing around with it yourself and if you are at the end or coming to the end of your contract, networks tend to unlock for free.

 

[Cate Fox]

My old iphone is on O2 and my current contract is with Orange... O2, in general, are arseholes.

 

[Nottingham Fox]

My old iphone is on O2 and my current contract is with Orange... O2, in general, are arseholes.

This my experience also, however they should still unlock it for you.

 

[Biffa Bacon]

It might just be easier to find someone with an orange 3gs who will swap phones.

 

[Durham Fox]

They'll be a page on O2s website somewhere where you enter the IMEI code of the iPhone and a few days later it'll be unlocked. No charge. No hassle.

 

[Biffa Bacon]

https://www.o2.co.uk/apps/help/help?qid=1&q1=2&route=unlocking&case=Handset Unlocking Form

This form is supposed to do it

 

[Cate Fox]

They'll be a page on O2s website somewhere where you enter the IMEI code of the iPhone and a few days later it'll be unlocked. No charge. No hassle.

Only no charge if you are a current customer. Seems like you have to buy a pay & go sim and then top it up with £15 to get them to do it.

 

[Blue Maniac]

Only no charge if you are a current customer. Seems like you have to buy a pay & go sim and then top it up with £15 to get them to do it.

There's no reason you should have to do this. You've paid for the phone; it's yours and no longer anything to do with O2.

 

[Durham Fox]

There's no reason you should have to do this. You've paid for the phone; it's yours and no longer anything to do with O2.

This. They are legally obliged to release the phone from their network.

 

[Cate Fox]

There's no reason you should have to do this. You've paid for the phone; it's yours and no longer anything to do with O2.

I know, but this is the only info I can find on their crap website.

 

[Blue Maniac]

I know, but this is the only info I can find on their crap website.

Yeah, lots of companies include unlawful nonsense in their Ts & Cs. And O2's website gets worse and less user friendly every time they redesign it. There's a live chat function on there somewhere. Find that and speak to an actual person.

 

[Cate Fox]

Yeah, lots of companies include unlawful nonsense in their Ts & Cs. And O2's website gets worse and less user friendly every time they redesign it. There's a live chat function on there somewhere. Find that and speak to an actual person.

Just "spoke" with Guru Jack (wtf) - he is arranging for my phone to be unlocked in the next 72 hours. Why oh why cant they just put the fecking information on their website in plain English :icon_roll