Meteor wont unlock my iphone.

poker--addict

First of all I know meteor are within their right to refuse however i am annoyed by their unwillingness to compromise.

I am on an a contract paying around 45 euro a month. I however roam in europe for work so much that my bills are around 150-200 euro per month. (I need data to turn on data on the go).

I requested the iphone 4s unlock and explained my situation and how high my bills were and they agreed to get iphone unlocked. Some time passed and no email arrived and nothing happening on itunes so i called back to find out some higher admin had refused to allow the unlock because i was still in contract.

To be clear my aim was not to end my contract, i just wanted to be able to use another local sim card when abroad in an effort to avoid paying 2000 euro plus a year on phone bills. Meteor do not care. I was annoyed and asked to end contract but they wont even compromise on the amount to buy out - its the monthly fee multlied by the number of remaining months non negotiable. I then asked if i could give my contract to family or friend - and this of course is not allowed either. Reducing monthly fee is also not allowed.

Be careful before entering long contract with meteor, or if you are a travelling business customer, there seems to be no goodwill.

guil

O2 and maybe Vodafone are the only networks that will unlock an iPhone still in contract.

whiterebel

More of a consumer issue, rather than iPhone? I think O2 are the only ones that will unlock in contract, I don't think VF do any more.

super_furry

Meteor are absolute arses over unlocking iPhones. They won't even talk to you unless the phone is out of contract and even then drag their heals every step of the way.

poker--addict

i feel its poor business, they arent losing out on any money they were supposed to get as i am not ending my contract. They are losing future contracts though which will add up over the next few years. I feel they are basically saying they want to force me to continue to pay roaming charges - that is greed i will not support moving forward.

stonybroke

Maybe sell or swap your iPhone for an unlocked one!

flyguy

If you do an Internet search for unlock meteor iPhone a few results come up, some on adverts as well. They seem more expensive than the VF/O2 price but you might save enough in a month to justify it. I'm referring to an official imei unlock as well, not a jailbreak so you don't have to worry about iOS updates etc.
Seems strange they won't let you transfer the contract. Next time have a look at VF, they do a 50mb/day data roaming for €2 (only charged on the days you use it) in Europe, higher charges outside these countries, see:
http://www.vodafone.ie/planscosts/roaming/internetabroad/phone/50mb

Just to show what the others offer:
3-like-home roaming -only in UK, Italy, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Hong Kong- basically means no extra charges at all (but only in those countries!):
http://apps.three.ie/roaming/pages/display/three-like-home
O2 does something like VF but half the data allowance (25mb):
http://www.o2online.ie/o2/roaming/snacks/
Meteor have this amazing -not- offer:
http://www.meteor.ie/do_more/roaming/?linkid=footer#

If you are abroad a lot -like myself- when deciding on which contract to get you're probably better of ignoring any IRL min, text, data you get with your plan and just look at the price for roaming. This is likely to far outweigh any charges you incur in IRL. I'm on an older VF plan which gives me the 50mb/day of data roaming for free, the plan is €75/month with loads of useless min/texts, but I still save a lot not getting charged for data roaming.
I've also considered using a foreign sim, but I never do 'cause I don't want the hassle of changing it, others are reluctant to call a foreign number and I wont be available on my Irish number while the foreign sim is in my phone.

godtabh

buy a cheap second phone for your travels.

flyguy

godtabh wrote: »

buy a cheap second phone for your travels.

I don't know if this was aimed at me or the OP, but a cheap 2nd phone wont do for me. It's usually good for calls but we're talking data roaming, so internet browsing and email. I'm kinda used to my iPhone 5 and as I'm abroad more than I'm in Ireland I really don't want to use some crappy phone for browsing etc (and I already carry an older 2nd iPhone I don't even like to use 'cause it's too slow).

Lord Nikon

I was so lucky with O2. The day I bought my iPhone 5, on contract, I asked for it to be unlocked, because my 4s was unlocked and I visited the UK on a monthly basis.

Was so happy last Friday, arrived in the airport, bought £10 TMobile credit, and it lasted me until I arrived back in Dublin on Sunday night.

I have 3 sim cards in my wallet for whatever country I'm visiting now, and saves me an absolute fortune.

guil

Lord Nikon wrote: »

I was so lucky with O2. The day I bought my iPhone 5, on contract, I asked for it to be unlocked, because my 4s was unlocked and I visited the UK on a monthly basis.

Was so happy last Friday, arrived in the airport, bought £10 TMobile credit, and it lasted me until I arrived back in Dublin on Sunday night.

I have 3 sim cards in my wallet for whatever country I'm visiting now, and saves me an absolute fortune.

Since O2 lost the exclusivity deal with apple they have unlocked iPhone at any stage of the contract

Lord Nikon

But Meteor has no exclusivity deal, yet drags their heals.

guil

Yeah I know that but god knows why

Yawlboy

guil wrote: »

O2 and maybe Vodafone are the only networks that will unlock an iPhone still in contract.

Three did for me

guil

Yawlboy wrote: »

Three did for me

Must of got lucky so. There was countless posts here saying three asked for the contract to be paid in full for them to unlock it

120_Minutes

I believe O2 are the only network to unlock an iphone before the end of a contract, if you ever get it done on any other network you're lucky.

poker--addict

looks like i will buy a second phone and get it unlocked or else try and sell my iphone to someone who is met or too.

evil.monkey84

Just of the phone with meteor about unlocking my phone 5(To be sim free) they said that no problem(as my 18 month just finished on 23rd of June) but they say Apple will remotely unlock the sim free till next time i put another sim card into my phone(e.g Vodafone Sim) then the phone will be locked to vodafone!!!!!!

So we are back to square one locked phone!!!!!!!!!!

listermint

Simplest solution here is to get a phone that is unlocked in the first place if you are to be travelling so often. It's a no brained.

Certainly company's have contracts that are set out when you sign up. So signing up to one when you will have other requirements is madness.

Solution buy an iPhone that's unlocked.

Buy a second phone there are many many Android devices out there that are cheap and extremely fast moto range comes to mind.

Enter into a contract with a phone or a network that offers unlocking. Most HTC devices tend not to be network locked.

Or get they cheaper iPhone variant as a second phone.



The conclusion that other phones can't handle your data is unfortunately nonsense

nava

evil.monkey84 wrote: »

Just of the phone with meteor about unlocking my phone 5(To be sim free) they said that no problem(as my 18 month just finished on 23rd of June) but they say Apple will remotely unlock the sim free till next time i put another sim card into my phone(e.g Vodafone Sim) then the phone will be locked to vodafone!!!!!!

So we are back to square one locked phone!!!!!!!!!!

That's not true I had a couple of Iphones /93, 3gs, 4) unlock over time and they never lock again when inserting another SIM card, unless is something to do with the Iphone 5 but I highly doubt that.

whiterebel

evil.monkey84 wrote: »

Just of the phone with meteor about unlocking my phone 5(To be sim free) they said that no problem(as my 18 month just finished on 23rd of June) but they say Apple will remotely unlock the sim free till next time i put another sim card into my phone(e.g Vodafone Sim) then the phone will be locked to vodafone!!!!!!

So we are back to square one locked phone!!!!!!!!!!

Absolute rubbish as Meteor/eMobile have been told so many times....

basill

A Gevey sim might get around your unlock issue. Failing that you could take a punt on one of the unlocking services on eBay. Anecdotal evidence would suggest that the people behind these services have contacts within the network.

Going forward an android dual sim phone might be a more elegant solution. Have seen some in action and they look good. You could have a prepay sim for whichever country you are travelling in to minimise your data costs. In a few years though this will all be a moot point as the new EU rules take hold and the carriers will become more competitive. I would expect more and more to have better data roaming packages.

whiterebel

basill wrote: »

A Gevey sim might get around your unlock issue. Failing that you could take a punt on one of the unlocking services on eBay. Anecdotal evidence would suggest that the people behind these services have contacts within the network.

Going forward an android dual sim phone might be a more elegant solution. Have seen some in action and they look good. You could have a prepay sim for whichever country you are travelling in to minimise your data costs. In a few years though this will all be a moot point as the new EU rules take hold and the carriers will become more competitive. I would expect more and more to have better data roaming packages.

I'm sure I read somewhere that they can't unlock Three phones.

Stinicker

I went through alot of pain with both Meteor and Three over unlocking phones before, nowadays I just buy the phone direct from Apple and go on a 30 day rolling contract as I've been with on Meteor for the last 2 years, saves me the hassle and I'd never again touch a locked phone.

Imagine buying a car and being told that unless you buy the Petrol from Shell it won't work. Some countries (Netherlands I think and others) have outlawed sim-locks and I think Ireland should do the same and outlaw phone contracts longer than 12 months also. They are anti-competitive and anti-consumer by their very nature. And unless your a really heavy phone user going on one of these contracts will cost you more in the long run.

Xantia

Yeah thats grand if you have the cash up front.
Although I agree the should limit the contracts to 12 months.
Hard to save up for a phone if by the time you have the money a new model is out !

evil.monkey84

evil.monkey84 wrote: »

Just of the phone with meteor about unlocking my phone 5(To be sim free) they said that no problem(as my 18 month just finished on 23rd of June) but they say Apple will remotely unlock the sim free till next time i put another sim card into my phone(e.g Vodafone Sim) then the phone will be locked to vodafone!!!!!!

So we are back to square one locked phone!!!!!!!!!!

Here is an email i just got from meteor to confirm the above!!(also spoke to different agent and team leader and they all confirm this)



We have received your iPhone unlocking request and your phone will be remotely unlocked within the next 10 working days. In order to fully unlock the phone you will need to follow the below steps after 10 working days:

1. Place the SIM card of the new operator you wish to move to into the iPhone.
2. The iPhone will then 'Brick' (a security feature) and will require a connection to iTunes to perform a 'Customer Restore'.
3. iTunes will detect the IMEI of the device and search for updates (this normal and is performed every time the iPhone is connected to iTunes).
4. iTunes will detected the new SIM and that the 'Unlock Key' is available. It will then deploy the Unlock Key to the device.
5. From here, the iPhone (still connected to iTunes) will perform the standard un-brick process which includes:

i. Check for latest Software update
ii. Perform a customer restore (SYNC)


During this process, your iPhone will detect the SIM of a new network operator and iTunes will deploy the necessary 'Carrier Bundle' to the phone. This contains the correct settings for the new network operator, which also includes the operators' 'Network Lock'.

This means that your iPhone will then become locked to the new network.

Once the syncing is complete your phone is now ready for use with another network operator.

If you need to unlock your iPhone again you will need to contact the network operator the phone is now locked to. You can find this information by going to settings > General > About and beside 'Carrier' the network operator will be displayed.

I hope you find this information useful.

Kind Regards,

The Meteor Team

****************************************
Meteor Mobile Communications Limited trading as Meteor.
Registered Office: 1 Heuston South Quarter, St. Johns Road, Dublin 8, Ireland.
Registered in Ireland: 282645

The Governor

That stuff about the phone becoming locked to the new network is rubbish, once you get it unlocked, it's unlocked for good.

Meteor seem to have a problem in researching their facts correctly. They've been corrected in this issue for years and still throw out the same speil.

Heisenberg1

The Governor wrote: »

That stuff about the phone becoming locked to the new network is rubbish, once you get it unlocked, it's unlocked for good.

Meteor seem to have a problem in researching their facts correctly. They've been corrected in this issue for years and still throw out the same speil.

The above happened to me once. I have bought my last few gen iPhone's

from Apple direct and this happened with iP5 and a three sim. I normally use

48 but I was going to the UK and I got a prepay 3 sim and when I put the 3

sim in it locked the bugger. After some calls and apologies from Apple they

sorted it said it was a sofware glitch has never happened since.

The Governor

Heisenberg1 wrote: »

The above happened to me once. I have bought my last few gen iPhone's

from Apple direct and this happened with iP5 and a three sim. I normally use

48 but I was going to the UK and I got a prepay 3 sim and when I put the 3

sim in it locked the bugger. After some calls and apologies from Apple they

sorted it said it was a sofware glitch has never happened since.

Random, glad they sorted it for you!

I' know a few that have had it unlocked from Meteor and got the above about it re-locking however that never happened, it's not supposed to.

As you said, what happened to you was an unfortunate software glitch, which was corrected thankfully :cool:

evil.monkey84

The Governor wrote: »

That stuff about the phone becoming locked to the new network is rubbish, once you get it unlocked, it's unlocked for good.

Meteor seem to have a problem in researching their facts correctly. They've been corrected in this issue for years and still throw out the same speil.

Hi,

Just to update you,Meteor are WRONG.

I waited 10 days as what the email said and now i can put 3 sim and Vodafone sim then back to meteor again no problem.

kirkfx

SOLUTION:

1: Sell meteor iphone
2: Buy new unlocked iphone off apple.ie

You lose some money in the short term but if you are spending that much abroad then this will pay for itself in a few months.

I never buy phones on contract/locked for this reason