Does unlocked prepaid iphones lock to network ?

Flaccus

Hi there,

My friend just bought a prepaid iphone 6 from carphone ware house on one of their trade in deals. It's meteor prepay but he is using it as a meteor bill pay phone.

The online Meteor agent said they will request apple to unlock the phone but all iphone unlocks are temporary and the phone will lock to whatever network sim he put sin next ?

Is this true ? I have heard of iphones in the US being sold with generic sims that lock to whatever network you subscribe to. But my understanding is their is no such thing as a temporary unlock on the apple database ?

By the way how long does it take for apple to do the unlock ?

Thanks

Kimbot

No once they are unlocked then they are unlocked for good. Meteor/eMobile havent a clue what they are talking about when it comes to this even after they have been told numerous times that they dont lock to the network again.

Oh the unlock takes around 4 hours but with Meteor it will take about a week.

Flaccus

Thanks. That's what I thought. They told him it will take 14 working days :eek:

They guy who gave him the information about the unlocking insisted that that's the way iphones work. lol.

Actually he never checked if it's already unlocked. I wonder is there a chance. I know with Android phones it often happens that PAYG models are unlocked. Would iphones be different ?

Kimbot

Flaccus wrote: »

Thanks. That's what I thought. They told him it will take 14 working days :eek:

They guy who gave him the information about the unlocking insisted that that's the way iphones work. lol.

Actually he never checked if it's already unlocked. I wonder is there a chance. I know with Android phones it often happens that PAYG models are unlocked. Would iphones be different ?

Yeah Meteor/eMobile claim they can only request it off apple on 1 certain day a week which is bull. Vodafone can do them for me in less than 4 hours from the time I email the request.

As I said we had emobile in here a few years ago and when they told me all this I laughed at them and proved that its not how they are saying it is. It went all the way up to one of their Managing Directors and they still are misinforming customers.

Sometimes you can get lucky with it been unlocked.

naasrd

Flaccus wrote: »

Hi there,

My friend just bought a prepaid iphone 6 from carphone ware house on one of their trade in deals. It's meteor prepay but he is using it as a meteor bill pay phone.

The online Meteor agent said they will request apple to unlock the phone but all iphone unlocks are temporary and the phone will lock to whatever network sim he put sin next ?

Is this true ? I have heard of iphones in the US being sold with generic sims that lock to whatever network you subscribe to. But my understanding is their is no such thing as a temporary unlock on the apple database ?

By the way how long does it take for apple to do the unlock ?

Thanks

That guy in Meteor who told you that could do with a bitch slap.

Flaccus

Friend just received this email from them. They say when u sync the phone With iTunes it detects your carriers sim and downloads their bundle and locks the phone again. I think a complaint to meteor is in order for supplying false information.

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.

whiterebel

It doesn't matter how many times eMobile/meteor are told; they just refuse to believe it, citing "someone" in Apple told them.

Flaccus

whiterebel wrote: »

It doesn't matter how many times eMobile/meteor are told; they just refuse to believe it, citing "someone" in Apple told them.

It's annoying as hell. What if you want to travel and use a different sim. You don't want to be under the impression the phone will suddenly get locked to another operator. I actually did read thats what happens with iPads that ship with an apple sim in the US allright. Maybe Meteor picked up on that.

In any case, I have posted on the meteor iPhone forum and on the ask Meteor forum, and I will no doubt send in a letter for good measure. This affects me too as I have an IP6 which I will want to unlock at some point as well. I really can't believe how this company can provide such misleading information to customers. Surely they would check these things out. Morons.

Flaccus

http://forums.meteor.ie/t5/Apple/Why-are-meteor-providing-customers-with-FALSE-information/m-p/197050/highlight/false#M5241

I posted on the Meteor forums to be shot down by a member who actually says the phone will get locked again and Meteor are correct.

Sure there are business out there that make a living charging 60 euro plus to unlock iphones through itunes and they all promise it's a permanent unlock. Are meteor phones special somehow ? What's this carrier bundle that locks the phone again ? It sounds made up.

whiterebel

Look at what they say - it "bricks" the phone - as if Apple would officially say that to anyone. I pointed out that the original owner needs to request an unlock, so if I had a Three phone that was unlocked, and it locked again to Meteor/eMobile would they unlock it, seeing as it wasn't originally locked to their network? They couldn't answer it..........One of the operator in eMobile told me that if I know so much about unlocking iPhones that I should "Get it f**king unlocked yourself......"

Flaccus

Is there any links to the unlocking process that I can add to my thread on the meteor forums.

I have found Apple instructions and nowhere does it mention it getting relocked but apparently this is not good enough for the Meteor heads because it doesn't explicitly say the phone does not get relocked

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201328

http://forums.meteor.ie/t5/Apple/Why-are-meteor-providing-customers-with-FALSE-information/m-p/197065#M5251

naasrd

Flaccus wrote: »

Is there any links to the unlocking process that I can add to my thread on the meteor forums.

I have found Apple instructions and nowhere does it mention it getting relocked but apparently this is not good enough for the Meteor heads because it doesn't explicitly say the phone does not get relocked

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201328

http://forums.meteor.ie/t5/Apple/Why-are-meteor-providing-customers-with-FALSE-information/m-p/197065#M5251

Not sure, I read somewhere that all iPhone are sold unlocked, and only get sim locked to the service provider during activation. I've used Three and Meteor sims in an unlocked Vodafone iPhone 6. The unlocked was purchased on eBay and is still unlocked. You are obviously dealing with imbeciles on the Meteor thread.

guil

You may as well beat your head off a wall. They won't listen and just tell you that you are wrong. All the carrier files are already on the iPhone so when you put in a sim it knows what settings to use. That's why you don't get service settings messages on iPhones.

BrendanD

When an unlock request has been received by Apple , flag is set to unlock that IMEI on the server.

unlock process
Remove sim card and put in new sim card.
connect phone to itunes.
Sync phone and its then unlocked.
network settings are downloaded over the air and not part of the unlock.
There is no "bricking "
The update that's described is just an IOS update .
When finished you can restore a bacup from itunes or icloud
Once a phone is unlocked then its unlocked for all networks and wont relock

Flaccus wrote: »

Friend just received this email from them. They say when u sync the phone With iTunes it detects your carriers sim and downloads their bundle and locks the phone again. I think a complaint to meteor is in order for supplying false information.

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.

Flaccus

Apparently the opinions given by people on the unlocking process according to Meteor (or at least the guy who keeps defending them but isn't even an employee) are nothing but opinions often wrong and if there is no documentation backing up what people say (there is, the doc I linked to from Apple which is basically what BrendanD describes above) then it's doubly wrong since Meteor received there instructions from Apple.

When challenged on it, we are told that 1. sometimes a phone will remain unlocked and sometimes it will re-lock. 2. all iPhones are made that way. 3. Their advice is from apple so has to be right. 4. find a doc which says the phone does not re-lock if you expect to be taken seriously. And if you look at past threads where we are told this has come up before, it's the same garbage that's spouted when people ask the question about unlocking.

I really can't understand the ineptitude.

Will see what the actual meteor reps say on their support thread. Going by past history probably the same drivel. I will probably send a letter of complaint off too.

guil

Flaccus wrote: »

Apparently the opinions given by people on the unlocking process according to Meteor (or at least the guy who keeps defending them but isn't even an employee) are nothing but opinions often wrong and if there is no documentation backing up what people say (there is, the doc I linked to from Apple which is basically what BrendanD describes above) then it's doubly wrong since Meteor received there instructions from Apple.

When challenged on it, we are told that 1. sometimes a phone will remain unlocked and sometimes it will re-lock. 2. all iPhones are made that way. 3. Their advice is from apple so has to be right. 4. find a doc which says the phone does not re-lock if you expect to be taken seriously. And if you look at past threads where we are told this has come up before, it's the same garbage that's spouted when people ask the question about unlocking.

I really can't understand the ineptitude.

Will see what the actual meteor reps say on their support thread. Going by past history probably the same drivel. I will probably send a letter of complaint off too.

Unfortunately I think you can send all the letters you want but doubt it will make a blind bit of difference. They've been saying that the last few years and won't change it now.

FourFourRED

Some iPhones when unlocked by a carrier stay locked for good. In some scenarios it will be unlocked once but next time it's restored in iTunes it will go back to the lock policy of the original carrier.

It can be a pain for the consumer but ultimately any unlocking issues is between you and your carrier who in turn use Apple to get the unlock requests processed.

Flaccus

FourFourFM wrote: »

Some iPhones when unlocked by a carrier stay locked for good. In some scenarios it will be unlocked once but next time it's restored in iTunes it will go back to the lock policy of the original carrier.

This seems to be what Meteor are saying but I have seen no evidence to support this anywhere in the situation where the process is done correctly by updating the apple database status.

FourFourFM wrote: »

It can be a pain for the consumer but ultimately any unlocking issues is between you and your carrier who in turn use Apple to get the unlock requests processed.

No. It is up to your carrier to provide you with accurate instructions. That is the only issue between the customer and Meteor and also the repercussions of what providing false information means for the customer *afraid to try unlocking incase the phone get relocked to a non-iris sim whilst travelling* If you were to pay a third party to do exactly the same as what the Meteor does (who also use Apple to request the unlock) then the issue of the phone being re-locked would never come up, because the instructions provided by the third party are not made up.

guil wrote: »

Unfortunately I think you can send all the letters you want but doubt it will make a blind bit of difference. They've been saying that the last few years and won't change it now.

Probably not but worth a shot.

FourFourRED

Flaccus wrote: »

This seems to be what Meteor are saying but I have seen no evidence to support this anywhere in the situation where the process is done correctly by updating the apple database status.



No. It is up to your carrier to provide you with accurate instructions. That is the only issue between the customer and Meteor and also the repercussions of what providing false information means for the customer *afraid to try unlocking incase the phone get relocked to a non-iris sim whilst travelling* If you were to pay a third party to do exactly the same as what the Meteor does (who also use Apple to request the unlock) then the issue of the phone being re-locked would never come up, because the instructions provided by the third party are not made up.



Probably not but worth a shot.

All I can say is I am very familiar with the situation regarding the unlocking process.

You will need to be persistent with your carrier.

Flaccus

Well a meteor rep finally commented and said their instructions are correct as this has come up before. Their tact seems to be that some phones re-lock and some phones don't and take it up with your carrier. MORONS.

http://forums.meteor.ie/t5/Apple/Why-are-meteor-providing-customers-with-FALSE-information/m-p/197122#M5260

Sad Professor

Pre-locked iPhones bought direct from carriers are different from so-called “SIM-free” iPhones sold by the likes of Carphone Warehouse. “SIM-free” iPhones lock to the network of the first SIM used to activate it. My understanding was that once these phones are unlocked they remain unlocked same as unlocked pre-locked iPhones do. But this isn’t the first time I’ve heard of people worrying that their CPW-purchased iPhone will re-lock. Either CPW/Meteor misunderstood Apple’s explanation of how this works or there is/was some truth to it.

Flaccus

Of course the iPhone in question which sparked this debate was purchased in carphone warehouse but was a pre paid meteor one. It's unlocked now anyway and won't re-lock, along with a 5c I also did today.

All I am asking Meteor to do now is at least amend their instructions to be somewhat accurate.

Sad Professor

Flaccus wrote: »

Of course the iPhone in question which sparked this debate was purchased in carphone warehouse but was a pre paid meteor one.

Even so, it probably wasn’t a pre-locked iPhone. Afaik CPW get all their stock from Apple, not the networks, and they lock to the first SIM used to activate them. I don’t know if CPW do this themselves or let the buyer do it. The last time I bought an iPhone from them it was unsealed, so it’s possible they did it.

My point is just that this is probably the source of Meteor's confusion over how unlocking works, hence their cry of “ this is what Apple told us”.

Flaccus

Sad Professor wrote: »

Even so, it probably wasn’t a pre-locked iPhone. Afaik CPW get all their stock from Apple, not the networks, and they lock to the first SIM used to activate them. I don’t know if CPW do this themselves or let the buyer do it. The last time I bought an iPhone from them it was unsealed, so it’s possible they did it.

My point is just that this is probably the source of Meteor's confusion over how unlocking works, hence their cry of “ this is what Apple told us”.

That's pretty interesting. Incidentally the 2 iPhones were bought from CPW. Both were sealed. I have heard to iPhones and iPads locking to whatever sim is put in, but I thought this was only in the US with the 'Apple' sim

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203099

FourFourRED

CPW iPhone policy is that it locks to the first sim used with the device and requires an unlock request from the network for it to be unlocked.

Flaccus

Well 2 devices I bought in cfw on meteor payg were unlocked through iTunes. One is using a 3 sim, the other a Vodafone. Both have had sims swapped around and synchronised with iTunes. No relocking occurred. I don't understand how it could even happen if they are marked as unlocked on the iTunes database. Neither do the apple techs I spoke with.

Flaccus

Incidentally the iPhone's I bought in CpH were marked as meteor on the packaging. Possibly due to pricing differences between the networks rather them being locked to any network. Then again a colleague bought a 3 iPhone 5s from CpH and it would not work with his meteor sim. In any case I have yet to see any evidence of any iPhones relocking. So far I am 3 for 3 with no re locks and 2 of these were payg from CpH.

naasrd

Flaccus wrote: »

Incidentally the iPhone's I bought in CpH were marked as meteor on the packaging. Possibly due to pricing differences between the networks rather them being locked to any network. Then again a colleague bought a 3 iPhone 5s from CpH and it would not work with his meteor sim. In any case I have yet to see any evidence of any iPhones relocking. So far I am 3 for 3 with no re locks and 2 of these were payg from CpH.

There's 4 in my family using unlocked iPhones for over 5 years and have jumped from provider to provider, we've probably gone through 10 phones in that time, not one ever re locked.

Flaccus

Well the iPhone 6 in question that started this thread which was bought on Meteor PAYG, had a three nano sim put into it today and, enter apple id and password and hey presto..worked perfectly. Connected to iTunes...no message popped up about it unlocking. Put Meteor sim back in...still working.

So it would seem the iPhone 6's that Carphone Warehouse sell (at least the Meteor ones) are no different than buying from the Apple store. They are not locked to any carrier to begin with. And 20 euro cheaper than buying from Apple also.

-=al=-

Once it's unlocked I thought it's unlocked for good?

I have a Vodafone locked iPhone bought from car phone warehouse which was of course locked to Vodafone. I used a third party unlocking service online and it was done within a few days. Afaik the request is sent to apple with the IMEI number and it's unlocked when you sync the phone to iTunes

That was my understanding of it but the process may have changed since?

Flaccus

-=al=- wrote: »

Once it's unlocked I thought it's unlocked for good?

I have a Vodafone locked iPhone bought from car phone warehouse which was of course locked to Vodafone. I used a third party unlocking service online and it was done within a few days. Afaik the request is sent to apple with the IMEI number and it's unlocked when you sync the phone to iTunes

That was my understanding of it but the process may have changed since?

Indeed that's true. The reason I started the thread was to find out whether it would re lock later to another carrier as that was what meteor was saying would happen and then they backed down to say it might happen. However, it is all irrelevant now, since his phone in question was never locked. He never though to check, he just assumed it was locked to meteor and asked meteor for them to unlock it with apple a couple of weeks ago. Today he just threw in the 3 sim and it worked. No iTunes needed to check Apple database. So I reckon the Meteor payg phones that CPH sell maybe come from a supplier who gets them directly from Apple. The only difference is they charge 20 euro less than apple. I guess he sells it on he can say it was bought from CPH and is sim free.

-=al=-

Yeah I'd be curious to know if it's true myself but sounds like meteor either having a laugh or unsure themselves!

Wouldn't believe it personally but the process may have changed!

Flaccus

Nah, it's not changed because in the last couple of weeks I unlocked my own ip6 and my nieces 5c contract phones following the usual request unlock from network, put unsupported sim in, synch with iTunes etc..

What meteor were harping on about the phone relocking is due to 1. they said they have seen it happen sometimes, and 2. these are the instructions they got from apple (highly doubtful I would say as it mentioned stuff about your phone being 'bricked' after the unlock. lol.). Basically covering their behinds in case something should go wrong or genuine ineptitude. Hard to tell. But plenty of morons on their site.

In any case my mate didn't even need iTunes/unlocking process. The phone was basically sim free from the get go. He paid 780 in CPH as he was too impatient to order from the Apple store and wait the couple of days. In the end he got the phone 20 euro cheaper and at least he can travel abroad now and use any sim he wants. It was very annoying for him as he was worried his phone could get relocked to some foreign sim if he connected to iTunes while he was away. But he is travelling next week so put the sim in today and it worked thankfully.

jonny_b

I have a iphone 4 that was bought on meteor bill pay a few years back. i requested the unlock code and they gave me the same speech. They were right. When i put a 3 sim into the phone the phone locked to it. Now when i say it locked to it, it meant when i put the meteor sim or any other sim other than a 3 sim it would say invalid sim. So when i wanted to use a vodafone sim in it i had to restore the phone in iTunes and it would lock to vodafone then and let me use only a vodafone sim. a pain in the h@*e. Now i am with tesco mobile and it will not activate with them and they are not a proper carrier just a MVNO.

Flaccus

So it sounds like this unlocking/locking to network when you change sim could be related to an older iOS. As I have yet to meet anyone who has had a phone relock on iOS 8. Indeed with iOS 7 I believe the phone with lock itself to another carriers sim if you synched using a usb connection whereas with wireless sync this did not happen. So perhaps these instructions from Apple that meteor give out are just outdated.

-=al=-

For what it's worth, I unlocked a 4s on iOS6 and it stayed unlocked for good. I did use an online ebay slightly dodgy service to unlock it, but the process is the same and it was unlocked in a few days and works with any sim. I never updated from iOS6 on the 4s and it works aok with any sim still!

jay93

I've unlocked a 5c and 5s from Meteor and it never locked to another network EVER!! I'm using the 5s currently in the USA with T-Mobile and it hasn't locked at all not sure what Meteor do be talking about with that email I got it from them too.