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Thread ID: 131687 2013-05-04 03:15:00 iPhone 4 from O2 in the UK - locked? wratterus (105) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1339607 2013-05-04 03:15:00 Hi all,

A friend got given an iPhone 4 with a cracked screen, it was on O2 in the UK originally. I replaced the screen, and the phone goes mint, however...

It's fully updated (6.0.3 I think) and after putting in the Vodafone SIM, the phone doesn't pick up the network, and in the carrier settings etc it seems to be locked to O2.

If the phone is reset with the Vodafone SIM in, when it gets to the 'activation' stage, the message 'Only compatible SIM cards from a supported Carrier may be used to activate iPhone. Please insert the SIM card that came with your iPhone or visit a supported Carrier's store to receive a replacement SIM card.'

I do still have the O2 SIM, if I put this in the phone will activate, but then we go back to issue one.

So, I assume the phone is Carrier locked to O2? Would that be right, and if so, how can we go about unlocking it? I'm a bit of a novice with iOS and iPhones in general.

Thanks! :)
wratterus (105)
1339608 2013-05-04 03:28:00 Jailbreak it Speedy Gonzales (78)
1339609 2013-05-04 03:29:00 www.ebay.com

I've never tried it, but it's a better solution than a jailbreak.
Alex B (15479)
1339610 2013-05-04 03:46:00 Thanks guys - I would really like to avoid jailbreaking it if possible.

That OK unlocking thing look awesome - O2 do unlock the phones for free if you're on a contract, or for 15 quid on prepay, but the SIM we have will have been deactivated by now, so that's rather difficult in this case cause we can't get hold of their support without the phone number that was on the SIM, which we don't know.

Will look into that ebay unlock thing.

Thanks heaps.
wratterus (105)
1339611 2013-05-04 04:13:00 I've bought that O2 reset - will see how it goes! Thanks heaps Alex. wratterus (105)
1339612 2013-05-04 04:17:00 Sweet, i'd be keen to know how it goes. Jailbreak it's self does not unlock the phone btw, you still need an unlock, not sure on the details. Alex B (15479)
1339613 2013-05-04 06:32:00 Yeah post back and let us know how you go :) Chilling_Silence (9)
1339614 2013-05-05 21:55:00 Well, it looked all very positive, but I got this email back yesterday...



Dear Buyer,
We are really sorry however the O2 UK unlocking service is went down and not working now :( There were some issues on O2 UK server and now it is completely down and not working at the moment unfortunately :( all of our o2 uk IMEIs were failed because of that.
As far as we know noone can unlock O2 UK network now. All unlocking servers are not working properly.
As such we've refunded your payment fully. You can check your card details or paypal account for the refund.
Please cancel the transaction by agreeing to our request, we've just sent it.
We really appreciate if you don't leave us negative or neutral feedback because it was not in our control, the news came just today.
Thank you again for your patience and sorry for any inconveniences it may caused.


They say they'll refund the whole amount to the credit card etc, they were good to deal with the whole time.
Bit of a pain though haha. I assume this is just a temporary thing, I'm trying to find out from them if they expect it to be working again at some stage.
wratterus (105)
1339615 2013-05-05 22:16:00 Jailbreak it
Jailbreak does not unlock a phone, it's basically the equivalent of root on an android.

There are other IMEI unlocks around and for a lot cheaper than 100 pound.
autechre (266)
1339616 2013-05-05 22:55:00 Either way it still lets you use whatever you want Speedy Gonzales (78)
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