Have a question about checking my IMEI number on my used iphone 3 gs.

[KCinAR]

Hi, I'm brand new to iphones, I just recently bought 3 used iphone 3 gs from sellers on Ebay. Each seller had 100% feedback and none were cell phone re-sellers (altho being a cell phone re-seller isn't a bad thing, I was just afraid I might end up with a bad phone) they all said the phones worked perfectly- my son and daughter checked them out and so far no problems. I doubt these phones were reported lost/stolen and the sellers had upgraded to a newer model so probably no issues with contracts not being fulfilled either. I want to use our iphones on Straight Talk which is a GSM carrier. So I have to unlock these phones. I found an unlocking service on Ebay that has 100% feedback that I plan on using. I just checked one of our phones IMEI numbers on an IMEI number checking site- it just told me all the info about the phone and said it was activated, does that mean it's ok? I would assume that if it was reported lost/stolen it would tell me that? Any advice is greatly appreciated since I am new to this, thanks in advance!

 

[Peligro911]

Try unlock fusion .. It's only 8 bucks or so per phone .. I would also try a http://dev.mk/2012/08/dev-mk-iphone-imei-checker-with-simlock-status-what-happened/

Bottom of page check them

 

[Guacho]

I believe activated means was previously used on an account, it's not a sign that's stolen or something like that..

 

[KCinAR]

Thank you, I actually went ahead and bought an unlocking service thru Ebay and it was under $5 per phone It said all 3 phones were now unlocked but we haven't connected them to itunes and backed them up and restored yet so I'm not ready to say they're unlocked for sure but the seller of this service had 100% feedback and had done more than 1500 unlocks so I felt safe going with them- they got it done in 2 hours!

---------- Post Merged at 01:35 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 01:35 PM ----------

Thank you, I actually went ahead and bought an unlocking service thru Ebay and it was under $5 per phone It said all 3 phones were now unlocked but we haven't connected them to itunes and backed them up and restored yet so I'm not ready to say they're unlocked for sure but the seller of this service had 100% feedback and had done more than 1500 unlocks so I felt safe going with them- they got it done in 2 hours!

 

[Guacho]

Please come back to report..

 

[KCinAR]

My son has successfully finished the unlocking process for 2 of the 3 iphone 3 gs, and we have successfully ported our number from AT&T to Straight Talk but we have run into a problem. Altho we have service and can make and receive calls/texts we cannot use data because we cannot figure out how to update the APN settings to the new settings that Straight Talk uses. If anybody has any advice for that I would appreciate any help- thanks!

---------- Post Merged at 11:02 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 11:02 PM ----------

My son has successfully finished the unlocking process for 2 of the 3 iphone 3 gs, and we have successfully ported our number from AT&T to Straight Talk but we have run into a problem. Altho we have service and can make and receive calls/texts we cannot use data because we cannot figure out how to update the APN settings to the new settings that Straight Talk uses. If anybody has any advice for that I would appreciate any help- thanks!

 

[Guacho]

What's up with these duplicate posts? I've seen them quite a few times lately..

 

[Peligro911]

My son has successfully finished the unlocking process for 2 of the 3 iphone 3 gs, and we have successfully ported our number from AT&T to Straight Talk but we have run into a problem. Altho we have service and can make and receive calls/texts we cannot use data because we cannot figure out how to update the APN settings to the new settings that Straight Talk uses. If anybody has any advice for that I would appreciate any help- thanks!

---------- Post Merged at 11:02 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 11:02 PM ----------

My son has successfully finished the unlocking process for 2 of the 3 iphone 3 gs, and we have successfully ported our number from AT&T to Straight Talk but we have run into a problem. Altho we have service and can make and receive calls/texts we cannot use data because we cannot figure out how to update the APN settings to the new settings that Straight Talk uses. If anybody has any advice for that I would appreciate any help- thanks!

Google ... You can edit apn by jailbreak or there is a site your put the info in and it downloads the profile into the phone an changes it

 

[Fausty82]

What's up with these duplicate posts? I've seen them quite a few times lately..

Bugs in the forum...

 

[KCinAR]

Just wanted to thank everyone here and especially Peligro911, I did google it and I found this: IPhone3GS - APN Changer and Data Sim Guide, I was afraid to do it before but at this point I'm going nuts trying to get it to work. The weird thing is the same problem happened with hubby's iphone 3gs, we got it activated yesterday morning and we tried everything to change the APN settings but there's no way to do it. We figured we'd have to call Straight Talk (which btw is a nightmare) later when we were home from work but when we checked the phone about 8 hrs later, it was working on its own. I have no idea why so I thought maybe it just takes a while? My son's iphone 3gs was activated yesterday morning as well, and 24 hrs later, he still can't use the internet on his phone (wifi works fine) I don't know why every time I post here it posts twice, I'm just hitting the "post quick reply" button once, so yes it's probably a bug.

 

[Peligro911]

Just wanted to thank everyone here and especially Peligro911, I did google it and I found this: IPhone3GS - APN Changer and Data Sim Guide, I was afraid to do it before but at this point I'm going nuts trying to get it to work. The weird thing is the same problem happened with hubby's iphone 3gs, we got it activated yesterday morning and we tried everything to change the APN settings but there's no way to do it. We figured we'd have to call Straight Talk (which btw is a nightmare) later when we were home from work but when we checked the phone about 8 hrs later, it was working on its own. I have no idea why so I thought maybe it just takes a while? My son's iphone 3gs was activated yesterday morning as well, and 24 hrs later, he still can't use the internet on his phone (wifi works fine) I don't know why every time I post here it posts twice, I'm just hitting the "post quick reply" button once, so yes it's probably a bug.

Did the changer work ? Also try searching the forum in the jailbreak section there might be another site as well

 

[KCinAR]

Yes, actually my son found an APN changer thru itunes. He downloaded it into his iphone and my iphone, we both now have data that works fine, thank you again for suggesting the changer , if you hadn't told me about it, I would've never thought to check into that.

So all 3 iphone 3gs now have data working and will make/receive calls and texts except that for some reason, my son's iphone 3gs and my iphone 3gs cannot send or receive texts from each other...weird right? We can send/receive texts from my husband's iphone 3gs and anyone else. I have no idea why we are having that problem. Earlier tonight, my son sent a group message to my husband's number and my number, I was able to receive that group message, so I asked my son to send a message to just me to see if it was working and he tried it but it didn't work.

 

[Peligro911]

Yes, actually my son found an APN changer thru itunes. He downloaded it into his iphone and my iphone, we both now have data that works fine, thank you again for suggesting the changer , if you hadn't told me about it, I would've never thought to check into that.

So all 3 iphone 3gs now have data working and will make/receive calls and texts except that for some reason, my son's iphone 3gs and my iphone 3gs cannot send or receive texts from each other...weird right? We can send/receive texts from my husband's iphone 3gs and anyone else. I have no idea why we are having that problem. Earlier tonight, my son sent a group message to my husband's number and my number, I was able to receive that group message, so I asked my son to send a message to just me to see if it was working and he tried it but it didn't work.

Is it a text or a iMessage ? Because of its a iMessage you two might be using same apple ID for iMessage

 

[KCinAR]

It's a text message, I texted him and he texted me back late last night and all the sudden it started working I'm wondering if Straight Talk just takes a while to get everything working right? I will research iMessaging, I saw something about that on my iphone. Thank you for telling me about using the same apple ID, my son set up all of our accounts for us when he was finishing the unlocking process, I'll ask him to check and make sure we don't have the same ID.

I was wondering what you could tell me about jailbreaking an iphone? I keep hearing that it can open your iphone up to viruses and other people tell me that's not true...I don't know what to believe now. I was told people like to jailbreak their phone to get apps that aren't available thru itunes or because they can get certain types of apps for free whereas if their phone was not jail broken, they would have to pay itunes to get those same type apps.

 

[Peligro911]

It's a text message, I texted him and he texted me back late last night and all the sudden it started working I'm wondering if Straight Talk just takes a while to get everything working right? I will research iMessaging, I saw something about that on my iphone. Thank you for telling me about using the same apple ID, my son set up all of our accounts for us when he was finishing the unlocking process, I'll ask him to check and make sure we don't have the same ID.

I was wondering what you could tell me about jailbreaking an iphone? I keep hearing that it can open your iphone up to viruses and other people tell me that's not true...I don't know what to believe now. I was told people like to jailbreak their phone to get apps that aren't available thru itunes or because they can get certain types of apps for free whereas if their phone was not jail broken, they would have to pay itunes to get those same type apps.

Jail breaking can allow you to install apps that apple may not normally allow and tweak your phone and customize it more ..
As far as free apps and things there is more you would need to do besides jailbreak I can not really say forum rules prohibit talking about piracy
And I would advise against it strictly because sometimes those apps you don't pay for dont get updates or support because you didn't get them from iTunes
Also with jail breaking its at your own risk because some tweaks can cause issues when put with other tweaks like battery drain ... Crashing etc
Unless you fully know what your doing or have a specific need that you must be jailbroken I would stick to stock

As far as iMessage and apple ID
make sure you each have a separate apple Id for iMessage and iCloud
But under settings for the App Store use the same apple Id on all the devices here's why

If you buy a app using a apple id

That app can be installed on all devices without paying again

If you all use your own apple id on that setting then you each would have to pay for that app

 

[Peligro911]

If you have any questions just pm

 

[KCinAR]

Ok, thank you for explaining jailbreaking. I'm definitely not going to do it now that you've explained the pitfalls, as I know what my limitations are ie, I have no clue what I'm doing with this phone right now lol. Great advice using same id for buying apps You've been a huge help

 

[Peligro911]

Ok, thank you for explaining jailbreaking. I'm definitely not going to do it now that you've explained the pitfalls, as I know what my limitations are ie, I have no clue what I'm doing with this phone right now lol. Great advice using same id for buying apps You've been a huge help

No problem