Anyone else unlock their iPhone 5 yet?

Gsarfin

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Official unlock from AT&T is free IF you are not on contract AN/OR meet their requirements. Doubt many with iPhone 5 will qualify. I'm only commenting because I've officially unlocked my AT&T iPhones (off contract) and needed an active valid AT&T SIM card to do so. Not sure if its the same with this company, just pointing out that for the official AT&T unlock you DO need a valid active sim from AT&T.
 

Peligro911

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Pretty sure Verizon blocks US GSM carriers even when unlocked. You would need Gevey SIM I believe.

You are correct they block US gsm carriers .. You can use a r sim iii but jailbreak is required so basically as of now you would need to be on 5.1.1 and not OS6
 

Goodeye

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I gotta ask, how is this company doing this exactly? (I know how unlocks work) but how is it getting into Apple's Database as I understand they have a database of unlocked devices. While I'm sure the unlocks are legit, it still has a sketchy feel to it to me.
 

Peligro911

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I gotta ask, how is this company doing this exactly? (I know how unlocks work) but how is it getting into Apple's Database as I understand they have a database of unlocked devices. While I'm sure the unlocks are legit, it still has a sketchy feel to it to me.

Att rep making money on side or a AT&T reseller who has access to send the requests ... Or a rouge apple employee lol
 

Eileen89

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Irish rose sounds familiar and this thread looks familiar.

Obviously Irish Rose sounds familiar, I've been a member here since April 2011!! ;) Not sure what you are getting at with that last comment as I have never posted about this before here or elsewhere. I simply posted this for others like myself who are not sure if this kind of service actually works and want to unlock their iPhone 5's but don't qualify for a free unlock through AT&T....
 

tharley46

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Hey guys, I unlocked my iPhone 5 (that i purchased outright) for free by restoring thru iTunes. What I did was, the first thing is to backup your phone. Then once that is done, you click on restore. After your phone goes through the restore process you will get this screen, at least I did and now my phone is unlocked. After I get the "unlocked screen" I did a restore from backup that I did prior to restoring phone. ImageUploadedByiMore Forums1349353372.016026.jpg
 

Eileen89

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I gotta ask, how is this company doing this exactly? (I know how unlocks work) but how is it getting into Apple's Database as I understand they have a database of unlocked devices. While I'm sure the unlocks are legit, it still has a sketchy feel to it to me.
I suspect the person doing the unlocks works for Apple since he/she would have to have access to Apples database. Doesn't really matter to me, though. They factory unlocked my iPhone 5 fast and easy, without my having to wait out my 2 year contract with AT&T to get it done. Also, once unlocked through Apple, the iPhone will never be locked again. Therefore, this to me is 110% legit and cheap too.

---------- Post Merged at 08:38 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 08:34 AM ----------

Hey guys, I unlocked my iPhone 5 (that i purchased outright) for free by restoring thru iTunes. What I did was, the first thing is to backup your phone. Then once that is done, you click on restore. After your phone goes through the restore process you will get this screen, at least I did and now my phone is unlocked. After I get the "unlocked screen" I did a restore from backup that I did prior to restoring phone.

Yeah, if you purchased your iPhone outright it would be unlocked free, and it should since there is no commitment attached to it. ;)
 

Ringfinger

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whoa, that's great! Do I just pop it in or do I have to go through a whole process each time? Also, any recs for a good source of said card?

Can anyone help with this? I looked online and it seems so confusing with all that is out there. When I travel to Canada, Mexico, or Europe I would like to pop in a local SIM card, no fuss no muss without screwing up my phone, doing back-ups, etc. I just want to pop it in and get great rates for data and voice. Do I need a separate one for each area I mentioned? Do they expire? Who is trustworthy?
 

Eileen89

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Can anyone help with this? I looked online and it seems so confusing with all that is out there. When I travel to Canada, Mexico, or Europe I would like to pop in a local SIM card, no fuss no muss without screwing up my phone, doing back-ups, etc. I just want to pop it in and get great rates for data and voice. Do I need a separate one for each area I mentioned? Do they expire? Who is trustworthy?

I am not sure what your question is exactly. Once unlocked you will be able to use any GSM carrier SIM card. If it isn't a nano sim you will have to cut it down to fit the sim tray. As for the second part of you question, all prepaid carrier SIM cards expire over time. You will need to do some research online to find a prepaid carrier that has the best rates and expiration dates.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk
 

Ringfinger

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That helps. My basic questions are:

1. I have a Verizon phone so I know it is unlocked already. So, I assume I can just pop in a SIM card when I say go to Germany from a local carrier and use their network. When I come home, I put in my Verizon SIM card and all is good. My question on that is do I have to do any sort of back-ups or syncs when I do this or is just this as simple as it seems?

2. I assume based on your answer that there are SIM cards for say Alcatel in Mexico, Bell in Canada, and say Vodaphone for EU. I also assume there are companies that just have flat rates for each country and once you pop their card in, you are set regardless of where you are? In other words, I don't have to buy a specific card for use in Canada. I can but a card that is good in Canada or Mexico or Europe, however there may be different rates for each. Correct? and if so, what is my best bet? It seems what I see on ebay is questionable at best.
 

Peligro911

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That helps. My basic questions are:

1. I have a Verizon phone so I know it is unlocked already. So, I assume I can just pop in a SIM card when I say go to Germany from a local carrier and use their network. When I come home, I put in my Verizon SIM card and all is good. My question on that is do I have to do any sort of back-ups or syncs when I do this or is just this as simple as it seems?

2. I assume based on your answer that there are SIM cards for say Alcatel in Mexico, Bell in Canada, and say Vodaphone for EU. I also assume there are companies that just have flat rates for each country and once you pop their card in, you are set regardless of where you are? In other words, I don't have to buy a specific card for use in Canada. I can but a card that is good in Canada or Mexico or Europe, however there may be different rates for each. Correct? and if so, what is my best bet? It seems what I see on ebay is questionable at best.

1. Yes that simple
2. I would check for the best deal once i am there
 

Eric808

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This is probably a stupid question, I received my "unlock screen". If I didn't restore from backup and restored as a new phone, will this void the unlock? Or is restoring from backup is just a convenience so you don't have to deal with adding everything back on your phone? I went through setting up my phone as new but I don't know if my phone is unlocked and I don't have another carrier's SIM. If anyone can help that would be great! Thanks
 

vietalogy

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This is probably a stupid question, I received my "unlock screen". If I didn't restore from backup and restored as a new phone, will this void the unlock? Or is restoring from backup is just a convenience so you don't have to deal with adding everything back on your phone? I went through setting up my phone as new but I don't know if my phone is unlocked and I don't have another carrier's SIM. If anyone can help that would be great! Thanks

You need to restore in order for iTunes to unlock it. You don't need a different carrier sim just google sim lock status and and use one of the sites and input your imei and it will show your phones lock status.


via Tapatalk
 

Fausty82

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You need to restore in order for iTunes to unlock it. You don't need a different carrier sim just google sim lock status and and use one of the sites and input your imei and it will show your phones lock status.

via Tapatalk

The link above (included here, too, for convenience) also has a checker... reporting IMEI is AT&T but already unlocked on my son-in-law's phone that I unlocked yesterday.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=200828055635 (scroll down)
 

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