I'm traveling to Europe next week. I called Verizon and asked them to unlock my iPhone 4S so that I can use it overseas with a foreign SIM. Is there any way for me to check that Verizon successfully unlocked it? I'd rather know now than when I'm abroad. Thanks!
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How can I tell if my Verizon unlocked my phone?
- Thread starter jason2811
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You have to restore in iTunes. Once it's finished, you'll get a "congratulations, your iPhone is now unlocked" message.
What they told me is that you must have the foreign SIM in it before the restore for it to unlock. Not sure as I have not tried it. I am not sure the reps know what they are talking about
Just verified by doing a restore and without a foreign SIM even a restore to original does not get the unlock message. What a shame to have to wait until you are in another country to activate the unlock that Verizon has "done". Plus I will not have my computer with iTunes therefore no way to do the restore with the foreign SIM, therefore no way for the Verizon unlock to work for me.
4 ways i know
- call Verizon (but you have to take their word)
- buy a simple mobile sim on eBay (.99 or less) and test
- borrow a sim from a friend with an iphone 5 from another carrier and test
- go to AT&T store and see if you can convince a employee with an ip5 to quickly borrow and test their sim
- call Verizon (but you have to take their word)
- buy a simple mobile sim on eBay (.99 or less) and test
- borrow a sim from a friend with an iphone 5 from another carrier and test
- go to AT&T store and see if you can convince a employee with an ip5 to quickly borrow and test their sim
The SIM has to be a foreign SIM (non USA), it will not work with a USA SIM per the rep I had on the phone. He assures me the iPhone 4s is unlocked, but cannot be done until a foreign (non USA) SIM is inserted and then a restore done.
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Please see my answer to MrFatBoy just above. This has been my experience. Unless you can get a foreign(non USA) SIM it will not work with a Verizon phone
Yes, what HP said above.
In other words the only way to verify is to leave the country and stick another carriers sim in.
All you can do is take Verizons word for it if you're still in the US.
You cant check with any other US companys sim either.
In other words the only way to verify is to leave the country and stick another carriers sim in.
All you can do is take Verizons word for it if you're still in the US.
You cant check with any other US companys sim either.
Thanks for the confirmation, but the key also that Verizon told me is that it is a 2 step process, it will not unlock until the foreign SIM has been inserted and a restore done from iTunes, since I can't take my computer, I am out of luck
You shouldn't have to do a restore. Just put in the foreign SIM when you get there. It should work if the phone is unlocked. You may have to reset the network settings, but other than that it should work.
Not according to the Verizon Reps, the unlock will not confirm until a restore from iTunes after the unlock and a foreign SIM. Don't know because I don't have a SIM from another country. I check with the Apple store and they show it as always locked. They too told me it had I had to do a restore with the out of country SIM
Unless the Verizon is different than AT&T in regards to their software, then I don't know. It has worked with the AT&T version. It would be stupid if you had to restore with a foreign SIM somewhere overseas. Obviously, they know you are using overseas.
My Bad! I have an Iphone 4s and Iphone 5. The rules I stated above only apply to the ip5. However, both of my phones are unlocked.
As for checking(and to unlock) if the iphone4s is unlocked you need a foreign SIM as people stated above. I had an old SIM from vietnam that I used to unlock the 4S. I walked thru the steps to unlock while on the phone with a verizon rep.
I think the difference is that AT&T can be used on other GSM networks here in the States and until the iPhone 5 Verizon cannot. Even unlock the 4s will not work on a GSM network in the USA
I wouldn't take what a verizon rep said as gospel.
All you should have to do is stick a foreign sim and activate the phone. No need for a restore. That would be pointless. Who wants to have to restore their phone and sync all their stuff back all over in order to just use another sim inside an unlocked iPhone. Over a 30 minute process just to switch sims?
+1, I just get off the plane in a foreign country and pop in the foreign SIM right there and i'm good to go. It would be almost worthless to find a place with itunes and do a full restore.
I was able to unlock two 4s Verizon phones. I confirmed the unlock before leaving the US by purchasing a Canadian sim on eBay for about $5. You do have to connect to iTunes after inserting the sim, but you can do it over wifi. If you cannot get a foreign sim before leaving the country, get the sim overseas, connect to a wifi network and launch the iTunes app (purple icon). That should complete the unlock process.
So the info that I got from the Verizon Rep and the Apple rep was correct in the sense that it must connect to iTunes, but not necessarily a restore. Great. I will try the Canadian SIM option.
Thanks to all