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turaco

macrumors member
Oct 1, 2011
32
0
$150 for a carrier unlock unlock (only att at the moment) is too much. I received an email from applenberry over the weekend along with a $50 off coupon, if anybody wants it just pm me.

Having said that there are a lot of vendors on ebay offering the same service for as low at $50, and yes they are legit, but certain basic requirements have to be met, same with applenberry. Just do a search on ebay for 'iphone att imei unlock' or 'iphone att factory unlock'.

SAD*FACED*CLOWN, you have no idea what you are talking about....
 

SAD*FACED*CLOWN

macrumors 65816
Apr 5, 2010
1,342
1
Houston, TX
There's nothing "illegal" about it. And as others have said, AT&T does not have control over the unlocked phone database maintained by APPLE.



Apple is not going to unlock an iPhone without authorization from the carrier. But that doesn't mean Apple doesn't control the database.

And secondly, you clearly have no clue what you're talking about, so please stop posting.

clearly I do know what I'm talking about since my phone was just recently unlocked BY AT&T via iTunes...both AT&T and Apple maintain seperate databases on IMEI numbers...yet Apple can not unlock the phone without the carrier's permission...so actually apple controls nothing..they merely keep a "list" aka database of unlocked iPhones
 

Daveoc64

macrumors 601
Jan 16, 2008
4,074
92
Bristol, UK
clearly I do know what I'm talking about since my phone was just recently unlocked BY AT&T via iTunes...both AT&T and Apple maintain seperate databases on IMEI numbers...yet Apple can not unlock the phone without the carrier's permission...so actually apple controls nothing..they merely keep a "list" aka database of unlocked iPhones

What you're not explaining is how the carrier (i.e. AT&T) would ever know that a phone has been unlocked in an unauthorised manner.

It's certainly possible that if AT&T (or another carrier) knew that a specific device had been unlocked without their permission that they could ask Apple to lock it, but how they would find that out remains to be seen.

There have been quite a few services like this, and there's not been any evidence that Apple or the carriers have tried to reverse the unlocks.
 

RetiredInFl

macrumors 68020
Jul 7, 2008
2,422
237
FORMERLY NJ now FL
you need not believe anything...just know that if you unlock illegally AT&T can re lock you and then deny you any future unlocks don't believe? me get caught
What they "can" do and what they are doing are 2 different things. They also "can" block a stolen device by IMEI but they haven't as yet. You still haven't addressed how "several of your friends" have had their IMEI unlocks reversed when NO WHERE on the internet has ANYONE posted that same issue unless they were using software (JB) unlocks and had no clue what they were doing.

Maybe your "several friends" need a happy*faced*clown to bring them some good luck seeing as they seem to be the only ones in the US with that issue and the common denominator with them and their problem is you. Maybe you just have bad unlock-karma? ;) :D :eek: :)
 

Nikhil72

macrumors 65816
Oct 21, 2005
1,433
1,153
For what it's worth, I used these guys:

http://www.cellunlocker.net

right before my last vacation and it worked beautifully. The only problem I had was that they took about 4-5 days, but one day I got an email notifying me that my iPhone was unlocked; plugged it into iTunes and my 4S (still on contract on AT&T) received the "Unlocked" congratulatory message in iTunes. They're asking $79.99, which seems somewhat reasonable all things considered and cheaper than the other factory unlock options out there.
 

dcains

macrumors regular
Mar 27, 2007
192
0
copied/pasted from my AT&T account page:

What are the eligibility requirements for unlocking iPhone?

All requests for iPhone unlock must meet general iPhone unlock eligibility requirements before an iPhone can be unlocked.
General Eligibility Requirements for Unlocking iPhone

AT&T will unlock an iPhone under the following circumstances:

The person requesting the unlock is:
a current AT&T customer or
a former AT&T customer who can provide the phone number or account number for the account
The iPhone was designed for use on AT&T's network;
All contract obligations, including any term commitment, associated with the device to be unlocked have been fully satisfied; and
The iPhone has not been reported lost or stolen.
 

RetiredInFl

macrumors 68020
Jul 7, 2008
2,422
237
FORMERLY NJ now FL
For what it's worth, I used these guys:

www.cellunlocker.net

right before my last vacation and it worked beautifully. The only problem I had was that they took about 4-5 days, but one day I got an email notifying me that my iPhone was unlocked; plugged it into iTunes and my 4S (still on contract on AT&T) received the "Unlocked" congratulatory message in iTunes. They're asking $79.99, which seems somewhat reasonable all things considered and cheaper than the other factory unlock options out there.
They are far from the cheapest out there. I just had it done for $55, took 2 hours (last Saturday) and there were 3 or 4 others under $79.99. I'm not posting the name because I don't want people thinking I'm a shill for them. They can easily be found on eBay for $59 and the web for $55 with a little effort.
 

jane1119

macrumors newbie
Jul 25, 2012
1
0
$150 for a carrier unlock unlock (only att at the moment) is too much. I received an email from applenberry over the weekend along with a $50 off coupon, if anybody wants it just pm me.

Having said that there are a lot of vendors on ebay offering the same service for as low at $50, and yes they are legit, but certain basic requirements have to be met, same with applenberry. Just do a search on ebay for 'iphone att imei unlock' or 'iphone att factory unlock'.

SAD*FACED*CLOWN, you have no idea what you are talking about....

Hi, can you give me the discount code, would love to give it a try.
 

rumplestiltskin

macrumors 6502
Apr 12, 2006
284
103
StraightTalk's service BYOD service works (their SIM) with locked GSM iPhones according to their customer service people. I can't confirm this but my properly unlocked iPhone (unlocked through iTunes) has been running on the StraightTalk system with their SIM since March with no issues. (And I'm very happy with their $50/month unlimited service.)
 

goffredo

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 28, 2009
38
5
... I just had it done for $55, took 2 hours (last Saturday) and there were 3 or 4 others under $79.99 ... They can easily be found on eBay for $59 and the web for $55 with a little effort.

Thanks for the data. I'll probably just poke around on eBay and try it out -- spending $150 for Applenberry to do this just doesn't make sense now.

Here's one thing I've been wondering about. How do all of these 'services' do their magic? I'm visualizing a web service that Apple supplies that allows authorized entities (such as AT&T) to request an IMEI be SIM-unlocked in their database, so that a subsequent iTunes sync results in the blessed UNLOCK screen. Surely this isn't done by anything less automated than a web service ... I can't see someone at AT&T calling up their Apple account rep and saying "Ok here are some IMEIs I'd like you to unlock...".

How are all of these services -- Applenberry, the various people on eBay, etc -- able to become authorized entities to use this hypothetical web service? You would think this would be highly-guarded and only available to AT&T, yet obviously this is not the case. I figure there must be a common loophole that all of these guys are using to affect what appears to be an official change in Apple's unlock DB. Maybe it's paying $$ and signing a contact with Apple, or perhaps someone found a way to spoof a certificate used by the hypothetical web service.
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
Thanks for the data. I'll probably just poke around on eBay and try it out -- spending $150 for Applenberry to do this just doesn't make sense now.

Here's one thing I've been wondering about. How do all of these 'services' do their magic? I'm visualizing a web service that Apple supplies that allows authorized entities (such as AT&T) to request an IMEI be SIM-unlocked in their database, so that a subsequent iTunes sync results in the blessed UNLOCK screen. Surely this isn't done by anything less automated than a web service ... I can't see someone at AT&T calling up their Apple account rep and saying "Ok here are some IMEIs I'd like you to unlock...".

How are all of these services -- Applenberry, the various people on eBay, etc -- able to become authorized entities to use this hypothetical web service? You would think this would be highly-guarded and only available to AT&T, yet obviously this is not the case. I figure there must be a common loophole that all of these guys are using to affect what appears to be an official change in Apple's unlock DB. Maybe it's paying $$ and signing a contact with Apple, or perhaps someone found a way to spoof a certificate used by the hypothetical web service.

Personally I dont think its spoofing or hacking or anything like that.
You know how many thousands of AT&T employees have acess to the system to submit imei's to Apple for unlocking?
Even a part time employee can make some good money entering 10-15 iphone serials a week or something;)
 

PeteDin206

macrumors member
Jul 23, 2012
47
42
Why did they unlock your phone? What was the case you pleaded?

As a 12 year AT&T customer, former employee (4 years) and $300 per month account, I figured my business was worth more than that. I explained that I would cancel my account at the end of my contract (after unlocking my phone of course) and go to another carrier. I was polite about it and didn't jump up and down screaming. I just explained my value as a customer who wanted to stay with AT&T, but I didn't want to pay international rates while in Asia and they unlocked it. It also helps that I'm on a corporate discount program with a large multinational company who does millions of dollars annually with AT&T.

This is on an 64GB iPhone 4s.... I still have 14 months on my contract.

----------

Personally I dont think its spoofing or hacking or anything like that.
You know how many thousands of AT&T employees have acess to the system to submit imei's to Apple for unlocking?
Even a part time employee can make some good money entering 10-15 iphone serials a week or something;)

And you realize the 1000's of AT&T employees are audited on a regular basis. Good way for any employee to get fired.
 

kenny911

macrumors newbie
Jun 5, 2011
19
17
I just paid $69 and had my ATT 4s unlocked in less than 24 hours. No idea how they did it but I'm pretty pumped up because I can take it with me to Europe in a couple weeks.
 

SenseiPhone

macrumors regular
Jun 9, 2011
107
2
$150 is just too much.

However, yes you can simply submit IMEI and get it unlocked, as long as your IMEI has never been reported as stolen / list (which is probably not)
 

VKLT247

macrumors newbie
Sep 8, 2012
1
0
What they "can" do and what they are doing are 2 different things. They also "can" block a stolen device by IMEI but they haven't as yet. You still haven't addressed how "several of your friends" have had their IMEI unlocks reversed when NO WHERE on the internet has ANYONE posted that same issue unless they were using software (JB) unlocks and had no clue what they were doing.

Maybe your "several friends" need a happy*faced*clown to bring them some good luck seeing as they seem to be the only ones in the US with that issue and the common denominator with them and their problem is you. Maybe you just have bad unlock-karma? ;) :D :eek: :)

So i was just trying to get the awswer to my problem because recently i ordered 3 unlock from ebay ($22-34), 2 was iphone 4s and 1 iphone 4. In couple hrs they all got unlocked through itunes and all that, i also checked with dev.mk. Thought it was "permanent" so i put my at&t sim back and others 2 as well. Its been almost a month now i thought let me just check to see if it was still unlocked... Guess what? Its Locked so i check the others too, they all got re lock for some reason, i contact the ebay seller and still waiting for answer.

Maybe at&t re lock them? Or i supposed to use other carrier sim after unlocked? If it "permanent" it doesnt matter what and when as long it uses sim card right? Hopefully i get my answer or refund from ebay seller and try applenberry or something. They "might"be the real deal.
 

eccwong

macrumors newbie
Nov 15, 2012
1
0
Re: dev.mk

So i was just trying to get the awswer to my problem because recently i ordered 3 unlock from ebay ($22-34), 2 was iphone 4s and 1 iphone 4. In couple hrs they all got unlocked through itunes and all that, i also checked with dev.mk. Thought it was "permanent" so i put my at&t sim back and others 2 as well. Its been almost a month now i thought let me just check to see if it was still unlocked... Guess what? Its Locked so i check the others too, they all got re lock for some reason, i contact the ebay seller and still waiting for answer.

Maybe at&t re lock them? Or i supposed to use other carrier sim after unlocked? If it "permanent" it doesnt matter what and when as long it uses sim card right? Hopefully i get my answer or refund from ebay seller and try applenberry or something. They "might"be the real deal.


Do not trust dev.mk. I have a AT&T unlock iPhone but when I entered the IMEI number, it showed it is locked.
 

ericrwalker

macrumors 68030
Oct 8, 2008
2,812
4
Albany, NY
All those third party unlocker checkers will show it locked even if your iPhone is bone fide factory-unlocked, just so they can get your business.


My iPhone 4 and 4S showed locked. I had them unlocked and the same day the unlock was completed on both of them it then showed unlocked. dev.mk has been accurate for 2 phones for me, and I had the 4S unlocked from a different company and AT&T unlock my 4.
 

JayLenochiniMac

macrumors G5
Nov 7, 2007
12,819
2,389
New Sanfrakota
My iPhone 4 and 4S showed locked. I had them unlocked and the same day the unlock was completed on both of them it then showed unlocked. dev.mk has been accurate for 2 phones for me, and I had the 4S unlocked from a different company and AT&T unlock my 4.

Good for you if it works, but they're not 100% reliable and some will show all iPhones as locked so they can fool you into thinking you need their unlocking service.
 

ericrwalker

macrumors 68030
Oct 8, 2008
2,812
4
Albany, NY
Good for you if it works, but they're not 100% reliable and some will show all iPhones as locked so they can fool you into thinking you need their unlocking service.

Some of these sites may be trying to do that, I have no proof nor care to dig for any. The ultimate proof it put in a 3rd party sim card. If you're getting it unlocked that's the purpose anyway.
Also, I have a feeling many people pay money to get their phones unlocked and never use their phone on another network.
 

aleksandra99

macrumors newbie
Apr 3, 2013
1
0
ATT iphone unlocking

Talking about unlock, I know a site that unlocks all ATT phones, go to attiphoneunlocking dot com, took me two hours to unlock my new 5.
 

terraphantm

macrumors 68040
Jun 27, 2009
3,814
663
Pennsylvania
clearly I do know what I'm talking about since my phone was just recently unlocked BY AT&T via iTunes...both AT&T and Apple maintain seperate databases on IMEI numbers...yet Apple can not unlock the phone without the carrier's permission...so actually apple controls nothing..they merely keep a "list" aka database of unlocked iPhones

You really don't know anything.

AT&T sent a request to Apple that your phone is unlocked. Apple accepted that request and sent an unlocked activation ticket to the iPhone. This process is more or less automated so the unlock appears instantaneous when AT&T sends the request.

Apple does not unlock phones without the carriers' permission, but that does not mean they cannot, nor does it mean that AT&T is the one doing the actual unlocking. In fact, back when unlocks were not allowed by AT&T whatsoever, a few people successfully got their AT&T iPhones by using the unlock request feature from international carriers (such as O2). That in and of itself is indicative that AT&T does not do the actual unlocking. But beyond that -- if you were to get your iPhone exchanged in a country where AT&T iPhones aren't offered, then the new one will be locked to AT&T as soon as it is activated, despite being a model from a different country/carrier. If that isn't proof that Apple controls the subsidy lock status, I don't know what is.

Apple can theoretically relock any iPhone out there, but I have not heard of that happening
 

SAD*FACED*CLOWN

macrumors 65816
Apr 5, 2010
1,342
1
Houston, TX
You really don't know anything.

AT&T sent a request to Apple that your phone is unlocked. Apple accepted that request and sent an unlocked activation ticket to the iPhone. This process is more or less automated so the unlock appears instantaneous when AT&T sends the request.

Apple does not unlock phones without the carriers' permission, but that does not mean they cannot, nor does it mean that AT&T is the one doing the actual unlocking. In fact, back when unlocks were not allowed by AT&T whatsoever, a few people successfully got their AT&T iPhones by using the unlock request feature from international carriers (such as O2). That in and of itself is indicative that AT&T does not do the actual unlocking. But beyond that -- if you were to get your iPhone exchanged in a country where AT&T iPhones aren't offered, then the new one will be locked to AT&T as soon as it is activated, despite being a model from a different country/carrier. If that isn't proof that Apple controls the subsidy lock status, I don't know what is.

Apple can theoretically relock any iPhone out there, but I have not heard of that happening

who does AT&T contact to unlock android phones then...since they don't "actually do the unlocking"?...and my girlfriend who owns an iPhone from Thailand has an AT&T sim in her iPhone and it wasn't locked as soon as it was activated....where did you hear that malarkey? and please tell me what happens if you call Apple directly to have your iPhone unlocked? I'll tell you...they will refer you to AT&T....oh and having the ability to do something but being legally unable to do it kinda means you cannot
 
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