No-contract AT&T iPhone 5 won't unlock after restore?

[rainynight33]

I just came back from the Apple store after returning 2 iPhone 5's that were scratched. The first one I brought home, unlocked successfully after a restore, I tried it with my t-mobile nano sim. But this third one I am restoring won't unlock, the "your iphone has been unlocked congradulations!" message doesnt appear, and when I put in my t-mo nano sim in, it says activation required, also after restoring, the message on itunes says that "the sim card is not supported" rather than the expected "congradualations! your phone has been unlocked" message.

Anyone have experience with this? How would I go about unlocking it now?

Thanks.

[rainynight33]

any help would be appreciated thank.

[Jordan921]

You'll have to contact apple about that. Tell them you had an unlocked phone and your replacement is not.

[kre62]

Just buy an unlock on ebay from unlock fusion. Last i checked they were like 4 dollars.

[punter33]

I believe you and I are having the same exact problem. I also purchased an ATT device only phone for 649 tonight and cannot get the congratulations your phone is unlocked after doing a restore and putting in a tmobile sim says activation required on the cell phone. Looking forward to anyone able to help us with this problem.

[rainynight33]

Originally Posted by kre62

Just buy an unlock on ebay from unlock fusion. Last i checked they were like 4 dollars.

yeah, i just bought one, freaking annoying waiting for apple to release an factory unlocked iphone5...

[punter33]

I really need to get it activated tonight to because tmobile deactivated my regular sim so unless I get this phone working tonight I will be without cell service tomorrow

I was looking at those ebay unlock codes, but they all say its important that your iphone 5 is already activated on ATT. So I think even getting the unlock service off ebay won't even work for us. I am completely lost and have no idea what to do now. What a mess this has become for me

[rainynight33]

Originally Posted by punter33

I really need to get it activated tonight to because tmobile deactivated my regular sim so unless I get this phone working tonight I will be without cell service tomorrow

I was looking at those ebay unlock codes, but they all say its important that your iphone 5 is already activated on ATT. So I think even getting the unlock service off ebay won't even work for us. I am completely lost and have no idea what to do now. What a mess this has become for me

yeah me too, my regular sim is deactivated, been trying to unlock it for hours, without succuess. when they say it has to be activated it means, you just need to stick in the regular att sim card in the iphone to activate the phone during the restore process.

did you buy an off contract phone or is it a contracted phone?

[punter33]

Mine is an off contract phone just like yours. I am a T-Mobile user. With your att sim that came with the iPhone 5 in the phone, does it say no service for you in the top left?

[rainynight33]

Originally Posted by punter33

Mine is an off contract phone just like yours. I am a T-Mobile user. With your att sim that came with the iPhone 5 in the phone, does it say no service for you in the top left?

when i stick the tmo sim inside, the phone automatically boots me out of the home screen and takes me a to a screen saying invalid sim.
it is freaking weird, cause when i bought the first one, it worked, i didnt try the second one cause i returned it right away, cause the phone had so many scratches, bad production quality this time for the iphone 5...
i remembered when the 4 and 4s had good production quality.

[punter33]

Mine does the same thing. But I am curious what your iPhone shows on the top left with the att sim card issue the phone. Does it say no service like mine does?

[rainynight33]

Originally Posted by punter33

Mine does the same thing. But I am curious what your iPhone shows on the top left with the att sim card issue the phone. Does it say no service like mine does?

with the att sim? yes, no service.
but that is pretty obvious because, we dont have att plans and the phone is att, so of course it will be no service.
im still waiting for unlock_fusion to get back to me with the code

[punter33]

Okay thanks. I thought maybe the phone was suppose to somehow register on att network and the apple employee screwed up when he sold it to me.

Could you give me the link to the unlock you bought. I would like to buy the same one as you are. Thanks.

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I found the unlock fusion eBay and put in my imei number into their checker and it gave me a message that this phone is already unlocked. So now what do I do as obviously iTunes is still not unlocking it?

[hoosier1]

Originally Posted by punter33

Okay thanks. I thought maybe the phone was suppose to somehow register on att network and the apple employee screwed up when he sold it to me.

Could you give me the link to the unlock you bought. I would like to buy the same one as you are. Thanks.

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I found the unlock fusion eBay and put in my imei number into their checker and it gave me a message that this phone is already unlocked. So now what do I do as obviously iTunes is still not unlocking it?

Did you find a solution to your problem?

[Kashsystems]

Originally Posted by punter33

]I found the unlock fusion eBay and put in my imei number into their checker and it gave me a message that this phone is already unlocked. So now what do I do as obviously iTunes is still not unlocking it?

It probably is unlocked, maybe you want to go to T-Mobile and make sure there is not a problem at there end.

[punter33]

Originally Posted by hoosier1

Did you find a solution to your problem?

I ended up buying an unlock from unlock_fusion last night, even though entering my IMEI # on their ebay auction site already showed that my device was unlocked, and tried again this morning to restore it to see if it would unlock and it did. Don't know if it was actually unlock_fusion that worked or if it was just a delay in the activation server last night. Either way it is working now.