My wife and I are in England and unlocked our iphone4 through the AT&T out of contract unlock process prior to leaving and did the backup and restore through iTunes. However when we got to England we keep getting NO SERVICE when we put in a local carrier SIM. Thoughts?? Thanks so much
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Traveling to England - No service with local carrier SIM for AT&T unlocked phones
- Thread starter dylanursula
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I have no advice, unfortunately, other than you should post here which carrier sims you have tried. Locals may be able to help better that way. 
I have no advice, unfortunately, other than you should post here which carrier sims you have tried. Locals may be able to help better that way.
We tried the 3 UK micro SIM pay as you go
Where did you get it from? I don't know about 3, but T-Mobile will deactivate SIMs if they haven't been used. I got one from a post office in the middle of nowhere and it didn't work. I then went to a proper T-Mobile shop and got a brand new one that worked straight away.
From Carphone Warehouse.
Regarding the unlock I did a complete backup and restore in iTunes on our PC for both iPhones.
Did you get the "congratulations your iPhone is now unlocked" screen in iTunes after restore?
I did not with either but AT&T had said it does not always appear. Is this the issue?
It SHOULD appear. What doesn't always happen, AFAIK, is you do not always get an email from AT&T confirming the process. My gut tells me that iTunes didn't push the unlock through. Any chance of doing a restore wherever you are?
Did you go to "Settings" to disable International CDMA/GSM Roaming? This should allow your iPhone to read the local sim.
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I believe 3 sim cards take a few hours to activate... This may be the problem. Did the store activate the SIM with 3 too?
Check Here to make sure you are definitely unlocked,
http://www.dev.mk/
If you are then try going to settings, carrier, switch off automatic and and let it scan for networks, when you can select the network that matches your sim.
If still no luck just leave the sim in the phone for a couple of hours, might just be taking it's time activating.
http://www.dev.mk/
If you are then try going to settings, carrier, switch off automatic and and let it scan for networks, when you can select the network that matches your sim.
If still no luck just leave the sim in the phone for a couple of hours, might just be taking it's time activating.
Quick Tip..Do not have to connect to iTunes or anything....If your iPhone is not jailbroken go to Settings-->General-->Reset-->Reset All Settings
It will not delete anything on your iPhone 4 as it just simply resets all settings and brings back the activation screen so you can activate the iPhone 4 via a new SIM which is actually required when you are doing a restore...that you have a foreign SIM card (anything other than AT&T) in the iPhone....but its ok your not late to do it now, Once complete just follow the activation screen and you will be fine
Also Go to Settings-->General-->Network-->Make sure 3G is ON <--Some networks dont have 2G networks so if 3G is off you will not get service.
I recently unlocked a iPhone 4 for someone and they kept doing the same thing as you but then I went and did what I told you above and it worked like a charm, Phone had signal within a minute.
I have a factory unlocked iPhone. When I travel abroad and switch SIM cards sometimes it does not get a signal on reboot.
I have my iPhone jailbroken so I use SAMs prefs/Utilities/Deactivate iPhone. Then reconnect it to iTunes and I get the congrats you are unlocked message and my phone will work with the foreign SIM.
speaking of the official out of contract unlocks:
I tried to do that with both of our iphone 4's today. My wife's was bought at an AT&T store in 2010, Jan. That one got approved. Mine was bought off of ebay in Oct because I wanted the white iPhone 4 and to wait for the iPhone 5 for a new contract and possibly new carrier.
However, AT&T chat would not unlock it, saying it was locked and didn't show that it was registered to my account - even though I'd activated it in an AT&T store last Oct. Said I would need a receipt. Do I have any recourse? I don't know what to do here.
I tried to do that with both of our iphone 4's today. My wife's was bought at an AT&T store in 2010, Jan. That one got approved. Mine was bought off of ebay in Oct because I wanted the white iPhone 4 and to wait for the iPhone 5 for a new contract and possibly new carrier.
However, AT&T chat would not unlock it, saying it was locked and didn't show that it was registered to my account - even though I'd activated it in an AT&T store last Oct. Said I would need a receipt. Do I have any recourse? I don't know what to do here.
no confirmation in iTunes and no email from AT&T but my phone is confirmed unlocked by both Apple and AT&T
Thanks all. Tried everything here along with another local Voda and Tmobile sim and no go. All I get is No service even after checking the local roaming, resetting all settings etc. AT&T of course won't change the start date of my international plan from the date we left to the strt of my billing period so it's Overages central!
Three UK checked the IMEIs and said despite what AT&T are saying their systems say the phone is still locked!!!!
Three UK checked the IMEIs and said despite what AT&T are saying their systems say the phone is still locked!!!!
Try in store.
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Then you should be calling AT&T. They never completed the unlock. Have them unlock it.Thanks all. Tried everything here along with another local Voda and Tmobile sim and no go. All I get is No service even after checking the local roaming, resetting all settings etc. AT&T of course won't change the start date of my international plan from the date we left to the strt of my billing period so it's Overages central!
Three UK checked the IMEIs and said despite what AT&T are saying their systems say the phone is still locked!!!!
Agreed. Spoke to AT&T and they will credit any data overages above the international plan we had picked back to our account.
FYI I did try in store and they flat out said they can't do it - they "don't have the codes" and that you need to call AT&T on the phone.
However, the guy I bought the phone from contacted AT&T in chat and eventually the IMEI seems to show up unlocked, so good deal there.