Impressed with Orange UK unlocking

[skip73]

After being on Orange UK prepaid for 3 months, I rang up to request the unlocking of my iPhone. I was told it would take 10-14 days to happen (£20 charge) - sounded reasonable.

I received an email notification the same day saying the iPhone had been unlocked. I inserted my Australian Telstra sim and after plugging it in to iTunes, it worked! Well impressed!

[andylyon]

Impressed even if it cost you £20? I think that's a lot. I don't know how Orange do it but with O2 if you unlock it within the first 12 months you lose your wi-fi bolt on.

AnDy

[Chris.L]

Originally Posted by andylyon

Impressed even if it cost you £20? I think that's a lot. I don't know how Orange do it but with O2 if you unlock it within the first 12 months you lose your wi-fi bolt on.

AnDy

Does it matter if you are going to stick a different SIM in? Probably not, but not always.

Also, the O2 unlocking process is crap. I had to submit 3 requests to get mine unlocked

Would have gladly paid the extra £5 for a decent service

[skip73]

Originally Posted by andylyon

Impressed even if it cost you £20? I think that's a lot. I don't know how Orange do it but with O2 if you unlock it within the first 12 months you lose your wi-fi bolt on.

AnDy

There isn't much that's free these days. There is always a price you pay, cash or otherwise.

[kAoTiX]

Does the phone re-lock to Telstra now? Or can you literally put any sim card in it at any time?
It was my understanding that if you unlocked a UK iPhone it would lock to the next carrier whos sim you inserted. Maybe I'm incorrect.

This seems like a good way to buy an unlocked iPhone for roughly £460 (£440 phone + £20 unlocking)

[andylyon]

I don't think it locks to the new carrier however I have heard that if you do a full restore through iTunes it will relock, but once you putting an alternative sim card in iTunes will once again confirm that it has now been unlocked.

AnDy

[Oskar82]

Originally Posted by skip73

There isn't much that's free these days. There is always a price you pay, cash or otherwise.

So, did you lose your bolt-ons? I got my iPhone in late December and will be travelling quite a bit over the next few months. However, if possible I'd like to hold onto my free Internet in the UK that came included with the phone.

[OllyW]

Originally Posted by andylyon

Impressed even if it cost you £20? I think that's a lot. I don't know how Orange do it but with O2 if you unlock it within the first 12 months you lose your wi-fi bolt on.

AnDy

You have to pay £15 to unlock a PAYG iPhone on O2.

[andylyon]

Originally Posted by OllyW

You have to pay £15 to unlock a PAYG iPhone on O2.

Yeah which is still cheaper than Orange. And it's also free if on contract.

[-Leigh-]

This is good to know, as I am looking to get my prepaid 3GS on Orange unlocked when I move to Australia in October, and was hoping it would be a painless process.

Even though you have to pay £20, I think it's better than the O2 deal, as that costs £15, but you also lose free web and wifi with O2, so you have to purchase that again.

[Oskar82]

Originally Posted by -Leigh-

This is good to know, as I am looking to get my prepaid 3GS on Orange unlocked when I move to Australia in October, and was hoping it would be a painless process.

Even though you have to pay £20, I think it's better than the O2 deal, as that costs £15, but you also lose free web and wifi with O2, so you have to purchase that again.

So, you know for sure that you don't lose the free web and wifi, if you unlock the Orange phone. Sorry to be a pain, but I'd like to be as certain as possible, before I unlock.

[ct2k7]

Unlocked my O2 iPhone for free

[kAoTiX]

I unlocked my PAYG o2 iPhone 3GS (5-6 months old i think) for free.
Basically they have 2 ways to unlock on the website, you tell them if you have a PAYG phone or a contract phone. I just put contract phone because it wasn't going to charge me and wouldn't matter if they said no.

Entered my IMEI and mobile number and received a txt message 2 days later saying it was unlocked. Simples.

[andybno1]

Originally Posted by kAoTiX

I unlocked my PAYG o2 iPhone 3GS (5-6 months old i think) for free.
Basically they have 2 ways to unlock on the website, you tell them if you have a PAYG phone or a contract phone. I just put contract phone because it wasn't going to charge me and wouldn't matter if they said no.

Entered my IMEI and mobile number and received a txt message 2 days later saying it was unlocked. Simples.

thats not true, I have a second hand o2 iphone and I went down the contract route for unlocking as it asked for two most dialed numbers with payg unlock (never used the phone on O2). 14 days later £15 taken off payg sim and unlocked so no going the contract unlock route on web doesn't mean it's free...... well for you it was as you claim.

[kernkraft]

I jailbroke my PAYG O2 iPhone but I didn't want to risk the unlocking. I have an unlimited, free wifi bolt-on with it. Would I risk messing that up?

I would love to do it myself, actually. Just to get proper use of something that is mine and is not subsidised by O2.

[andybno1]

if your still on firmware 3.1.2 you could just install blacksn0w via cydia and have your phone unlocked that way

[kernkraft]

Yes, I'm on the safe version. Thanks!

[Mr dj mo]

Originally Posted by ct2k7

Unlocked my O2 iPhone for free

Me too, O2 advised me it would take 10-14days took 2 days.

Didnt cost me a penny so will be selling that to offset my next phone purchase(hopefully and Iphone 4g).

[ayzee]

Originally Posted by kAoTiX

I unlocked my PAYG o2 iPhone 3GS (5-6 months old i think) for free.
Basically they have 2 ways to unlock on the website, you tell them if you have a PAYG phone or a contract phone. I just put contract phone because it wasn't going to charge me and wouldn't matter if they said no.

Entered my IMEI and mobile number and received a txt message 2 days later saying it was unlocked. Simples.

I also did this back in November with my PAYG iPhone when they first told everyone about unlocking.

I thought you had to have the phone for a year, but just found out today you didn't. I put in another sim card and voila my iphone had been unlocked all this time

I actually submitted the unlock using my contract details, so im guessing this was done for free

[fedorovici]

Originally Posted by skip73

After being on Orange UK prepaid for 3 months, I rang up to request the unlocking of my iPhone. I was told it would take 10-14 days to happen (£20 charge) - sounded reasonable.

I received an email notification the same day saying the iPhone had been unlocked. I inserted my Australian Telstra sim and after plugging it in to iTunes, it worked! Well impressed!

how did you pay £20 charge? Top up?

[J400uk]

You pay the £20 using credit in your account, so yes top-up.

I had mine done last month, was a very easy process just as long as the SIM has been registered for 3-months they can do it for you. Only took a few days for the iPhone to unlock after ringing them.

[DirtySocks85]

Originally Posted by andylyon

Impressed even if it cost you £20? I think that's a lot. I don't know how Orange do it but with O2 if you unlock it within the first 12 months you lose your wi-fi bolt on.

AnDy

As a US iPhone owner on AT&T I'd love the ability to unlock my iPhone for international travel, even if it did cost me $30. I consider that quite cheap for the convenience of not playing the "baseband game" to go the unofficial unlock route.

I don't travel internationally, but I think if AT&T offered such a service for $30 I would consider getting my iPhone factory unlocked just to have an official unlock (not to mention that it helps the resale value of the phone).

[J400uk]

In the UK the difference in resale value between an Orange locked iPhone 4 and a officially unlocked iPhone 4 is certainly more than £20

[Max.]

Originally Posted by J400uk

In the UK the difference in resale value between an Orange locked iPhone 4 and a officially unlocked iPhone 4 is certainly more than £20

That is true, but quick question. Now that T-Mobile + Orange have merged, and that Virgin uses their service, can an Orange-locked iPhone operate on these carriers? I'm on neither of these networks, but I was just interested to know.

[jrmerchant]

Originally Posted by Max.

That is true, but quick question. Now that T-Mobile + Orange have merged, and that Virgin uses their service, can an Orange-locked iPhone operate on these carriers? I'm on neither of these networks, but I was just interested to know.

tested just now. the tmobile sim works in my orange locked phone.
(cut up a payg tmobile sim to try it)

coming to my main question.
i bought an iphone 4 16gb from ebay (locked to orange) in september.
and i am using my monthly sim only contract sim in there.
i called up orange to unlock it. apparently they cant.
any tips i can use.
i told them i got it on payg and never used the payg number, but popped in my contract sim. they dont seem to bite.

pelase advise.
thanks
junz