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US AT&T iPhone - Can you unlock it and use it in the UK?

niuniu

niuniu

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sis has moved back to the UK from the States, where she had an AT&T iPhone 3GS. Instead of buying a new iPhone, she wants to unlock it and use it with 02 in the UK. Anyway to do this without jailbricking it?
 
Sis has moved back to the UK from the States, where she had an AT&T iPhone 3GS. Instead of buying a new iPhone, she wants to unlock it and use it with 02 in the UK. Anyway to do this without jailbricking it?
Click to expand...

did she try with AT&T to unlock the iPhone?

in my country they can..

Thanks
 
OllyW said:
No, AT&T don't unlock iPhones.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure she'd need to check with the original carrier, not AT&T. I had an HTC myTouch 3G given to me that I use as a spare, and T-Mobile was the one who generated the unlock code, not AT&T. It's pretty standard practice.

Granted, not with AT&T, but you know how that goes.
 
Still determined to not waste the handset. Are the options now to either sell it to an American, or jailbreak it?

What's the current state of jailbreaking anyway? Do you lose any functionality? I did it to a couple of iPhones already (original and 3G) but after a recent update on the 3G it screwed my wifi.
 
Jailbreaking itself has absolutely no effect upon the functionality of an iPhone. Whether she can unlock her 3GS depends on what baseband (Modem Firmware) version she has. 5.11.07 and below can be unlocked; 5.12.01 cannot. Check the version under Settings>General>About>Modem Firmware.
 
I've been using an unlocked 2G iPhone on Fido in Canada, and I also used it on the Orange network in Scotland with no issues. When it's unlocked, it's unlocked-it'll work with any GSM/3G carrier.

However, if she's leaving the country I'm assuming her contract isn't up-she'll need to look into the costs of cancelling her contract.
 
I read on MR somewhere that if you are not in the US and you take it to an Apple store outside the US, they will unlock it. Worth a try.

Otherwise, you need to jailbreak and unlock...but only if it's below v3.1.3 I believe. If she has updated, you won't be able to unlock it yet.
 
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