Locked phone help.

[Ortiz7983]

I'm trying to see if anything can be done in this situation. I had an iPhone sold to me and I gave it to my sister. I probably should have known but I bought it from some guy. Turns out it was an att iPhone. My sister had been using it for almost 3 months now on T-Mobile. It suddenly had no signal. She called and they said it has been locked. She called att and asked what could be done. That the owner of the phone would have to be contacted. Not sure if they do that or not. But is there a way around this? Curious.

 

[The.Glorious.Son]

I'm trying to see if anything can be done in this situation. I had an iPhone sold to me and I have it to my sister. I probably should have known but I bought it from some guy. Turns out it was an att iPhone. My sister had been using it for almost 3 months now on T-Mobile. It suddenly had no signal. She called and they said it has been locked. She called att and asked what could be done. That the owner of the phone would have to be contacted. Not sure if they do that or not. But is there a way around this? Curious.

As of now, you have a nice paperweight. If that was a stole or locked phone, and they remote locked it, it's over.

 

[C DM]

Locked in what sense? Does it ask for an iCloud password? Is it coming up as being blacklisted (as in marked as lost or stolen)? Or are talking about being locked to a carrier (in which case I'm not sure if i really heard of an unlocked phone being locked in that sense somehow)?

 

[Unami]

if it was simlocked to at&t, it wouldn't have worked on t-mobile in the first place. it's not locked remotely by the former user either, or you sister wouldn't even be able to get to the home screen. so that's probably a carrier lock - you could try sell it internationally, to someone who uses a carrier that doesn't share US-carrier-blacklists. but selling of stolen goods is probably illegal in 99% of the world, and selling of a phone that might get bricked to an unknowing buyer is morally questionable at best, so don't do it.

(although you could argue that you got what you deserved by buying it - maybe even too cheap to be true - from "some guy", so the guy you sell it to will get his as well. still, that would be the a____hole's way to do this)

return / mail it to at&t, so it can find it's way to it's former owner.

 

[von franklin]

I'm trying to see if anything can be done in this situation. I had an iPhone sold to me and I have it to my sister. I probably should have known but I bought it from some guy. Turns out it was an att iPhone. My sister had been using it for almost 3 months now on T-Mobile. It suddenly had no signal. She called and they said it has been locked. She called att and asked what could be done. That the owner of the phone would have to be contacted. Not sure if they do that or not. But is there a way around this? Curious.

First Check the ESN here https://swappa.com/esn
Second: if its bad well there is nothing you can do and its now a paper white/ iPod buying a phone from "some guy" is never good idea even if the price is good.

the reason why it may have took so long for it get blacklisted is the owner just didn't report it or they did and it just took this long for the system to update the ESN

 

[Ortiz7983]

This is what it says.

 

[AZhappyjack]

This is what it says. View attachment 616167

The original owner reported it as lost or stolen. It's now a paperweight.

 

[C DM]

The original owner reported it as lost or stolen. It's now a paperweight.

Well, not quite a paperweight as it could be used without a cellular connection kind of like an iPod Touch, or potentially on another carrier that might not share the blacklist, or might be possible to talk to the carrier and see what's behind the blacklisting and see if anything can be figured out (not one of the likely options, but a possibility on some level nonetheless).

 

[Ortiz7983]

How do I find out what carrier it was on.

 

[Ortiz7983]

So I put my att SIM card in her phone and it worked. But her T-Mobile sim doesn't. It says no service. What gives?

 

[Superrjamz54]

So I put my att SIM card in her phone and it worked. But her T-Mobile sim doesn't. It says no service. What gives?

Sounds like the phone is locked to ATT. See if ATT will unlock it for you

 

[617aircav]

So I put my att SIM card in her phone and it worked. But her T-Mobile sim doesn't. It says no service. What gives?

How long did you leave it in there for and did you make a call?

 

[\-V-/]

Do you know how to activate a phone?

 

[Ortiz7983]

How long did you leave it in there for and did you make a call?

I didn't leave it in for a long time. 5 minutes tops. But I did make 3 calls from it.

 

[Ortiz7983]

Do you know how to activate a phone?

I'm not sure what you mean. I put the phone in dfu mode and started everything from scratch again if that's what you mean.

 

[\-V-/]

I'm not sure what you mean. I put the phone in dfu mode and started everything from scratch again if that's what you mean.

I meant activate with the carrier you intend to use the phone with. And also double checking with your carrier regarding the matter by calling tech support might be helpful.

 

[MephistoZap]

Try this site to check the imei. It is imei data net it will show you which carrier it has a clean esn on and can be used with. And it will tell you which model/carrier the iPhone came from.

 

[von franklin]

I'm not sure what you mean. I put the phone in dfu mode and started everything from scratch again if that's what you mean.

Its best to say that the phone is lost and to just buy a new phone. if she wants one that will work on T-mo then get one from swappa. Sell the one you have on Swappa in the boneyard.

 

[msp3]

Drive up to Canada, sell it for 1.5x what it's worth in 'murikkka not blacklisted because their cell phone market is even more ****ed up then ours (thanks old man Trudeau!).

Enjoy your money, it might even make the trip free.