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AT&T iPhone Unlocking Process Detailed, Successful for Some

narutokun said:
So to break it down...
Unlocked iPhone 4GS 16 GB straight from Apple: $649.00
OR
Locked iPhone 4GS 16 GB from AT&T: $199
PLUS
Activation Fee: $36.00
PLUS
Early Termination Fee: $325.00

Total: $560.00

Looks like this is a cheaper way to get a free and clear iPhone. Although you'll probably have to pay for a month of service then have it credited back to you when you cancel. Am I missing anything?
Click to expand...

I've read that you can't pay the ETF and keep the phone until you've had service for 1 month. And if you're just one day into the next month you have to pay for an entire 2nd month as well. So there's another $65-$130+ right there.

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repeters said:
I was told by Apple Technical Support that the iPhone will be unlocked for the next activation, . After that, if you return to the AT&T network the iPhone will be locked to AT&T again. That would mean that every time you leave AT&T to, say, go to Europe and then back to AT&T you would have to have the device unlocked to use another carrier in Europe again.

Would someone please try the following?

Let's call the other carrier B. Has anyone tried to go from AT&T to carrier B, back to AT&T and then to carrier B again?
Click to expand...

That's not how it works. When you unlock ATT sends the IMEI number to Apple for a permanent unlock list that's maintained by Apple. Every time you do a restore in iTunes Apple will use that list to determine if your phone is unlocked and will resend the unlock to the phone.
 
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cacophony555 said:
I've read that you can't pay the ETF and keep the phone until you've had service for 1 month. And if you're just one day into the next month you have to pay for an entire 2nd month as well. So there's another $65-$130+ right there.

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That's not how it works. When you unlock ATT sends the IMEI number to Apple for a permanent unlock list that's maintained by Apple. Every time you do a restore in iTunes Apple will use that list to determine if your phone is unlocked and will resend the unlock to the phone.
Click to expand...


I hope you are correct about the permanent unlock. However, that's not what I was told by a 2nd level technical support person at Apple. He also said that he had received numerous complaints from people who purchased an unlocked iPhone from Apple and activated it on AT&RT only to then find that the iPhone was then locked to AT&T. He claimed that Apple has nothing to do with actually locking the iPhone or unlocking it. iTunes just looks at some bit in the iPhone to determine if it is unlocked.

Could you please try the test I suggested?
 
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My update...

Last night I called at&t and spoke with a manager in customer service who was very helpful. He couldn't immediately unlock my iPhone however, he did confirm that both my iPhone and wife's iPhone are able to be unlocked. He agreed that the department doing the unlocks must not be reading the case comments on case by case basis.

He reopened both cases and said if they are not unlocked by tomorrow to call him back and he said he would get the ICU department involved (whomever they are).

Good news is I got my unlock confirmation this afternoon saying "showing already unlocked" so I fired up iTunes, plugged my iPhone, clicked the restore button, clicked backup then let iTunes do it's thing. 5 minutes or so later got the message congratulating me that my iPhone was unlocked. I then restored my apps and settings from my backup.

I'm Very happy now and am just waiting for the email on my wife's iPhone now.
 
repeters said:
I hope you are correct about the permanent unlock. However, that's not what I was told by a 2nd level technical support person at Apple. He also said that he had received numerous complaints from people who purchased an unlocked iPhone from Apple and activated it on AT&RT only to then find that the iPhone was then locked to AT&T. He claimed that Apple has nothing to do with actually locking the iPhone or unlocking it. iTunes just looks at some bit in the iPhone to determine if it is unlocked.

Could you please try the test I suggested?
Click to expand...

I don't have a non-ATT sim yet so can't test, but it sounds like that tech didn't know what he was talking about (is that really a surprise?)
 
Well I got one of my two devices unlocked in the last few days.

1st iphone 4s 64GB, bought for $550, replaced once by apple.
Took a few calls to the 1-800 number, some said no no way, I would just call back and talk to someone new.
After about 5 reps, I got one dude to get it unlocked, forgot to get the case number.
As of now, hasn't happened on that iPhone, just checked.

2nd iphone 4 32GB about 6 months old, replaced 2 times by apple, called and gave them my info and he noticed that the sim in it, was from h20 wireless and said fine he'll unlocked it, after about 100 times trying thru iTunes, I finally got the unlocked message.
Got the email just right now, but it unlocked at about 24 hours ago.

All I can say is keep trying to call and talk to new reps if they give you a hard time.

KEEP TRACK OF YOUR STORIES that you tell them, so you know what one really works..

BS of them to deny unlocking our phone because we got them from CL or ETC.
Also, having problems with your iPhone and having apple replace them seems to be good, as they have no record of them in their system.
 
Damn, I hope they don't reject the 64GB 4S, as it was never activated on an ATT line, they have no record of it, but either was the other iPhone I have that is NOW UNLOCKED!!!

I think that all the different CS reps will tell you a different story, as some are new to the unlocked process.

Might need to call in and see whats going on, but I don't need a pesky CS rep saying the other guy requested bad info.
 
NewMacguyibook said:
Well I got one of my two devices unlocked in the last few days.

1st iphone 4s 64GB, bought for $550, replaced once by apple.
Took a few calls to the 1-800 number, some said no no way, I would just call back and talk to someone new.
After about 5 reps, I got one dude to get it unlocked, forgot to get the case number.
As of now, hasn't happened on that iPhone, just checked.

2nd iphone 4 32GB about 6 months old, replaced 2 times by apple, called and gave them my info and he noticed that the sim in it, was from h20 wireless and said fine he'll unlocked it, after about 100 times trying thru iTunes, I finally got the unlocked message.
Got the email just right now, but it unlocked at about 24 hours ago.

All I can say is keep trying to call and talk to new reps if they give you a hard time.

KEEP TRACK OF YOUR STORIES that you tell them, so you know what one really works..

BS of them to deny unlocking our phone because we got them from CL or ETC.
Also, having problems with your iPhone and having apple replace them seems to be good, as they have no record of them in their system.
Click to expand...

What story would you tell them? I have called twice still no response... Thinking of calling again, but each time i really dont know what to say. Also i just keep getting "cases" made for me everytime, that is standard protocol?

Thanks.
 
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cacophony555 said:
That's not how it works. When you unlock ATT sends the IMEI number to Apple for a permanent unlock list that's maintained by Apple. Every time you do a restore in iTunes Apple will use that list to determine if your phone is unlocked and will resend the unlock to the phone.
Click to expand...
In the strictest sense of the word that means it's not really fully unlocked. It is always relocked during a restore and we are at the mercy of Apple's whitelist to get it unlocked after a restore.

Maybe this is how unlocking works for all phones today, I never really checked. Is it? Or are other phones locked but tied to a whitelist too?




Michael

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Is it for sure that you will only see the unlock message in iTunes if you use a non-AT&T SIM? I don't have one right now and was hoping you would still get the unlock message even with an AT&T SIM.

So far it has been a few days and I am getting nothing from iTunes. I am using SAM to deactivate phone by the way.




Michael
 
Well I just got my unlock for my 64GB, from both of the screen shots, they seem to happen between 9-10pmMST.

Maybe that has something to do with it.
Both now having the network APN option and say carrier 11.0 in the about menu.

HOLLY flipping ****, from 2G bootnuter, to 3G yellowsn0w, to IP4 ultrasn0w/baseband perserve, to 4S with h2O wireless and now UNLOCKED!!

This is a long over due 4 year battle for me!!
 
Just keep trying guys, don't give up, IDK if they keep a record of how many times you ask, i doubt it, but I'm sure they keep requests sent.

If one gives you a hard time, just hang up and call back and once you get a younger sounder dude, just be polite and KISS his A$$.

PM me if you need help..
I have no job right now and have ways of manipulating people to do thing I want.
 

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I'll share my experience too.

I called two days ago at around 11am. Dialed 1-800-331-0500, pushed 1, pushed 0, talked to a guy and told him that I needed to unlock my iPhone. I do not have an ATT account. I told him my aunt from abroad gave me this phone because she discovered it was locked to ATT. The guy asked for my name, email, IMEI, and my aunt's name (wtf?) and created a ticket. He said I would receive an email within 5-7 days.

Today, at around 10:30am, I decided to just try the chat approach. I talked to a very friendly rep, after waiting 20-30 minutes?
Anna: Can I confirm the wireless number that we will be working with is?

me: I do not currently have an ATT account; I am actually wondering if it is possible to get an iPhone 4 unlocked; it was purchased off Craigslist and I will be studying abroad this summer.

Anna: I'll be more than happy to assist you, one moment please.

Anna: May I get the IMEI number please? You can access this by dialing *#06#.
Click to expand...

She asked for my IMEI and my email address.

Anna: The request was processed successfully. You will receive an email with the steps to restore as new device with iTunes. The unlock will not be completed until you complete the process with iTunes. This can take up to 72 hours after restoring via iTunes.

...

me: So I should wait for an email from ATT then?

Anna: Yes, you will receive the email with the steps to restore via iTunes.

Anna: Once the restore is complete it can take up to 72 hours.

me: So I restore first and then wait for an unlock?

Anna: Yes. It is similar to the iPhone activation process & can take up to 72 hours due to the amount of requests at this time.
Click to expand...

Immediately after the chat, I received an email from ATT linking to the PDF others have posted where ATT says:

We have reviewed your request and confirmed that you are eligible to have the requested iPhone unlocked.
To complete the unlock, simply...
Click to expand...

I gave it some time, came home and decided to try it out at 9:30pm. Took my Gevey SIM out, put just my Tmobile SIM in the phone. DFU'd my iPhone and deactivated it with redsn0w.

Rebooted it, shows the activation screen. I opened up iTunes and it told me I had a passcode and needed to enter it. I left it at the activation screen and went "oh sh-t, did I have to disable that?"
I swiped to unlock and breathed a sigh of relief as I just entered my passcode. Restarted iTunes, and pops up with the beautiful Congratulations screen.

I will consider doing this for my old 3GS, although it is jailbroken and has ultrasn0w...probably will not? I dunno. I will also try this for my friend's iPhone.

Some "background info":
-this iPhone has been active on ATT...I bought this on craigslist and the person had this device on her ATT account at the time (this was around August 2011)
-I received no case number for both the phone call and chat; I received no follow-up emails after the phone call
-I used the chat link that other MR users have posted because normally chat can only be accessed after logging into your ATT account; ATT uses a third party chat system, so you can technically just click that link and be connected

I will try again sometime this or next week to see if I can get my old 3GS or my friend's iP4 unlocked. I am not going to say for sure that the chat works best, but in my one device, chat worked much quicker.
 

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fullmanfullninj said:
Today, at around 10:30am, I decided to just try the chat approach.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your experience. I tried the phone approach as well after trying and failing to find a way to enter the Chat.

After your experience, I want to try the Chat route again. Say, when I tried it the site prompted me to login with my account information. I no longer have access to the user tied to that account and was not able to join the Chat. How did you do it? Did you still have access to your AT&T user name tied to the account? Thanks!
 
It worked!

I have a friend's old 3g that I jailbroke and have been using on T-Mobile. On Monday my friend (who's still on AT&T with an iPhone 4, which they said was still on contract) let me call AT&T with her credentials to unlock it, they were very friendly and said they would unlock it. I got instructions in my email Thursday afternoon and it worked! I no longer have to use a jailbreak and unlock. I'm now on iOS 4.2.1 and maps and everything else loads way faster than it ever did with a jailbroken iOS 4.0.

I didn't do anything fancy, just the backup and restore, I got one error at the end of the update process, un plugged it then plugged it back in, let it do its activation, got the congratulatory message, restored it from the backup, then my phone was back to how it was but without music, cydia and all the cydia apps I had but don't care about anymore. Now it runs a whole lot faster.

I'm so stoked I don't have to deal with a jailbroken iPhone anymore. It used to take 5 minutes to load cydia which would load with several errors, and took super long just to turn the phone on.

Thanks Jay Freeman for all your work on Cydia, but Tim Cook somehow convinced Ma' Bell/American Telephone & Telegraph to budge. Unlocked iPhones are now like old rotary phones that have "Bell System Property - Not For Sale" written on them that you see for sale in thrift stores.
 
I just got my 2 original iphone unlocked 8gb and 16gb Feelsgoodman, and my bro just got his iphone 4 and 3gs unlocked as well. Both were swapped at apple for warranty long time ago. So att didnt have the imei in the system they went ahead and unlocked them 3 hours after he called. As for me it took like couple days!
Ps: my bro didnt have to wait for any emails, but i had to for my iphones!
 
I've requested the unlock on monday afternoon, the girl told me in 48h I would get the e-mail with instructions. Nothing so far :(
It's an AT&T locked iPhone 4 bought full price at BestBuy on November 2010.

I've tried to sync with iTunes using my SIM card without gevey, but didn't work.
 
Well, it was a little longer than the 24-72 hours quoted (I chatted Monday morning and got the confirmation Thursday night), but I DID get the confirmation e-mail from AT&T. So I sat down once I got home and did a restore, and bingo.

Screenshot2012-04-12at101307PM.png
 
ffg91 said:
I've requested the unlock on monday afternoon, the girl told me in 48h I would get the e-mail with instructions. Nothing so far :(
It's an AT&T locked iPhone 4 bought full price at BestBuy on November 2010.

I've tried to sync with iTunes using my SIM card without gevey, but didn't work.
Click to expand...

You have to deactivate it via restore or using SAM or redsn0w
 
littyboy said:
You have to deactivate it via restore or using SAM or redsn0w
Click to expand...

What is the difference? If my iPhone haven't been unlocked yet, I would loose all my data, jailbreak, baseband, etc and will have to do all of this stuff again?
 
ffg91 said:
What is the difference? If my iPhone haven't been unlocked yet, I would loose all my data, jailbreak, baseband, etc and will have to do all of this stuff again?
Click to expand...

Then use SAM or Redsn0w. It will just deactivate your phone, you will NOT lose anything. Make sure you have a sim that reactivates in case the unlock hasn't been processed.
 
My story about unlocking iphones i ask probley 15-20 iphones to get unlock threw AT&T some took 24 hours and others are taking 5-7 days for the request. You can request 5 at a time in the tech chat room. seems like the one i got unlock fast was the ones i didnt have AT&T account info and say i dont have one (even tho i do have a family plan)

Update seem like email AT&T is faster then the chat room
 
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My iphone 4 is unlocked for 5 days but when i called att they said that my case is still pending. Never got the massage in iTunes???
 
Well I sent an unlock request yesterday and I was told my unlock is scheduled to be completed by the 20th. I asked why it was so long and wasn't told a reason will update when I get unlocked :D
 
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