Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
If I remember correctly, I think it's $6.99 and that includes 10 minutes worth of talk time.

I'll just do that then. All I need to do is confirm that my phone is unlocked. What exactly should I ask them for? Just a PAYG sim?
 
Right in the main window where it normally lists your iphone's info (capacity, serial #, etc. I got it on the 2nd restore with my first iphone but nothing after multiple restores with the new one.

I have to send the original back to Apple but I don't want to do that until I confirm that my replacement is indeed unlocked. I don't want to have to spend a lot of money on getting a sim from T-Mobile though.

I thought and it will be the only place to show such message. But I sure don't have it. I really don;t want to restore it ao many times since I have many songs there and it takes hours to sync... Any other way except to go out and but a SIM to test it before travel?
 
I thought and it will be the only place to show such message. But I sure don't have it. I really don;t want to restore it ao many times since I have many songs there and it takes hours to sync... Any other way except to go out and but a SIM to test it before travel?

I've restored at least 7 or 8 times now and nothing. The only way for me to confirm it at this point is to try a T-Mobile sim so I'd probably suggest you do the same. If it doesn't work with a T-Mobile sim, I'm sending my replacement back and just keeping my original iphone 5 that I know for a fact is unlocked.

It's a little disconcerting that unlock_fusion doesn't respond to emails. I emailed them a few times to find out what else I can do to ensure that my phone is unlocked and they have been unresponsive. They certainly did unlock my phone quickly but I need help now and they're aren't responding.
 
I've restored at least 7 or 8 times now and nothing. The only way for me to confirm it at this point is to try a T-Mobile sim so I'd probably suggest you do the same. If it doesn't work with a T-Mobile sim, I'm sending my replacement back and just keeping my original iphone 5 that I know for a fact is unlocked.

It's a little disconcerting that unlock_fusion doesn't respond to emails. I emailed them a few times to find out what else I can do to ensure that my phone is unlocked and they have been unresponsive. They certainly did unlock my phone quickly but I need help now and they're aren't responding.

Same boat here. We simply can't just keep restoring it OR go out and buy a SIM to test it out. It got to be a better way to verify it.
 
Any idea how much they are if I go into a T-Mobile store and ask them for one?

Last time I went to a T-Mobile store they gave me an empty one for free. You don't need to add time to it to verify that phone recognizes it.

----------

Same boat here. We simply can't just keep restoring it OR go out and buy a SIM to test it out. It got to be a better way to verify it.

Get one SIM...drop it in. You don't need to keep getting SIMs and they don't need any time on them.
 
I'll just do that then. All I need to do is confirm that my phone is unlocked. What exactly should I ask them for? Just a PAYG sim?
Right.
But you'll be getting a Micro sim- and for the iPhone 5, you'll need a nano-sim (I don't think they have the nano-sim yet), so you will need to do a bit of cutting and trimming.
You can find the complete directions here:
http://www.iclarified.com/24489/printable-nanosim-and-microsim-cutting-guide-download

Or you can search the MR site for what's worked best for others. Some people have had success without doing any sanding- just a sharp scissor and some careful cutting.
 
Last edited:
Where about in iTunes your forst iP5 displayed the unlocked the message?

Should look like this, this shows up as soon as the phone is done restoring in iTunes (I did mine through unlock_fusion on eBay):


FCC00772-8DDD-4ABD-86CE-CB2058CB6D9B-2600-000000D67A139E78.jpg
 
I 100% don't have that and yes I got it from unlock_fusion.

you could try their imei checker?? i tried it before and after i got their unlock and it works fine. also checked my iphone 4 and it said it is locked to at&t which is right.
 
you could try their imei checker?? i tried it before and after i got their unlock and it works fine. also checked my iphone 4 and it said it is locked to at&t which is right.

Doesn't work for iPhone 5s yet.
 
Right.
But you'll be getting a Micro sim- and for the iPhone 5, you'll need a nano-sim (I don't think they have the nano-sim yet), so you will need to do a bit of cutting and trimming.
You can find the complete directions here:
http://www.iclarified.com/24489/printable-nanosim-and-microsim-cutting-guide-download

Or you can search the MR site for what's worked best for others. Some people have had success without doing any sanding- just a sharp scissor and some careful cutting.

I went to a T-Mobile corporate store and asked for a micro-sim and the guy gave me major attitude and wanted to charge me $20 for it (wanted to knock the guy out - he was so obnoxious and actually intimated that he was charging me more because I wasn't a T-Mobile customer). Left there and went to one of those stands in the mall and they wanted to charge me $35. Went to a Best Buy and they didn't have any micro-sims but they had regular sims that they would sell to me for $20.

Where the heck can I get a cheap micro-sim that I can cut down just to see if my iphone 5 is unlocked? Is ebay an option?

Is this all I need?

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phone/T-Mobile-Prepaid-SIM-Activation-Kit#close-cart
 
I went to a T-Mobile corporate store and asked for a micro-sim and the guy gave me major attitude and wanted to charge me $20 for it (wanted to knock the guy out - he was so obnoxious and actually intimated that he was charging me more because I wasn't a T-Mobile customer).

Which is yet another reason why T-Mobile "enjoys " the reputation it has as being THE worst for customer service among the 3 major carriers in the US. Obviously, i don't know how close you are to another T-Mob store. If that's out of the question and you can wait, order one online.
I simply walked in and said I wanted a PAYG Micro Sim. i put $10 on it and I think I was out the door for under $20 with 30 minutes worth of talk time- I just wanted to be sure it not only loaded, but actually worked!
And yes, the link you show appears to be the cheaper, online version of what i did.
 
Last edited:
I would love to do this but isn't anybody scared that AT&T will catch wind of this and terminate the people that paid someone on Ebay to unlock their iPhone 5's? I feel like this is too good to be true.
 
Where the heck can I get a cheap micro-sim that I can cut down just to see if my iphone 5 is unlocked? Is ebay an option?

Is this all I need?

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phone/T-Mobile-Prepaid-SIM-Activation-Kit#close-cart

That's exactly what I bought for my unlocked iPhone 4 and used one of the guides posted above to trim down the SIM to a Micro-SIM. It works great. My total cost was $1.07 ($.08 sales tax) and the T-Mobile $30/month prepaid plan is a big savings over AT&T or Verizon. There's no 4G/LTE from anyone where I live, so it's not a big deal.

For the iPhone 5, you'll have to trim it down even further to a Nano-SIM, but it shouldn't be an issue and it should work fine. Sharp scissors and a piece of sandpaper will do the trick.
 
Which is yet another reason why T-Mobile "enjoys " the reputation it has as being THE worst for customer service among the 3 major carriers in the US. Obviously, i don't know how close you are to another T-Mob store. If that's out of the question and you can wait, order one online.
I simply walked in and said I wanted a PAYG Micro Sim. i put $10 on it and I think I was out the door for under $20 with 30 minutes worth of talk time- I just wanted to be sure it not only loaded, but actually worked!
And yes, the link you show appears to be the cheaper, online version of what i did.

I hear you. This guy was such a d*** he deserved to get a beating. Lucky for him I'm not that type of guy but a part of me wanted to just lay into him for being such a prick.

Anyway, T-Mobile stores seem to be few and far between around here, so I'm probably going to just order that one online then and wait for it to come. I may order a few just in case I screw up cutting them down too.
 
I would love to do this but isn't anybody scared that AT&T will catch wind of this and terminate the people that paid someone on Ebay to unlock their iPhone 5's? I feel like this is too good to be true.

Terminate them for what reason? You're still paying your contracted for fees. And most of the people doing this are using their phones overseas anyway. And now with the iPhone 5, there are reports that some of the phones purchased at Apple Stores for use on the AT&T Network are coming unlocked from the factory.
Verizon is already required by US law to provide their phones unlocked. It's time for AT&T to do the same. And it's time for American consumers to stop being sheep. Until AT&T makes it easier for people to unlock their phones, services like this are going to exist as long as there is consumer demand.

----------

So now we have unlocked iP5, when we travel to other countries now, all we need to get will be a Micro GSM SIM from a local phone carrier, right? But what about all those LTE band support?

http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/

You're not going to get LTE overseas with an AT&T phone. But LTE is really in its infancy in much of the world anyway, so you just allow yourself to be satisfied with your data coming in at slower speeds and enjoy being able to use your iPhone wherever you are visiting on a local network.
 
This still doesn't give you any kind of message that your phone is unlocked though, correct? I had my iphone 5 unlocked by unlock_fusion and after 6 or 7 restores on two different computers, I never got the unlocked message in itunes.

Am I going to have to go buy a PAYG SIM from T-Mobile to confirm that it's unlocked or is there some other way?

My first iphone 5 that I had unlocked did display the unlocked message in itunes.

TYPE YOUR IMEI NUMBER on the box below.. it will say if it is unlocked or not.

ww.ebay.com/itm/190730802412?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.