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This is not good.....today chronic notified me my order is cancelled:

Rejection Reason: The AT&T method you've purchased (cheaper method) is too unstable -- refunding all orders, if you would still like to unlock your device, we can certainly do it now at chronicunlocks.com if you re-order, but the price to get this done is higher.

Sam has this posted on his site:

New Update: AT&T's changes are currently making it impossible to unlock iPhones. I've told my customers before and I'm saying it again, this might be the end of the 3rd party iPhone Unlocks for AT&T! - Going forward if your order is not completed within next 1-3days, Your odds are the lowest ever -- As low as they were back in 2009 and before!

Can anyone shed any light on what's going on? Is AT&T still processing unlocks?

I was fortunate enough to find a friend that submitted an unlock request for me for free today... I offered to pay him, but he wouldn't accept it.
 
I was fortunate enough to find a friend that submitted an unlock request for me for free today... I offered to pay him, but he wouldn't accept it.

did he need to first swap out the phone and add it to his account, or did he just sent the request it in? I'm a previous at&t customer. Was with them before the iphones came out and tried to see if that worked, even though i kinda of knew it wouldn't. Just got the rejection email from them today. Now trying to get one of my friends to do it for me, but finding their mom's social etc. and getting them to actually sit down and fill it online is a pain.

Cheapest imei unlock i found online in the morning was for $39 but now its up to $49 and if you call locally the shops out here are quoting $89 to $100.. hope it comes down-- just wish things would calm down and be under the $20 or $10 mark... it seems like its more of the big fish trying to eat out the little fish to increase profit margins from what i have gathered online after reading days and days of forums.. might just have to swallow the pill and bite at $49
 
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Hello, I just opened this account to be able to share my nightmare.
After searching the best option to unlock an iphone 5
GLOBAL UNLOCK, 10/8/2013 after reading here somewhere about globalunlock charging $19 I went with them, next day I received an email saying they prices are changed to $42. I had the option to cancel the order or to ad $23. I emailed to cancel and refound the money. I received a couple emails from them saying that the transaction was cancelled but no money been re founded, after 3 days I got one email with a link saying my phone has been unlocked?? I clicked the link which send me to their website showewed me a 000 number that is supposed to be my unlock cod. I contacted then several times asking for my money no answer untill 15/10/2013 after I contacted paypal to tell them was going on. Paypall told me to dont contact global unlock they ll do it for me. Untill today no money has been re founded.
SWIFTUNLOCKS, 10/9/2013 I tried them after canceling with global unlock.
10/14/2013 swiftunlocks canceled my ordern and re founded the money they. Couldnt handle to many orders.
CELLUNLOCKER. On 10/9/2013 I paid $39.99 for the 1-24 hrs processing time. On the third day I contacted them and tge were like at&t problems, our supplier bla..bla things that we already know, they told me to wait untill next day since then I ve been a priority/vip for
cellunlocker is what they told me, but each day my order was going to be ready at the the end of the day. Untill day before yesterday I received and email which says my they are working hard in processing my order and to wait untill monday or tuesday if not tgey will cancel and refound the money on tuesday.???? So its been a week already and nothing.
I asked them if its anything with my imei, phone etc.(clean imei) they said nothing wrong on my end. Its been an emergency cause my mom is already overseas for almost two weeks without a phone to use.
Whats going on with my luck? Guess I need to go to church more often.:(
 
I really don't like the "experience" of this 5s...

First I had to keep refreshing the stock for each store... and more than 10 of the times, someone got that phone right before I get to place the order page...

9/29
There is a story for my own black 5s, I can summarize it with one statement, the QC of the specialists are really a joke, they are like a robot, I don't trust them anymore.

10/13
By the time, I got the gold color for my wife at Ridger Hill(I am in Queen, NY...), I went there on the same date right after I got off from work... then their activation server went down... I had to come back next time...(~$10 toll, and 5bucks gas) and that was like 3 weeks since the launch date... I can understand that if that was the first launch day or weekend...


Anyway, now I have to camp the unlock service page... placed the order through Unlock Fusion, and hopefully I don't get an email about I have to pay even more to do it...

Hello, I just opened this account to be able to share my nightmare.
.....(
 
Hello, I just opened this account to be able to share my nightmare.
After searching the best option to unlock an iphone 5
GLOBAL UNLOCK, 10/8/2013 after reading here somewhere about globalunlock charging $19 I went with them, next day I received an email saying they prices are changed to $42. I had the option to cancel the order or to ad $23. I emailed to cancel and refound the money. I received a couple emails from them saying that the transaction was cancelled but no money been re founded, after 3 days I got one email with a link saying my phone has been unlocked?? I clicked the link which send me to their website showewed me a 000 number that is supposed to be my unlock cod. I contacted then several times asking for my money no answer untill 15/10/2013 after I contacted paypal to tell them was going on. Paypall told me to dont contact global unlock they ll do it for me. Untill today no money has been re founded.
SWIFTUNLOCKS, 10/9/2013 I tried them after canceling with global unlock.
10/14/2013 swiftunlocks canceled my ordern and re founded the money they. Couldnt handle to many orders.
CELLUNLOCKER. On 10/9/2013 I paid $39.99 for the 1-24 hrs processing time. On the third day I contacted them and tge were like at&t problems, our supplier bla..bla things that we already know, they told me to wait untill next day since then I ve been a priority/vip for
cellunlocker is what they told me, but each day my order was going to be ready at the the end of the day. Untill day before yesterday I received and email which says my they are working hard in processing my order and to wait untill monday or tuesday if not tgey will cancel and refound the money on tuesday.???? So its been a week already and nothing.
I asked them if its anything with my imei, phone etc.(clean imei) they said nothing wrong on my end. Its been an emergency cause my mom is already overseas for almost two weeks without a phone to use.
Whats going on with my luck? Guess I need to go to church more often.:(

I'm not sure how you paid 39.99 to cell unlocked since I ordered from them on the 11th and they were still 29.99. Yeah the service is backed up but they are eventually getting through. I've had good luck through them and swift unlocks. Swift unlocks tend to take their service down when they get too many orders. If it's still up it seems they are still processing.
 
IMEI unlocking service down? 10/3/13

After getting tired of waiting I got two AT&T locked 5S full price that were in stock locally. AT&T would not unlock them even though they called the store I bought them from and the guy who sold them to me verified they were bought full price. The lady said I had to wait 60 days. I told her it says on the AT&T website phones bought full price can be unlocked as long as the account is in good standing which it is. She wouldn't budge even after telling her there is no mention of a 60 day wait.

So I had Chronic Unlocks unlock them. Both were done within two days. The last one last weekend. I have no idea what the current status with them is but they worked for me. Right now I am on T Mobile and it's working fine. Got a T Mobile sim to test for a month because we really want to switch from AT&T. Just have to make sure T Mobile will work for us.

This whole locking thing really bugs me. I paid full price. The phone is 100% ours not AT&T's. Depending on how T Mobile works for me in the next month we are just going to pay the ETF and be done with them since we have less than a year anyways. I am using the $30/mo Walmart T Mobile deal with 100 minutes, unlimited text and data. Two of those $30 plans would save us $1000 in the next year alone.
 
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I'm not sure how you paid 39.99 to cell unlocked since I ordered from them on the 11th and they were still 29.99. Yeah the service is backed up but they are eventually getting through. I've had good luck through them and swift unlocks. Swift unlocks tend to take their service down when they get too many orders. If it's still up it seems they are still processing.

This is from my paypal email on monday 10/14/13
You send a payment of $39.99 USD to Cellunlocker.net
The problem is all this companies at that time i did the payment they still had this 1-24 hrs processing, just when you already paid they catch you let you know thant it will take few days then you realize theres no way back cause the orders are processing and you already lost a few days hoping it will be ready soon, plus because the refound money policy you have to wait for an concrete answer, for example my order with cellunlocker im stuck untill tuesday for the aswer 8 days total.
 
This is from my paypal email on monday 10/14/13
You send a payment of $39.99 USD to Cellunlocker.net
The problem is all this companies at that time i did the payment they still had this 1-24 hrs processing, just when you already paid they catch you let you know thant it will take few days then you realize theres no way back cause the orders are processing and you already lost a few days hoping it will be ready soon, plus because the refound money policy you have to wait for an concrete answer, for example my order with cellunlocker im stuck untill tuesday for the aswer 8 days total.

Yeah it most certainly is a problem. There are gonna be delays. I'm actually okay with them as long as they get done, but I can see how it would be a problem if you're going overseas soon or are doing it for someone overseas. The problem is that the suppliers aren't the best at communication with the resellers. They tell them rather last minute. I'm buying as many as I can this weekend but my fear is that come tomorrow or Tuesday, they'll say that the price has gone up and my unlock did not go through. This price surge has cost me 2000-3000k. It stinks but what can you do? I think prices will eventually come down as demand drops off. There are a few sellers making up stories to drive prices up. Unfortunately it's just a matter of greed. They see that they are getting more orders so they are driving up prices, they say, to reduce the amount of orders. This is not true, as evidenced by the delays. If they were in fact serious about meeting time quotes, they would only take as many as they know they can do. Instead, they see that people continue buying so instead of keeping the prices stable, they keep raising them cause they know people will pay them. They're going to ruin the market and they simply don't care.
 
I really don't like the "experience" of this 5s...
<..>
Anyway, now I have to camp the unlock service page... placed the order through Unlock Fusion, and hopefully I don't get an email about I have to pay even more to do it...

The "unlock service" is a grey market thing, and pretty much done at your own risk. You're basically paying someone to circumvent carrier policies, and by definition, the carrier is going to try to close those loopholes when it can. It's not an Apple-provided service, so definitely different from the "experience" of buying the phone.

You might disagree with carrier policy, and think the contract./subsidy thing is a crock. You might think the iPhone unlocked is overpriced. But disagree all you want, this is how the game is played, and anyone seeking the services of an unlocker should know this already. It is what it is. Having the good-old-days when instant unlocks were 99 cents and foolproof reliable doesn't change that. Now, those days are over, like it or not.

The only 100%, foolproof way of getting an unlocked iPhone is to buy one that is unlocked out of the box, whether that be (in the US, anyway) a Verizon 5s model or a "device only" T-Mobile model. This is especially true if you're expecting to go overseas right after buying it.

If you get a subsidized, locked iPhone and expect to unlock using a "service," it's strictly: you pays your money and you takes your chances.
 
I just got back in touch with a guy I heavily delt with a year or so back and he was very reliable for me. Prices have definitely gone up, I can clarify that nothing get relocked that is total crap. These IMEI have been in the past and even as of today ONLY unlocked IMEI use from ATT employees. They closed a HUGE loophole or two which caused these issues in price.

I can get unlocks done as of today, 24-72 hour turnaround time max monday-friday only that they are processed. $65 PP gift only. If GOD forbid ANY issues arise I will def issue a refund...paypal sunshineautomall@gmail.com include imei in description, ATT only, not responsible for wrong IMEI no refunds for that will be issues. msg with questions
 
I just got back in touch with a guy I heavily delt with a year or so back and he was very reliable for me. Prices have definitely gone up, I can clarify that nothing get relocked that is total crap. These IMEI have been in the past and even as of today ONLY unlocked IMEI use from ATT employees. They closed a HUGE loophole or two which caused these issues in price.

I can get unlocks done as of today, 24-72 hour turnaround time max monday-friday only that they are processed. $65 PP gift only. If GOD forbid ANY issues arise I will def issue a refund...paypal sunshineautomall@gmail.com include imei in description, ATT only, not responsible for wrong IMEI no refunds for that will be issues. msg with questions

"Paypal Gift only" does not inspire confidence. Basically, if something happens, I can't do anything about it. I'm supposed to just take your word for it. Nobody should ever pay via paypal gift unless they are dealing with a friend.
 
did he need to first swap out the phone and add it to his account, or did he just sent the request it in? I'm a previous at&t customer. Was with them before the iphones came out and tried to see if that worked, even though i kinda of knew it wouldn't. Just got the rejection email from them today. Now trying to get one of my friends to do it for me, but finding their mom's social etc. and getting them to actually sit down and fill it online is a pain.

Cheapest imei unlock i found online in the morning was for $39 but now its up to $49 and if you call locally the shops out here are quoting $89 to $100.. hope it comes down-- just wish things would calm down and be under the $20 or $10 mark... it seems like its more of the big fish trying to eat out the little fish to increase profit margins from what i have gathered online after reading days and days of forums.. might just have to swallow the pill and bite at $49

Nope, just submitted the online request, but that was yesterday and today it is still showing "pending", says it could take up to 5 business days...
 
I know the fact, I am just crying here.

I am not sure if I have mention in this thread, I paid $549 for 32GB, just $200 more I could get the unlocked version. At&t has the fastest LTE speed in my office and home. If not, I would jump to Tmobile and pay for the full price.

I do understand how to play this game, discounted phone/higher monthly OR full price phone/cheaper monthly.

I wish I could just order it and ship it to office whenever it has stock but at&t has changed the rule AGAIN, only ship to phone bill address...



I just didn't expect there is another mountain that I have to climb after I got the iPhone 5S...

By the way, if I know the grey market unlock service price would go up like this... I would rather get the unlocked version, and next year I will get full discount with 2 years contract, overall I will just pay the same amount of money for 2 phones.



The "unlock service" is a grey market thing, and pretty much done at your own risk. You're basically paying someone to circumvent carrier policies, and by definition, the carrier is going to try to close those loopholes when it can. It's not an Apple-provided service, so definitely different from the "experience" of buying the phone.
 
No, they only do unlocks on qualified iphone devices that comes with an extensive list of requirements.
You cant just open an account and start unlocking random iphones that were never activated on that account. .

I bought a galaxy note 2 used on craigslist and put my sim in it. Called ATT and they gave me the unlock code.
 
I know the fact, I am just crying here.

I am not sure if I have mention in this thread, I paid $549 for 32GB, just $200 more I could get the unlocked version. At&t has the fastest LTE speed in my office and home. If not, I would jump to Tmobile and pay for the full price.

I do understand how to play this game, discounted phone/higher monthly OR full price phone/cheaper monthly.

I wish I could just order it and ship it to office whenever it has stock but at&t has changed the rule AGAIN, only ship to phone bill address...



I just didn't expect there is another mountain that I have to climb after I got the iPhone 5S...

By the way, if I know the grey market unlock service price would go up like this... I would rather get the unlocked version, and next year I will get full discount with 2 years contract, overall I will just pay the same amount of money for 2 phones.

You still made the right choice. It'll cost you maybe 50 bucks max if you order now. You still came out 150 on top.
 
Does an AT&T iphone need to be turned on / activated before you unlock it? Was going to buy one from my friend to use, need to know whether he needs to turn it on and activate it on his account first. (and does it need to be on his account during the unlock, or can he put his old iphone back on the account?)
 
Nope, just submitted the online request, but that was yesterday and today it is still showing "pending", says it could take up to 5 business days...

Thanks for your reply...

mine just came back as rejected after i got a friend with a 5 year at&t account to put it in for me... two possibilities.. the person who i bought it from on craigslist has not paid off the iphone i bought and just bought another phone with cash and is using that on their line or number 2, the phone needs to be active on the account that is requesting the unlock in order for the unlock to go through.. can someone confirm if the latter is the case?

I did check the imei on my phone from at&t and multiple websites and thank God its clear.. no problem with the imeil.

Anyways, frustrated, swallowed the pill and have put in an unlock at $39.00 we just switched from sprint to tmobile. Have another iPhone coming in for my other line on tmo which unfortunately is another at&t iphone. Bought all these iphones before i was aware about the at&t unlock issue.. gonna try to get my friend to activate that phone on their line, and then request and unlock and see what happens.. but again thats a different phone, so it could be that the phone has been paid off and might not be an issue.. oh well.. sorta sucks... but happy to be off sprint either way..

on another note, at&t unlock request website is changed. Now there are three options. New customer, previous customer, and go phone customer..

----------

Does an AT&T iphone need to be turned on / activated before you unlock it? Was going to buy one from my friend to use, need to know whether he needs to turn it on and activate it on his account first. (and does it need to be on his account during the unlock, or can he put his old iphone back on the account?)

the phone needs to be activated atleast once before it can be unlocked. However after that initial activation, i'm not sure if the phone needs to be activated with and at&t sim (doesn't matter if the sim is working or not as long as its an at&t sim) while the unlock is in process.
 
Att just added go phone customers to its free device unlock request. It looks like now all you have to do is buy go phone att sim activate it with minimum balance and you can start unlocking iPhones.
https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/client/en_US/termsAndCondition
 
I believe so, and thanks for that, because I just can't catch up for all these changes from US cellular phone carriers...

I already placed 4 orders for 5S unlock from Unlock Fusion, hopefully... it should be done by Wednesday.

And I am trying my best to keep my unlimited data plan...



EDIT:

I found these from the site below, but I don't have all these warnings from Unlock Fusion, all the 5S are activated because we can't step out the Apple Store without activating the at&t iPhone, but I think I have enabled find my iPhone on for all...

Does it really matter?

Because this is the only site with all these warnings.


http://www.unlockwithsam.com/siteerror404.html

No Refund For the Following:
- Blacklisted - Lost - Stolen Smartphones
- Unactivated iPhones (Asks for SSN + ZIP)
- iOS 7 Activation Lock = Asking for iCloud Email + Password (or just Password)
- Ordering/Selecting Incorrect Service/Model of Service!


You still made the right choice. It'll cost you maybe 50 bucks max if you order now. You still came out 150 on top.
 
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I believe so, and thanks for that, because I just can't catch up for all these changes from US cellular phone carriers...

I already placed 4 orders for 5S unlock from Unlock Fusion, hopefully... it should be done by Wednesday.

And I am trying my best to keep my unlimited data plan...



EDIT:

I found these from the site below, but I don't have all these warnings from Unlock Fusion, all the 5S are activated because we can't step out the Apple Store without activating the at&t iPhone, but I think I have enabled find my iPhone on for all...

Does it really matter?

Because this is the only site with all these warnings.


http://www.unlockwithsam.com/siteerror404.html

No Refund For the Following:
- Blacklisted - Lost - Stolen Smartphones
- Unactivated iPhones (Asks for SSN + ZIP)
- iOS 7 Activation Lock = Asking for iCloud Email + Password (or just Password)
- Ordering/Selecting Incorrect Service/Model of Service!



Ouch....why unlock fusion? They're starting at like 90 aren't they? Swiftunlocks, cellunlocker, and iDeviceguys are still in the 39-45 range. As far as those rules go, I don't think you can unlock a completely inactivated phone. I know replacement ones that you get from apple that are not activated can be unlocked but if it's completely 100% brand new, those aren't eligible. Blacklisted/Lost I think some like Sam just don't do as a matter of principle. If you look at swift unlocks, they'll do it but will tell you that they won't work on US networks.

And finally a bit of good news, it seems: The owner of ideviceguys posted this yesterday. His price is still 45 but it seems he's one of the more reliable unlocking sources:


Okay guys figured I'd post here and give everyone an update.
Lets start off with the best news first. It is looking like as of tomorrow everything is back up and fully running like normal. (Hoping not to jinx myself there). We are still taking orders and everything seems to be a lot more sold again. Prices still may fluctuate a bit for this next week, should be in your favor. Any orders placed from the 16th-19th should be done by Tuesday Oct 22nd. Orders are being processed every day and turn around times are tend to be quicker then the 1-5 days. Keep in mind we are talking business days. Still trying to figure out if things are getting process Saturday or not, but I do know for a fact Sunday is a family day and nothing gets processed.
I am still processing some refunds been working on it all day and still have a few to do so if you are expecting a refund I have not forgot and I am working on it.

If you have questions about your order I ask for a few things when you email me to make my life and response easier.
1) Your IMEI
2) iPhone model (ex:iPhone 5s/5c/5/4S/4/3GS/3G/2G)
3) Paypal Transaction ID#
4) Last give me a little time to respond. I try to get to all of them in a timely fashion but between new orders, old orders, refunds, and everything else that is involved in unlocking your phone behind the scenes my time is limited. But by adding the info above in your email it makes my job 10000000X easier and I can give your much quicker responses then trying to look up everything manually.

This last week has been absolute craziness but like I said it should all be back to normal real soon and I know I am really looking forward to it. I been working until 3-4am most days and waking up at 7-8am, I am trying to give you all best unlock experience I possibly can give and this past week has made it extremely hard and I truly do apologize wish it never would have gone down this way. For those who have stuck with me I would like to thank you.

Thanks again,
Logan Westerman
Owner of IDeviceGuys,LLC


Let's hope and pray for the best!
 
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