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iPhone 3G Blocked By O2. Can It Be Unlocked?

E

emzino

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 24, 2009
5
0
Hi all.

I'll keep this to the point and make it quick as its late.

Cousins iPhone 3G was lost so he called the insurance and he got a new iPhone 3G sent to him.

The 1st iPhone 3G was found by his workplace but is blocked by O2.

Is there a way to unblock that and get it working again?

When I say get it working, I mean on O2, not any other network.

Many thanks advance
 
emzino said:
Hi all.

I'll keep this to the point and make it quick as its late.

Cousins iPhone 3G was lost so he called the insurance and he got a new iPhone 3G sent to him.

The 1st iPhone 3G was found by his workplace but is blocked by O2.

Is there a way to unblock that and get it working again?

When I say get it working, I mean on O2, not any other network.

Many thanks advance
Click to expand...

If the original owner of the phone went to 02 and presented the phone with all his identification I don't see why not. Give them a call and see what their policy is. You should change the thread title and not say unlocked but unblocked. :)
 
you need to change the IMEI it was possible with ZiPhone upto 1.1.4 on the 2G but it is HIGHLY illegal.

I cant seem to find a way to do it on the 3G
 
They'll probably take the new one back. I ask because i wanted to use his blocked iPhone. I know its morally wrong but i cant dish out £340 just yet.

Thanks again
 
Indeed. If it was claimed with insurance then you're likely only entitled to have one of those phones.
 
if O2 have blocked the IMEI could it be unlocked and u cud run it on orange/another network or would that not work?
 
Even if you used the phone on a different network, it would still be barred.

We have something called the EIR (Equipment Identity Register), and everytime you make/recieve a call, sent a text etc your IMEI number is checked on the EIR (this happens on all networks, and all networks use the same EIR).

Really, if he has found the original, the new one should be returned to the insurer - otherwise it could be classed as fraud. There is no way if you gave us a call and asked us to unblock the found iPhone, that we would do this.

Hope this helps!
 
megamanbnmaster said:
It IS illegal to change IMEI right?
Click to expand...

In the EU, yes.

In the US: maybe. If you're changing it for the purposes of obtaining a service which you are not authorized to use (i.e. stealing service, using someone else's plan, etc.) then yes, it's illegal. Just changing the IMEI, however, is not in and of itself illegal.
 
The original owner and can walk into O2 and have them unblock it.
---
that said,
Seeking another alternative means it is not your phone.
 
Because your cousin has claimed on his insurance, that phone is now legally the property of the insurance company.

He should phone them and let them know it has been found and ask them what they want to him to do with it. You have to be careful because he could end up being taken to court for making a fraudulent insurance claim.
 
OllyW said:
Because your cousin has claimed on his insurance, that phone is now legally the property of the insurance company.

He should phone them and let them know it has been found and ask them what they want to him to do with it. You have to be careful because he could end up being taken to court for making a fraudulent insurance claim.
Click to expand...

Now that i didn't know. I thought that when paying for home/contents insurance, when you claim, the claimed items become yours.
 
CalumC said:
Now that i didn't know. I thought that when paying for home/contents insurance, when you claim, the claimed items become yours.
Click to expand...

If you break it (for example you smash the screen on a laptop and it isn't economical to repair) and the insurance company don't ask for it back, then yes it is yours and you are free to do what you want with the old one, but if you lose something and it turns up again then you no longer own it as it is in working order, so otherwise you would have gained considerably by making the claim.
 
Inform the insurance company. Always.

Otherwise it's clear criminal fraud, and with phones, they've set up systems for detecting it, as they're sick of people trying to do this all the time. They may well come down on you very heavily if you're caught.

After informing the insurance company, you can then hope they don't ask for one back, or beg to buy it off them, which is probably your best bet. Don't be surprised if they insist on you returning one - they need to avoid encouraging people to pretend to loose a phone.
 
ABout you're new iPhone

If it was me,I'd keep the new phone and use the old one as an iPod touch and don't even tell o2.why would you want to take the chance of them taking the new phone off you just because you found you're old one.keep the new one and use the old one as an iPod touch or try to sell it as an blocked iphone and just say "it's essentially an iPod touch except you can't go on the web with wifi or anything.it's just an apple mp3 player and you can play all the games already on it and use the apps which don't require the net".that's what I would do
 
jams1888 said:
If it was me,I'd keep the new phone and use the old one as an iPod touch and don't even tell o2.why would you want to take the chance of them taking the new phone off you just because you found you're old one.keep the new one and use the old one as an iPod touch or try to sell it as an blocked iphone and just say "it's essentially an iPod touch except you can't go on the web with wifi or anything.it's just an apple mp3 player and you can play all the games already on it and use the apps which don't require the net".that's what I would do
Click to expand...

You resurrected a thread that's over a year old to proclaim to all of us you are dishonest ! :rolleyes:

And people wonder why insurance rates are so high.
 
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