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AppleFan22

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 3, 2014
282
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I've got an old iPhone 4 that I don't use anymore, and am considering trying to sell it or something. However, I have erased it, and I cannot activate it, as it requires a SIM card that is on the network that I used to be with when I first got the phone. I was with EE, and am now with Three. Is there any way I can get the iPhone unlocked, or do I need to find a friend who has an EE SIM card, and THEN unlock it?
 
I've got an old iPhone 4 that I don't use anymore, and am considering trying to sell it or something. However, I have erased it, and I cannot activate it, as it requires a SIM card that is on the network that I used to be with when I first got the phone. I was with EE, and am now with Three. Is there any way I can get the iPhone unlocked, or do I need to find a friend who has an EE SIM card, and THEN unlock it?
[doublepost=1482955696][/doublepost]Had similar problem with new I phone 7 last night - only when I was setting up phone it asked for activation code which it was to txt to me - problem was the txt couldn't be received as the phone I had sim in was the one being activated. !!!
After several failed attempts I spent over with support which gave me a temoorary account to work then I had to resign in with own one. Not very handy
To be fair the support guy was very patient and helpful to me
Why this problem I never experienced anything like it before apparently to do with two forms of authentication feature of 10.2 iOS
Silly if you ask me !
 
[doublepost=1482955696][/doublepost]
Had similar problem with new I phone 7 last night - only when I was setting up phone it asked for activation code which it was to txt to me - problem was the txt couldn't be received as the phone I had sim in was the one being activated. !!!
After several failed attempts I spent over with support which gave me a temoorary account to work then I had to resign in with own one. Not very handy
To be fair the support guy was very patient and helpful to me
Why this problem I never experienced anything like it before apparently to do with two forms of authentication feature of 10.2 iOS
Silly if you ask me !

I don't think that'll work for me; it sounds like your issue was with your iCloud account... but thanks anyway!
 
I've got an old iPhone 4 that I don't use anymore, and am considering trying to sell it or something. However, I have erased it, and I cannot activate it, as it requires a SIM card that is on the network that I used to be with when I first got the phone. I was with EE, and am now with Three. Is there any way I can get the iPhone unlocked, or do I need to find a friend who has an EE SIM card, and THEN unlock it?

If its locked to EE it will only activate with a sim from EE and will not activate or work with any other carrier.
So you either sell it locked and it will only work with EE subscribers or contact EE and ask them to unlock it.
Once its unlocked it will work with any GSM carrier in the world.
 
Any sim card will work.

I tried my current SIM card.

It doesn't work.
[doublepost=1482961002][/doublepost]
If its locked to EE it will only activate with a sim from EE and will not activate or work with any other carrier.
So you either sell it locked and it will only work with EE subscribers or contact EE and ask them to unlock it.
Once its unlocked it will work with any GSM carrier in the world.

Okay, thanks for the help!
 
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Once I have it activated, I can JailBreak it and unlock it then, right?

No, you cannot.
That's only an option if the iPhone 4 is still on IOS 4.0.1 and only with baseband version 01.59.00
And no you cannot downgrade it to that version to jb and software unlock it.
If you didn't get all that technical stuff In short it's not going to happen.
Ask the carrier for an unlock or buy an imei unlock from a 3rd party seller.
 
Jailbreaking and unlocking are different and separate things.

Yes, I am aware of that. However, I've heard that there is a way to unlock an iPhone yourself using JailBreak tweaks.
[doublepost=1482965903][/doublepost]
No, you cannot.
That's only an option if the iPhone 4 is still on IOS 4.0.1 and only with baseband version 01.59.00
And no you cannot downgrade it to that version to jb and software unlock it.
If you didn't get all that technical stuff In short it's not going to happen.
Ask the carrier for unlock or buy an imei unlock from a 3rd party seller.

Okay, I must have misunderstood or read a false document, as I'm sure I was told that you can unlock an iPhone after JailBreaking.
 
Yes, I am aware of that. However, I've heard that there is a way to unlock an iPhone yourself using JailBreak tweaks.

Only iPhones you can software unlock are iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS on certain baseband versions and iPhone 4 if it's still on old baseband that came with firmware 4.0.1 or below.
If you have updated that iPhone 4 higher than iOS 4.0.1 without using custom firmware to maintain the unlockable baseband that came out back in June 2010 then you are out of luck.
Everyone assumes sure I'll just jailbreak and unlock any iPhone on any iOS version I want. It's so easy and simple :)
Not.
[doublepost=1482966288][/doublepost]
Okay, I must have misunderstood or read a false document, as I'm sure I was told that you can unlock an iPhone after JailBreaking.

There's tons of fake and wrong info online.
I'm sure if you google unlock iPhone 4 you will find thousands of videos and websites claiming you can just follow this, do that, click on that link and watch that video :D
 
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