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russell_314

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 10, 2019
6,039
8,940
USA
This is XS Max that I originally bought from Spectrum, paid off, unlocked, number transferred to T-Mobile and working for months with this exact SIM card.

It had a bug where it kept restarting so I did a complete factory restore with my Mac then restored to a recent backup.

Now it's telling me SIM not supported when I insert the SIM. It shows my number when I try to manually add a cellular plan but says "Transferring some of these numbers is not allowed by your carrier. Contact your carrier to unlock this device"

So clearly my device seems to be carrier re-locked to Spectrum again


I will call Spectrum when they open in the morning but is it normal that restoring an originally carrier locked phone to factory settings that was unlocked to also restore the carrier lock?

Edit: Okay so it looks like Spectrum is open now. I called and first spoke to a very nice lady /s who told me since I had an iPhone I had to call Apple. I called Apple and they said sorry but we can't help you. This is with your carrier.

I called Spectrum back and this time got someone with a brain because he knew exatly what happened. Spectrum never sent the unlock request to Apple when I paid off the phone. When I did the restore my phone contacted the Apple server and since they showed it as locked it locked the phone. Luckily I saved the email from Apple when I had my phone replaced with AppleCare+ so this proved ownership. So the level 1 tech support guy was unable (Not allowed maybe?) to unlock it but he contacted his tier 3 support so it should be unlocked before Monday. He explaned the lock and unlock processes and it's pretty scary. He said sometimes even if you buy an unlocked phone from the Apple Store and put a carrier SIM in they can and sometimes will carrier lock your phone. Of course you can demand they undo this but it's a PITA.

This is the reason why I dumped Spectrum in the first place. This last guy I talked to was an extreme exception when it comes to being helpful. If I could give that guy five stars I would. The first lady was what I've been used to dealing with the whole time I had their service.

Edit: The phone was unlocked that Monday so everything is working as it should now.
 
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