Is my AT&T iPhone 5 unlocked?

[sigjuice]

I requested AT&T to unlock my iPhone 5 at http://att.com/deviceunlock . I got an email saying that my device may be unlocked a few days ago.

According to the instructions in AT&T's email, I need to do an iTunes backup and restore to complete the unlock process. I have NOT done this yet. Restoring my phone makes me a little nervous and I would prefer not to do it unless absolutely necessary.

I bought a pre-paid T-Mobile SIM and inserted it in my iPhone. T-Mobile showed up in my phone's status bar. I cannot make phone calls because I have not signed up for T-Mobile service and have no intentions to.

So, is my phone unlocked at this point? Is there something else I can look at to confirm this?

Thanks!

 

[CarmelMacchiato]

Yes it is unlocked. You no longer need to do the iTunes thing.

 

[markyr17]

I personally think you still need to restore. In my experience, for the unlock to take place, you have to restore the phone.

Don't be nervous, just back up your device, then restore it. When you restore, iTunes will pop up a message saying congratulations, your iPhone is now unlocked.

The restore part is what actually unlocks the phone

 

[CarmelMacchiato]

I personally think you still need to restore. In my experience, for the unlock to take place, you have to restore the phone.

Don't be nervous, just back up your device, then restore it. When you restore, iTunes will pop up a message saying congratulations, your iPhone is now unlocked.

The restore part is what actually unlocks the phone

That is not true. The unlock takes place on Apples servers and if the sim registers and shows the network the iPhone is unlocked otherwise you will see invalid sim screen.

 

[eagleglen]

Can someone who has completed the unlock process, tell me if you need to have a wifi connection to do the restore on iTunes? I'm waiting for the 14 days to pass since I upgraded for ATT to do their part, but I plan to give the phone to someone without Internet. Can he still restore it and complete the unlock without wifi? Thanks.

 

[GrimmsGirl]

Can someone who has completed the unlock process, tell me if you need to have a wifi connection to do the restore on iTunes? I'm waiting for the 14 days to pass since I upgraded for ATT to do their part, but I plan to give the phone to someone without Internet. Can he still restore it and complete the unlock without wifi? Thanks.

You can do the unlock yourself. After you get confirmation that AT&T unlocked the phone, you go to iTunes and restore the phone as new. Once you do that, you'll get confirmation in iTunes that the phone is unlocked. The person you send it to does not need internet.

 

[CyBeRino]

Can someone who has completed the unlock process, tell me if you need to have a wifi connection to do the restore on iTunes? I'm waiting for the 14 days to pass since I upgraded for ATT to do their part, but I plan to give the phone to someone without Internet. Can he still restore it and complete the unlock without wifi? Thanks.

You need an internet connection to do it, because iTunes has to talk to a server at Apple to get the information. However, once it's unlocked, it's unlocked for ever so you can do it and then give the phone to the other person.

 

[webbuzz]

Yes it is unlocked. You no longer need to do the iTunes thing.

Source?

 

[cmichaelb]

Can someone who has completed the unlock process, tell me if you need to have a wifi connection to do the restore on iTunes? I'm waiting for the 14 days to pass since I upgraded for ATT to do their part, but I plan to give the phone to someone without Internet. Can he still restore it and complete the unlock without wifi? Thanks.

You can do the unlock yourself. After you get confirmation that AT&T unlocked the phone, you go to iTunes and restore the phone as new. Once you do that, you'll get confirmation in iTunes that the phone is unlocked. The person you send it to does not need internet.

Yep, you'll get a message in iTunes just like this-

 

[sigjuice]

Source?

According to this Apple support page, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5014

If you have a SIM card from a different carrier than your current carrier and your current carrier confirmed that your iPhone is unlocked, follow these steps:

1. Remove your SIM card and insert the new SIM card.
2. Complete the setup process.

I did not do a restore because I was not comfortable wiping my phone. I tried my friend's T-Mobile SIM in my ATT iPhone and the network changed to T-Mobile. I was also able to make a phone call. I did not even see a setup process as mentioned in the instructions.

When I put the T-Mobile SIM in my wife's iPhone, there was some sort of setup process on the phone (I was asked to enter the Apple ID).

PS: Both phones were connected to wifi while I swapped out the SIMs

 

[terraphantm]

I personally think you still need to restore. In my experience, for the unlock to take place, you have to restore the phone.

Don't be nervous, just back up your device, then restore it. When you restore, iTunes will pop up a message saying congratulations, your iPhone is now unlocked.

The restore part is what actually unlocks the phone

It's not. Activation is what unlocks the phone. Since iOS 6 (I think), the iPhones are smart enough to deactivate and reactivate when a different carrier's SIM is inserted.