Is unlocking an iPhone illegal in the UK?

[Moi un Mouton]

I bought one that had a visibly faulty screen. So I relocked it using bootneuter and restored it to apple's 1.1.4. I returned to the shop and they replaced it. However they took my name and address for the exchange.

Will I be getting a call in a few months asking why I haven't activated?

No. When I bought my iPhone, i didn't enter into any contract to activate it with O2 or not to modify it, or anything. And in the UK, Apple have had to be specific that warranty is NOT dependent on activation - better consumer protection than in the states, it seems.

I bought a piece of consumer electronics that's mine to use as I want, though if I mess it up by modifying its firmware then clearly that IS my look out.

 

[sk8mash]

This doesn't make sense.

If you haven't activated it then there is no contract. The clock starts ticking once you activate and sign up.

No, i meant it like this: (theoretically)

1. You buy an iPhone because the price is cheap at the moment.
2. You don't want to activate it because you still have 24 months left on another contract.
3.In two years time you activate your iphone with the o2 contract.

If they blocked your IMEI during that two years you would be pretty annoyed wouldn't you? Even though you have done nothing wrong. So o2 have no way of distinguishing between people who might do as above, and people who have unlocked there phone and are using it on another network. Similarly people might buy a phone as a christmas gift for someone. Therefore it could be a year before someone even thought about activating it. o2 couldn't just assume that the phone has been unlocked.

Understand?




On another note, would o2 be able to tell that an iPhone with a logged IMEI was being used, even though it hadn't been officially activated?

 

[iSamurai]

I'm not so sure because the device is sold locked. So O2 could say that unactivated devices are not being used so blocking those IMEIs would have no impact on people until they activate. At the time of activation the block could be lifted. Everyone with hacked phones would have expensive ipod touches. I imagine this would be similar to how stolen phones are blocked based on the IMEI.

I bought one that had a visibly faulty screen. So I relocked it using bootneuter and restored it to apple's 1.1.4. I returned to the shop and they replaced it. However they took my name and address for the exchange.

Will I be getting a call in a few months asking why I haven't activated?

1. Ohhh, you just recommended O2 a very good idea to implement... But that's not gonna work because you can still use your phone for "emergency calls" in case you're trapped somewhere with your unactivated (cough, unlocked, cough) iphone, meaning you can still contact the police or whatever that's listed as "emergency numbers".

2. Nope, they just want to make sure... if they suspect you that you broke the screen then returned it. When they ask for my address details I usually leave my PO BOX address instead of a physical address. I don't want stalkers. Promotional/marketing materials are fine although I sometimes regard them as printed spam.

o2 couldn't just assume that the phone has been unlocked.

On another note, would o2 be able to tell that an iPhone with a logged IMEI was being used, even though it hadn't been officially activated?

Correct! We're not all baddies aren't we? ye-olde aaigh-telephoneey users.

I'm afraid this is really easy. First of all, when the iPhone is made and sits in its box it has that sticker at the bottom of the box. I believe you all have seen it. There's bar codes on them. They aren't that stupid to sit there and type out all the numbers, so they scan them and the data are all recorded, and which phones are delivered to which stores etc. I didn't buy my own iPhone but I don't think they record the strings of numbers at the counter, so they won't know to whom was the phone sold to.

 

[sk8mash]

1. Ohhh, you just recommended O2 a very good idea to implement... But that's not gonna work because you can still use your phone for "emergency calls" in case you're trapped somewhere with your unactivated (cough, unlocked, cough) iphone, meaning you can still contact the police or whatever that's listed as "emergency numbers".

2. Nope, they just want to make sure... if they suspect you that you broke the screen then returned it. When they ask for my address details I usually leave my PO BOX address instead of a physical address. I don't want stalkers. Promotional/marketing materials are fine although I sometimes regard them as printed spam.



Correct! We're not all baddies aren't we? ye-olde aaigh-telephoneey users.

I'm afraid this is really easy. First of all, when the iPhone is made and sits in its box it has that sticker at the bottom of the box. I believe you all have seen it. There's bar codes on them. They aren't that stupid to sit there and type out all the numbers, so they scan them and the data are all recorded, and which phones are delivered to which stores etc. I didn't buy my own iPhone but I don't think they record the strings of numbers at the counter, so they won't know to whom was the phone sold to.

Well i noticed on the receipt it says the IMEI of the phone that has been purchased...

 

[iSamurai]

Well i noticed on the receipt it says the IMEI of the phone that has been purchased...

aaaah... I see. As I have mentioned earlier I didn't purchase my iPhone... + I don't have the receipt with me.

1. They won't know who you are, unless they go to the bank with your credit card number. But the bank will most certainly not pass your details to "third parties"... If they do you can sue them (I've mentioned a lot of suing in this thread).

2. So now they now which specific iPhones are sold... again, like I said, your IMEI has to be enabled to make an emergency call. They can't disable that. It's against the law, if they do you'll have a brick, literally. They can only treat this as "not yet activated" iPhones.

 

[sk8mash]

aaaah... I see. As I have mentioned earlier I didn't purchase my iPhone... + I don't have the receipt with me.

1. They won't know who you are, unless they go to the bank with your credit card number. But the bank will most certainly not pass your details to "third parties"... If they do you can sue them (I've mentioned a lot of suing in this thread).

2. So now they now which specific iPhones are sold... again, like I said, your IMEI has to be enabled to make an emergency call. They can't disable that. It's against the law, if they do you'll have a brick, literally. They can only treat this as "not yet activated" iPhones.

Number 2 is a good point, however when i purchased my second iphone they also asked me my name, address, number email etc. Stupid o2!

 

[iSamurai]

Oh, back to the topic "is unlocking an iPhone illegal in the UK?"

When you purchased your phone, they have logged the IMEI and all that numbers. At the end of the day, O2 will have a handful of recorded iPhones not activated yet. If they want to disable iPhones with IMEIs not showing up on their records for lets say, 3 months, they can't disable them.

AFAIK you cannot disable an IMEI without the customer's grant. And, let's say you've lost your phone. You report to O2 to disable the phone. Ok, what do you do? you tell them your phone number. But does an unactivated iPhone have a phone number? (I dunno) To disable a phone it must be switched on and the commands are to be sent from a cellular tower.

If an iPhone is not activated but not unlocked, they cannot send the commands to disable the phone because it's not registered to the network. It'll say something like "no service" -- back when I was waiting for a 1.1.2 OTB unlock.

If an iPhone is not activated but unlocked on another carrier, O2 cannot send commands to an iPhone registered to, lets say, Vodafone - they'll have to go through Vodafone to do that. And do you think they'll want them to disable the phone? No! Because you're spending money with Vodafone.

 

[senorFunkyPants]

AFAIK you cannot disable an IMEI without the customer's grant. And, let's say you've lost your phone. You report to O2 to disable the phone. Ok, what do you do? you tell them your phone number. But does an unactivated iPhone have a phone number? (I dunno) To disable a phone it must be switched on and the commands are to be sent from a cellular tower.

If an iPhone is not activated but not unlocked, they cannot send the commands to disable the phone because it's not registered to the network. It'll say something like "no service" -- back when I was waiting for a 1.1.2 OTB unlock.

If an iPhone is not activated but unlocked on another carrier, O2 cannot send commands to an iPhone registered to, lets say, Vodafone - they'll have to go through Vodafone to do that. And do you think they'll want them to disable the phone? No! Because you're spending money with Vodafone.

Thats not how IMEI blocking works in the UK...only the registered owner of a mobile can ring the network on which the phone was first registered to in order to report a mobile phone as being lost/stolen. He will have to provide all the details provided at first registration including PIN numbers, account passwords and IMEI number. Only then will the lost phones IMEI number be added to that networks blacklist and then is further added to the UK mobile network master blacklist. When that blocked phone is then used to make a call using any sim with any phone number to any UK network provider, on connection its IMEI is checked against the master blacklist and refused access if on that list. Although IIRC the phone can still be used to call 999 even if IMEI blocked. If the phone is then found the IMEI number can be removed from the blacklist by the same person who added it normally for a small fee.
O2 will never unilaterally IMEI block non-activated iphones because it would be illegal for them to do so.

 

[iSamurai]

...snipped...

i was confused; thanks for clarifying. yeah, it didn't make sense there because a blocked phone can't work with any sim card

 

[sk8mash]

So o2 can do nothing about the unlocking community

This came directly from the o2 website:

"iPhone is restricted to use on the O2 network unless you are roaming. If you do not enter into and remain in an airtime agreement with O2 on one of our tariffs for iPhone, you will not be able to use the phone functionality of your iPhone. If you attempt to unlock iPhone and use it on another network, it may become permanently unusable. Making unauthorised modifications to the software on your iPhone violates the iPhone software license agreement, and the inability to use your iPhone due to unauthorized software modifications is not covered under your iPhone's warranty."

The bit in bold however, directly contradicts a passage that can be found in the legal section on your iPhone. It says: "Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any purpose without fee is hereby granted."

So I guess although they don't like it, the only consequence is that the warranty is voided....which we all knew

 

[DaveTaylor]

It's a tricky one as the law does state someone you can't lock things due to freedom of choice, or something along those lines *will ask dad later he knows the full answer*