Is Unlocking iPhone 5 Safe?

[skitzogreg]

For travel purposes (not resell), I'm looking to unlock my iPhone 5. My iPhone 4 and 3GS were unlocked by AT&T, but seeing as how I don't use them anymore, I need my new 5 unlocked. I'm not advertising anyone's service, so I'm not going to name names of services I've looked at. All of them require your IMEI number to complete the 'factory' unlock through iTunes. Alot of people claim success with the process. Is there anything that someone can do maliciously with my IMEI number? If I give that out, am I setting myself up for any potential exploits? Is this a safe process?

 

[HazyCloud]

Yes, but I'd only trust @chronic to do it. There's no way in hell I'd trust someone with my IMEI from eBay or some random site. There's a reason why people flock to him to pay the 35 (AT&T) to unlock it. Just read over his Twitter feed and you'll be convinced.

 

[Applejuiced]

Paranoid much?
Thousands of people have been unlocking their iphones with ebay and other sellers.
I think you will be ok.

Yes, but I'd only trust @chronic to do it. There's no way in hell I'd trust someone with my IMEI from eBay or some random site. There's a reason why people flock to him to pay the 35 (AT&T) to unlock it. Just read over his Twitter feed and you'll be convinced.

Sure, I'd trust him over any other unknown seller
You go ahead and pay the $35 while others pay $6 for the same thing.
They're going to steal your IMEI.

 

[skitzogreg]

Paranoid much?
Thousands of people have been unlocking their iphones with ebay and other sellers.
I think you will be ok.

I respect you saying that; you're right, the reason for the thread was because I was paranoid. But, at the same time, like most, I live off my phone. It's not worth the possibility of someone being able to do something malicious with my device and/or service. That's why I came here. I'll take a look at chronic on Twitter.

 

[HazyCloud]

Paranoid much?
Thousands of people have been unlocking their iphones with ebay and other sellers.
I think you will be ok.



Sure, I'd trust him over any other unknown seller
You go ahead and pay the $35 while others pay $6 for the same thing.
They're going to steal your IMEI.

*Removes tin foil hat* No, not at all. Personally I'd just rather pay the extra 29 bucks and feel better about the whole deal.

EDIT* I see you were asking the OP that. *puts hat back on*

 

[Applejuiced]

*Removes tin foil hat* No, not at all. Personally I'd just rather pay the extra 29 bucks and feel better about the whole deal.

That's your choice.
But if I paid the extra $29 I wouldnt feel better, I'd feel like a sucker
Up to you though, your money

 

[skitzogreg]

So, since we're on the topic (and our tin-foil hats are firmly seated), how do these unlocks work anyway? They take your IMEI and... what? Do they trick some sort of Apple/AT&T system into thinking it's unlocked? Oh, the n00b-ness is strong with this one.

 

[Applejuiced]

So, since we're on the topic (and our tin-foil hats are firmly seated), how do these unlocks work anyway? They take your IMEI and... what? Do they trick some sort of Apple/AT&T system into thinking it's unlocked?

They enter it to Apples unlocked database somehow through an carriers system is my guess.
Then once its entered there its officially unlocked.

 

[HazyCloud]

That's your choice.
But if I paid the extra $29 I wouldnt feel better, I'd feel like a sucker
Up to you though, your money

That's understandable. Like I said above though, 6 bucks from a random on eBay or 35 for someone who has had hundreds of happy clients? Chronic also recently had an AT&T sale for 18, but I'd guess that's still too much for you.

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They enter it to Apples unlocked database somehow through an carriers system is my guess.
Then once its entered there its officially unlocked.

Yup, Applejuiced is correct. Your IMEI is entered into a whitelist so to speak and after you restore in iTunes, boom, it's unlocked.

 

[Applejuiced]

That's understandable. Like I said above though, 6 bucks from a random on eBay or 35 for someone who has had hundreds of happy clients? Chronic also recently had an AT&T sale for 18, but I'd guess that's still too much for you.

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Yup, Applejuiced is correct. Your IMEI is entered into a whitelist so to speak and after you restore in iTunes, boom, it's unlocked.

That's understandable. Like I said above though, 6 bucks from a random on eBay or 35 for someone who has had hundreds of happy clients? Chronic also recently had an AT&T sale for 18, but I'd guess that's still too much for you.

$18 is not too much but again if I can get the exact same thing for a third of the price why would I want to pay more?
Actually the guy that I have in mind has thousands happy clients and repeat customers.
Im sure if he's done so many transactions and has 100% positive feedback he's ok in my book
Random ebay seller or random website seller. They both sound pretty random to me but whatever makes you feel better and sleep at night without having to worry about someone running away with your IMEI number

 

[HazyCloud]

Actually the guy that I have in mind has thousands happy clients and repeat customers.
Im sure if he's done so many transactions and has 100% positive feedback he's ok in my book
Random ebay seller or random website seller. They both sound pretty random to me but whatever makes you feel better and sleep at night without having to worry about someone running away with your IMEI number

That's very true. If the feedback is good and they have thousands of happy customers, you can't argue with that.

 

[skitzogreg]

Though I wanted to avoid throwing out names/sellers to keep my original question legitimate, I'm now really curious who this seller is with the thousands of positive feedback, lol.

 

[Applejuiced]

Though I wanted to avoid throwing out names/sellers to keep my original question legitimate, I'm now really curious who this seller is with the thousands of positive feedback, lol.

Send me a PM bro.
I dont like to advertise or have people think Im affiliated with anyone.
I just state my own personal experience and if it can benefit others why not?
We're all here to help eachother and share.
The particular seller has 73838 sales since 2011 and 99.6% feedback.

 

[skitzogreg]

Send me a PM bro.
I dont like to advertise or have people think Im affiliated with anyone.
I just state my own personal experience and if it can benefit others why not?
We're all here to help eachother and share.
The particular seller has 73838 sales since 2011 and 99.6% feedback.

Haha, that's the one I was looking at.

 

[Applejuiced]

ok