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SIM free vs Unlocked iPhone 6 from PCWorld(UK)

M

Mike Boreham

macrumors 601
Original poster
Aug 10, 2006
4,121
2,123
UK
I recently bought a SIM free iPhone 6 from PCWorld. Set it up with EE SIM-only contract Sim and all was well.

Then I vaguely remembered reading that "SIM free" iPhones from CarPhone Warehouse, Currys and PCWorld lock themselves to the network of the first SIM put in them, whereas unlocked iPhones from Apple are permanently unlocked. Widespread confirmation of this by Googling.

I wasn't too bothered because I have no intention of switching and could unlock later anyway.

But just had a chance to put a 3 SIM in it and it worked fine!

So has something changed in the SIM free vs unlocked situation, or does it not apply to all iPhones, or what?

Thanks
 
Just resurrecting this thread in case anyone in the UK can confirm re PC World (out of interest) ?
Had a similar experience this week. Bought an iPhone 7 128GB from PC World as they were selling them at £20 less than the price at Apple, it potentially locking to the first sim inserted didn't concern me overly as I'm on a SIM only plan with Three and assumed I would get a free unlock from them.
Anyway after a couple of days i thought I may as well go ahead and request the unlock - filled in the 3 online form but received a response from them stating they couldn't verify the device details to process the unlock. Did lead me to believe that perhaps it hadn't locked to Three ?
Took into a local place that does unlocking - he kindly put in a SIM from another Network and the Network's name was displayed, although I didn't make a phone call to test so wasn't absolutely convinced !
So rang Apple and asked them to confrm - they confirmed it is completely unlocked.
So looks like PC World sell completely unlocked iPhones which do not lock to the first SIM used. Whether this extends to Carphone Warehouse I don't know ?
Anyone ?
 
Globug said:
sim free and unlocked are the same thing. Welcome to 2017.
Click to expand...
Not quite as there are resellers that still have a particular policy applied to their unlocked phones that would make them follow the policies of the first SIM that is used in the device.

Also from hardware point of view, a SIM-free model can be a different one than a particular carrier model that is unlocked but might not have some radios or support some bands that the SIM-free model does.
 
Interesting you bring this up as just yesterday I found out that they are indeed different. Sim free phones from currys and pcworld will lock to the first sim you use. Unlocked phones from Apple and John Lewis will forever remain unlocked.
 
Adapsys said:
Interesting you bring this up as just yesterday I found out that they are indeed different. Sim free phones from currys and pcworld will lock to the first sim you use. Unlocked phones from Apple and John Lewis will forever remain unlocked.
Click to expand...
See post #2 - not all phones from PC World !
 
Mine locked to tesco/o2 when I put the sim in last (2015) Christmas. I had to wait 12 months for tesco to unlock it.
Looks like things have changed.
 
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