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Unlock iPhone 4 from T-Mobile UK? Help!

T

tljones

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 25, 2013
4
0
I have an Iphone 4 that I bought via ebay, It is locked to the T Mobile UK network.

I want to unlock it as I am now living in NZ

I am not a T Mobile customer so I cannot ask T Mobile to unlock it.

I have been searching the unlocking sites online and cannot find any that are able to do T Mobile UK. Most can do the other UK networks, but not T Mobile

Has anyone else been able to find a way to unlock from T Mobile UK?

any help would be great!?
 
tljones said:
I have an Iphone 4 that I bought via ebay, It is locked to the T Mobile UK network.

I want to unlock it as I am now living in NZ

I am not a T Mobile customer so I cannot ask T Mobile to unlock it.

I have been searching the unlocking sites online and cannot find any that are able to do T Mobile UK. Most can do the other UK networks, but not T Mobile

Has anyone else been able to find a way to unlock from T Mobile UK?

any help would be great!?
Click to expand...

I was in the same situation as you last year but I'm in the US. I sold my AT&T iPhone 4 and bought a tmobile uk iPhone 4 from CL. I tried contacting tmobile uk but I got nowhere so I used EBay instead. I think I paid around $35 or so but it was worth it. I still have that phone and
it's my current travel phone. Try eBay
 
yeah thanks.... I've searched all the sites including that one. They all seem to be offline for t mobile UK.

Guess its just a waiting game.

In the mean time I have ordered a t mobile sim card, and after 3 months they will unlock it for me.

So eventually I will have it sorted...

thanks everyone
 
tljones said:
yeah thanks.... I've searched all the sites including that one. They all seem to be offline for t mobile UK.

Guess its just a waiting game.

In the mean time I have ordered a t mobile sim card, and after 3 months they will unlock it for me.

So eventually I will have it sorted...

thanks everyone
Click to expand...

6 months
 
tljones said:
yeah thanks.... I've searched all the sites including that one. They all seem to be offline for t mobile UK.

Guess its just a waiting game.

In the mean time I have ordered a t mobile sim card, and after 3 months they will unlock it for me.

So eventually I will have it sorted...

thanks everyone
Click to expand...

Did you try contacting the seller? Maybe they can help you out.
 
Get it unlocked at a phone shop or market before you go, they can do it no problem, might cost around £10-£15 but they'll do it.
 
They were unable to unlock it as T Mobile UK were offline.

And they mentioned that it would be around £100+

Every network is different.... o2 is alot cheaper and always available.

So I am trying to bypass the guys on the street and work direct with the unlocking sites. But I can't find one that is currently able to unlock. Its a waiting game

T Mobile UK are VERY difficult
 
It's an iPhone 4 right? You should be able to use one of the jailbreak unlock methods if all else fails.
 
only if he stayed on the original 4.0 iOS firmware, or preserved the 1.59.00 baseband.
 
0dev said:
It's an iPhone 4 right? You should be able to use one of the jailbreak unlock methods if all else fails.
Click to expand...

Nope.
Jailbreaking an iphone doesn't always allow it to be unlocked.
Only baseband 01.59.00 on the iphone 4. Any higher than that you cannot unlock with ultrasnow.
There's also the gevey sim adapter unlock way.
 
Applejuiced said:
Nope.
Jailbreaking an iphone doesn't always allow it to be unlocked.
Only baseband 01.59.00 on the iphone 4. Any higher than that you cannot unlock with ultrasnow.
There's also the gevey sim adapter unlock way.
Click to expand...

I stand corrected. I just assumed that since it's two years old there'd be an unlock for it. Guess Apple's locked it down more.
 
0dev said:
I stand corrected. I just assumed that since it's two years old there'd be an unlock for it. Guess Apple's locked it down more.
Click to expand...

Here in the UK there has never been any legal requirements for our networks to provide an unlock no matter how long you have had the phone. However it has always been legal to unlock them it's just up to the networks to decide if they want to do it or not.
 
hobsgrg said:
Here in the UK there has never been any legal requirements for our networks to provide an unlock no matter how long you have had the phone. However it has always been legal to unlock them it's just up to the networks to decide if they want to do it or not.
Click to expand...

I know, I was talking about a jailbreak unlock.

The problem with the iPhone's network lock is it's all done on Apple's servers whereas with most phones the lock is controlled on the phone itself. And each network can control who gets access to unlock codes for their phones. So it becomes more difficult to get a third party unlock for the iPhone than for pretty much any other smartphone.

Basically, for most phones, if you have a piece of software or a box which has an algorithm for a certain set of phones, you can unlock all of those phones. So a Samsung Galaxy S unlocking box will unlock every single SGS device.

However, with the iPhone there is no software or box, you just have to submit a request to Apple and hope it's accepted, and whether or not it's accepted depends on whether or not the network wants it to be.

So that level of control makes it hard to unlock an iPhone the legit way, and if T-Mobile is using their control to stop third party vendors from issuing unlocks from their devices, and if they won't unlock it themselves, a jailbreak is the only other way, but it seems like only a certain baseband can be unlocked on the iP4. This all puts OP in a sticky situation.

This, ladies and gentleman, is why you should always buy your phones factory unlocked, especially if they're iPhones.
 
Same issue

My cousin bought a I phone 4 from uk by paying full price 200 pound, but it's locked to t mobile and cannot be used in India. Please help :confused:
 
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