Unlocked iPhone doesn't work in UK

[ryadamson]

I recently bought an iPhone 4S and the seller claimed the phone was unlocked but doesn't work in the UK (which is where I stay). So upon receiving the phone I placed an O2 sim card in it and the phone recognised the sim. It had plenty of signal and 3G but then once the phone was registered I lost all signal. Why, if the phone is unlocked, would it not work in the UK? I'm slightly confused here

As a small test I reset all the settings, registered again and this time the signal stayed around so tried phoning it, but to no avail. Then I tried calling from it, but failed once again The signal fell away after that.

At first I thought it might be the antenna but it does receive signal and recognises the network of the sim

 

[dictoresno]

it technically does work. the SIM and network are both properly recognized. looks like there may either be a problem with the network or SIM provisioning. what happens when the SIM is placed into a different phone? have you tried calling O2?

 

[Ann P]

The phone is definitely unlocked because it recognizes the sim. My guess is that maybe the network is restricted. Have you tried testing with another sim card (either a friend's or family member)?

 

[ryadamson]

I've just put another sim in and still no luck. The seller did claim it didn't work in the UK to which I thought was nonsense and could get it to work. Might try calling O2 later but it's quite confusing. Could it be worth replacing the antenna or is that not the issue here?

 

[dictoresno]

why would you buy a phone that the seller clearly stated wont work where you need it to???? that didnt set off red flags?

the phone may be blacklisted. i would call O2 in order to verify this.

 

[Applejuiced]

why would you buy a phone that the seller clearly stated wont work where you need it to???? that didnt set off red flags?

the phone may be blacklisted. i would call O2 in order to verify this.

Bingo.
If the seller told you its unlocked but it wont work in the UK then its obviously blacklisted in the UK and you will not be able to get any service with it there.
Live and learn....

 

[ryadamson]

why would you buy a phone that the seller clearly stated wont work where you need it to???? that didnt set off red flags?

the phone may be blacklisted. i would call O2 in order to verify this.

Yeah, just done an IMEI check and well the outcome was sort of inevitable wasn't it. It has indeed been blocked. Only have myself to blame, thanks for your help guys and sorry for wasting your time!

 

[hafr]

Yeah, just done an IMEI check and well the outcome was sort of inevitable wasn't it. It has indeed been blocked. Only have myself to blame, thanks for your help guys and sorry for wasting your time!

How would one go about to do an IMEI check?

 

[dictoresno]

How would one go about to do an IMEI check?

google it. there are a ton of IMEI checking websites.

 

[yungplayz]

Are there any other possible reasons besides an iPhone being blacklisted? Because I recently ran into American ex-AT&T iPhone 4 not working in Kazakhstan, but it has never even been there before, so it's very doubtful it's blacklisted in Kazakhstan. The mentioned item works just fine with any carrier in my country, Ukraine, though, so it's not a hardware issue as well. Also, iPhone 3Gs worked absolutely normally in Kazakhstan so it's not even a wrong network type/frequency issue. It's all really weird. I'm just curios, what could theoretically be the reason. Practically the issue doesn't bother me, I don't plan on using the phone outside Europe and America, where it works fine, but I'm really curious, what could cause the issue in theory...