unlocking a UK iPhone for Orange?

[Draeconis]

Recently, I got a spark of interest to get an iPhone, but I am not nor wish to be an O2 customer, so is it possible to buy an iPhone from a Carphone Warehouse or similar store without signing any contract with O2 and then unlock it to work with my Orange PAYG sim?

I have looked around on the forums about various techniques to achieve the unlocking, but its the O2 contract that has me confused mostly, and if my PAYG Orange sim will work in it after I manage to unlock it?

 

[dickovski]

Yes you can. I have had an Orange PAYG sim in my iphone for 6 months now, working well!

I used ziphone to unlock at first but later went down the pawnage route as it sounds like it is more future proof.

 

[Draeconis]

Cool, where did you get the iPhone then? Do they not try and force an O2 contract on you? I guess the Pwnage and other tools bypass the 'Activation' thing I've been reading about that seems inextricably linked with the O2 contract.

 

[dickovski]

Got mine from O2 - paid my money and walked out with it - nothing to sign, took 2 mins. However I think they have sold out of the 1st gen model now unless someone knows any different.

Will probably sell mine when the new one comes out if you're interested, otherwise the only place to get hold of them now will be eBay I guess.

 

[Igantius]

Cool, where did you get the iPhone then? Do they not try and force an O2 contract on you? I guess the Pwnage and other tools bypass the 'Activation' thing I've been reading about that seems inextricably linked with the O2 contract.

Further to what dickovski said, the same thing happens at CW stores. The contract is 'signed' as you activate the phone as you say.

As dickovski also says you'll have a job finding them - the 8GB model is completely sold out and you'll have a job finding the 16GB one (although it's still available from O2 online, it's hard to find in the shops).

 

[jinjac]

Got mine from O2 - paid my money and walked out with it - nothing to sign, took 2 min

i dont think so..
unless you work in o2..
if not you have to get contract

 

[dickovski]

i dont think so..
unless you work in o2..
if not you have to get contract

I'll say it again just so you understand - I have NO contract with O2. I use an Orange PAYG sim card and spend between £10 - £15 per month. I signed no contract with O2 either at the store when i bought the phone or later through iTunes.

I don't work for O2 nor do i know anyone who works there. Maybe other people have had a different experience but this was mine.

 

[Tallest Skil]

Could someone confirm for me the legality of unlocking a cell phone as per U.K. laws? I don't want to misinform someone in the future, and as I live in the U.S., I'm not nearly as well versed in the rules across the Pond.

 

[melanierichards]

please help!!!

I just came from the states with my unlocked/jailbroken 1.1.4 iphone by ziphone and I just purchased a payg from orange. I took out my AT&T sim card and put in the orange sim card and turned on the phone. There is a no service message and I assume I missed a step. Do I need to use one of the apps that say "anysim"? The only thing I worry about is that they all say they are for 1.1.3. What do I do? HELP PLEEEEEASE

 

[polishmacuser]

I just came from the states with my unlocked/jailbroken 1.1.4 iphone by ziphone and I just purchased a payg from orange. I took out my AT&T sim card and put in the orange sim card and turned on the phone. There is a no service message and I assume I missed a step. Do I need to use one of the apps that say "anysim"? The only thing I worry about is that they all say they are for 1.1.3. What do I do? HELP PLEEEEEASE

calm down its ok just use pwnage its the official unlock it works for me and ziphone unlock sucks do to that i have to hacktivate every time i put in a new sim so just pwn it

 

[melanierichards]

thank you thank you

Right now everything is working like a charm. I am using a pay as you go ORANGE sim card which is way cheap even to call the US and Europe. About 10cents a minute! So in case someone asks about what happens once you get to another country I just want to let you know...
So there are a bunch of "anysim" unlock apps in the installer... but its not nessassary to use them and they all say they are from not good sourses. I got really worried because I downloaded the one that didn't have a warning and then all of a sudden my phone said that what I had downloaded was not leagal etc etc... so I un-installed it and figured I would just fly over and see what happens.
When I got to the London Heathrow my phone didn't have any service at all! I was so upset. I thought for sure I had done something to screw it up.... well, the next morning my phone worked fine. (My parranoia was getting the best of me)
The next day I went into all the cell shops and found the best deal. It seems that the CAMEL plan by ORANGE is the best for calling the US, Europe and is about 40cents a minute to call London. They have plans that are cheaper in London but cost more outside the country... but this plan worked best for me. OK. SO, I put the chip in as told... and it didn't work... UGH!!! So I went online and asked every mac/hack thread on the world wide web and each person had a different responce... some said I should download pwnage, some iliberty, some said that ziphone worked for them ... I didn't know what to do... so I went to sleep! The next morning I woke up and ORANGE worked fine. It just took a day to kick in. Basically what I've found is that it takes a day to kick in regardless... so if anyone asks or your are planning to travel yourself... I just wanted to save you the hassle of worrying that that I had...

 

[stuartea]

I've not had much luck with trying to get an original iPhone to work with my Orange payg sim.

Used pwnage to jailbreak/unlock version 2.0.2

Phone all started up fine but "no service"

After looking about I saw some tip to uncheck the "activate phone" in pwanage, and all this got me was a screen in iTunes saying the sim card inserted is not supported and a connect to iTunes logo on the phone. Perhaps there was some step I missed, or something.

Went through the whole process again and read about re-running bootneuter. This had a little success, "no service" became briefly one bar, but then went back to "no service".

It's all quite odd and I've run out of things to try now.

 

[Al.R]

Got mine from O2 - paid my money and walked out with it - nothing to sign, took 2 mins. However I think they have sold out of the 1st gen model now unless someone knows any different.

Will probably sell mine when the new one comes out if you're interested, otherwise the only place to get hold of them now will be eBay I guess.

Hi Dickovski.
How much did you pay? Was the iPhone activated? i am thinking of getting the any-networks SIM card thing, but the phone needs to be activated for it to work. i don't want to jailbreak it.

 

[cristo]

Could someone confirm for me the legality of unlocking a cell phone as per U.K. laws? I don't want to misinform someone in the future, and as I live in the U.S., I'm not nearly as well versed in the rules across the Pond.

No, it's not illegal to unlock a phone in the UK. Of course, to do this you need to buy the phone first, which either means paying extortionate handset only prices, or signing upto a contract with o2 for (normally) a minimum of 18 months.

 

[dickovski]

Hi Dickovski.
How much did you pay? Was the iPhone activated? i am thinking of getting the any-networks SIM card thing, but the phone needs to be activated for it to work. i don't want to jailbreak it.

I have since switched to O2 PAYG as the data charges are sooooo much better - £7.50 per month for unlimited as opposed to £1 per mb on orange (I started racking up quite a bill). Plus no need to unlock and no need to fear updating the software anymore as O2 sims activate in iTunes without any probs.

I'll probably upgrade to the 3G phone though when they bring it out on PAYG on the 16th Sept so I'll probably sell my 2G if anyone's interested

 

[killakaransv]

Pricing...

I'll say it again just so you understand - I have NO contract with O2. I use an Orange PAYG sim card and spend between £10 - £15 per month. I signed no contract with O2 either at the store when i bought the phone or later through iTunes.

I don't work for O2 nor do i know anyone who works there. Maybe other people have had a different experience but this was mine.

How much did you get it for?