Using r-cards/dual sim cases to get around locks?

[Josquius]

Hi all.
I've just returned to Britain after living in Japan for a few years.
It turns out though that the evil company I had my phone contract with (softbank) won't in any way play ball with unlocking phones so they can be reused, despite the fact I fully paid for it when I first started my contract and I own it.
Which sucks.
I like my iphone 5, I don't want to switch to android (had one before, wasn't as good) and getting a new iphone seems a bit stupid when I already have one (albeit one I can't really use).
It seems nobody is able to truly unlock my phone (except for some very dubious claims from internet companies/scammers) so I seem to be a bit stuck....
Or am I?
Could there be a way around the lock?

I've read about two different products.

1: a dual sim case. Some sources seem to suggest that this will let me use a locked phone with a British sim. Others suggest it has to be a unlocked phone. I don't really need dual sims as I'm not planning on going abroad any time soon and have no need of multiple numbers. But if it lets me use my phone.....anyone?

2: a r-card. Apparently you can somehow piggy back a sim into your phone with this and it will work?
I'm unsure as to how this works, the poor English on their website confuses me.
Does it actually unlock my phone once and then it works normally with the sim directly inserted or is it something I keep permanently in the phone to make it work with an unauthorised sim?
How does it work?- it messes with the initial boot up checks in some way?
Has anyone tried one?

Any advice on this is welcome.
Particularly if anyone has any experience with a softbank phone. Googling for ways to kill the softbankness is a depressing experience with page after page of forum posts saying it is impossible and scammers offering to do it.

 

[eyoungren]

Ah, yes. Softbank, the Sprint of Japan when it comes to unlocking.

What you are wanting is called a SIM interposer. R-SIMs and Gevey SIMs are SIM interposers. They will allow you to use your iPhone 5 on your carrier (provided your phone supports your carrier's frequencies), but you will never get a true unlock.

Very simply, a SIM interposer works this way. You put your SIM in the interposer and the entire thing in your SIM slot. What the interposer does is perfoms a MITM (Man In the Middle Attack) on your phone. It convinces your phone that it is operating on the native network which then allows your phone to talk to your SIM and be used on the real network you are on.

Interposers tend to be specific to iOS version and iPhone firmware. If you update, you will need to buy a new interposer. It's a hack, not a true unlock, because if you were to pull the interposer out, your phone would still be locked.

So, depending on what type you are looking at you will need to determine if the company offers an interposer for your version of iOS, firmware and model.

There may be other things, but as I have never used one of these I can't really help beyond the basics.

 

[Josquius]

Interesting...
Sadly I've kept rather up to date.
Is there a 7.1.2 interposer? (or a way to downgrade to a os which has one if not?)

 

[eyoungren]

Interesting...
Sadly I've kept rather up to date.
Is there a 7.1.2 interposer? (or a way to downgrade to a os which has one if not?)

I'm sorry, I don't know if there is one or not. I would assume some company somewhere has one, but again, I just know the basics of this.

I can tell you though that downgrading is not an option. It used to be you could do this if you were jailbroken and had all your ducks lined up. That option however, is no longer available.

 

[1rottenapple]

Is your phone a gsm? Cause I for one used a services and paid a premium to unlock my 5s. I did it to use for traveling which was TOTALLY worth it.

 

[eyoungren]

Is your phone a gsm? Cause I for one used a services and paid a premium to unlock my 5s. I did it to use for traveling which was TOTALLY worth it.

I believe Softbank is CDMA, one of the very few in Japan. It may be possible to get an "International" unlock that would unlock the GSM part of the phone, although I don't know where the OP would find a third party unlocker for that. In this case it would be "unlocked" for use in the OP's home country, but still locked to Softbank when in Japan.

 

[1rottenapple]

Oh dang that sucks.

 

[eyoungren]

Oh dang that sucks.

Yeah, this is why there were no technical issues when Masayoshi Son bought Sprint. He's saving on costs because Softbank and Sprint can share equipment and as a larger entity both companies get better prices on equipment as well.

But Softbank is every bit as draconian on unlocking as Sprint is. It's a perfect fit that way.

 

[Josquius]

So I'm looking at these r-sim thingys...
Any ideas which I'll be needing? R-sim mini 2 or r-sim 9 pro?
So many different models of this sim!

 

[theapplefanboyj]

In my opinion, since the iPhone 6 is coming, why don't you use a cheap android, like the Moto g, till the 6 comes, and just use the iPhone as an iPod touch!

 

[Josquius]

Because I don't want an iphone 6. It'll be expensive. I just want to use the one I've got.