Locked Iphone

[skintboymike]

Right folks, I bought a second hand Iphone 3g a while ago as a cheap way of getting into the smartphone market without getting a contract. It's ex-UK Vodafone contract, and I bought it for use with a German pay-as-you-go sim card. No dramas so far, and I used it happily for several months with no problems. However, I was having problems getting a lot of apps to work on my phone due to the version of Ios I was using (3.1.2) so I connected the phone to Itunes to upgrade it.

Wrong move. It is now stuck on the emergency screen and requires a sim-unlock to continue. Having done a bit of Googling I have found a lot of self-help guides, but many have been found to be scams while others no longer work due to Apple finally cottoning on to them and changing the system gizzards. Apple can help from what I've heard, but they will charge for the privilege. I don't mind paying as a last resort, but would prefer to have a stab myself first.

Has anyone encountered this problem recently, and if so, how did you fix it?

 

[goatrutar]

My advice is to take it in and get it sorted at a phone repairer. Then again I'm hopeless with this sort of thing.

 

[Deleted 20555]

go to the nasty little phone shop around the corner and get it unlocked for £10 - and never upgrade the ios.

 

[Cabana]

My advice is to put it on the floor and stamp on it and smash it, then get yourself on ebay and get a decent smartphone, there are a lot of good ones there for some not so bad prices.

 

[Flash MacTavish]

I second Cabana's motion.

 

[skintboymike]

I was wondering when the anti-Apple crowd would rear up. I'm no fanboy - I actually hate Apple's lack of ports, stubborn reliance on Itunes, etc, but as a standalone phone it does everything I want, and the interface is intuitive, fast and uncluttered. I do like the look of the latest HTCs and Nokias, but I could be posted soon so a contract's out of the question, and standalone units cost a mint. I'll go and ask a cowboy phone shop to have a look for me.

 

[SauceDoctor]

There is a way to do it yourself, but it's a pain in the rectum and ideally you need two computers. I recently unlocked (Orange->o2) for a mate, which involved modified boot images and other *interesting* stuff. I gave it back to her, and she merrily connected it to her Apple SPACK computer, updated the iOS, and we were back to square 1.

Take it to an independent phone shop and pay to get it done, and as Deleted 20555 said, never update the iOS.

Or get a proper phone.

 

[cherryviper]

You have upgraded whilst in Germany? all you need for a sim unlock is a UK vodaphone sim however you will be stuck back on the original carrier. If it is a 3G then what IOS did you update too?

Once working on the vodaphone network you will have two options, take it to a shop and get them to unlock it or jailbreak (sn0wbreeze or redsn0w) and unlock it using ultrasnow (via cydia). There are numerous guides on the internet on how to do this.

 

[viceroy]

You could always ask vodafone to unlock the phone you know. They usually only lock it for two years but the unlock had to be requested, it isn't done automatically.

 

[skintboymike]

You have upgraded whilst in Germany? all you need for a sim unlock is a UK vodaphone sim however you will be stuck back on the original carrier. If it is a 3G then what IOS did you update too?

Once working on the vodaphone network you will have two options, take it to a shop and get them to unlock it or jailbreak (sn0wbreeze or redsn0w) and unlock it using ultrasnow (via cydia). There are numerous guides on the internet on how to do this.

Is it absolutely necessary to involve, Cydia, redsn0w, etc? I have intentions of jailbreaking this thing - I just want it to work.

 

[cherryviper]

You could always ask vodafone to unlock the phone you know. They usually only lock it for two years but the unlock had to be requested, it isn't done automatically.

Yeah you could also try Vodaphone, they will need the phone imei number however so you will need to get into settings to be able to give them this unless you have the original box and the sticker is still on it? I recently got my iphone 4 unlocked by 3 and it cost £15 to do.

 

[cherryviper]

See above post, if you dont want to JB it then ring vodaphone but you will need the IMEI number, if you dont have a UK Voda sim ask around to borrow one from a mate as you will need this to activate the phone via itunes, once activated, go to settings, general, about and scroll down and you will see it, take a note phone voda and within 48 hours they should send you a text saying the phone is unlocked. Connect to itunes insert the new sim and it should say something along the lines of "your phone is now unlocked" hey presto, factory unlocked and update without any further problems.

 

[SauceDoctor]

*#06# on any mobile will show the IMEI on the screen.

 

[cherryviper]

*#06# on any mobile will show the IMEI on the screen.

Would this work if the iphone wasnt activated? I dont know to be honest.

 

[SauceDoctor]

Would this work if the iphone wasnt activated? I dont know to be honest.

As far as I know, yes. It should be hardcoded into the phone's circuitry.