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Surely not?

You're not tied into any contract with O2, they merely supply a SIM card you top up as and when you please.

I bought my iPhone 3G from Apple at full price, my outlay was with them, and I have zero commitment or contract with O2.

According to the O2 bloke in the Times interview he says customers will need to honour their existing contract ... PAYG customers have no contract.

So hopefully this means we too can move freely.

I was just passing on something that was taken from the O2 forums. Please don't shoot the messenger. ;)

O2 said:
We can only give you the code if you've been on our network for at least a year. That's because we covered part of the price of your phone when you bought it, to make it cheaper for you.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/8707481/
 
So what happens when, like me, you bought a 3G on contract and then upgraded to a PAYGO 3GS.....

My wife now has my 3G (with her SIMplicity account) and I the 3GS (with my 3G SIM and contract).... which one will they unlock and when?

How do they know how long my wife has been with O2 as she kept her original O2 SIMplicity SIM when she starting using the 3G.......

Confusion!!
 
Surely not?

You're not tied into any contract with O2, they merely supply a SIM card you top up as and when you please.

I bought my iPhone 3G from Apple at full price, my outlay was with them, and I have zero commitment or contract with O2.


In fact you do have a contract with O2 - there are terms and conditions on their web site for P&G. However having skimmed through them, the good news is that there are no terms which require you to remain with them for any period of time.

i haven't seem the terms and conditions that would be applicable when you bought the kit from Apple, but given that at the time they had an exclusive with O2, it probably says that you have to use O2. However once that exclusivity expires on 10/11, then that will probably be out the window.

You could always email them and ask :)

If I was a betting man, I would probably say that P&G will be able to unlock.

Alex
 
So what happens when, like me, you bought a 3G on contract and then upgraded to a PAYGO 3GS.....

My wife now has my 3G (with her SIMplicity account) and I the 3GS (with my 3G SIM and contract).... which one will they unlock and when?

How do they know how long my wife has been with O2 as she kept her original O2 SIMplicity SIM when she starting using the 3G.......

Confusion!!

Total :D:D
 
So what happens when, like me, you bought a 3G on contract and then upgraded to a PAYGO 3GS.....

My wife now has my 3G (with her SIMplicity account) and I the 3GS (with my 3G SIM and contract).... which one will they unlock and when?

How do they know how long my wife has been with O2 as she kept her original O2 SIMplicity SIM when she starting using the 3G.......

Confusion!!

I presume it will just use the IMEI of the iPhone that was originally activated when you signed up for your contract. You'll probably have to put your SIM into your wife's phone for a while before it's unlocked.
 
I presume it will just use the IMEI of the iPhone that was originally activated when you signed up for your contract. You'll probably have to put your SIM into your wife's phone for a while before it's unlocked.

As i have never used anything but my 3G contract sim in the 3GS then how do you suppose they will know how long i have had it... obviously the most would be from when it was released til now!
 
As i have never used anything but my 3G contract sim in the 3GS then how do you suppose they will know how long i have had it... obviously the most would be from when it was released til now!

You had to activate the phone with iTunes when you first bought it so they will probably use that.

Did you know that Apple keeps a register of all the legally unlocked iPhones. Every time you update (or restore) the iPhone OS through iTunes, it gives a message telling you your phone is now unlocked.

official_iphone_3g_unlock.png


How the official unlock works.

"To unlock an iPhone you need the NCK which is a unique 15 digit key. Those keys for unlocking are sitting on Apples servers and send to the iPhone via iTunes while the iPhone is connected to the Mac/PC.
Each iPhone has a unique HWID, NORID, CHIPID, (id's embedded in the iPhone hardware/chips and unique to each phone), the NCK is only working with the one iPhone where the above are matching. The NCK does not unlock any other iPhone.
Trying to bruteforce the NCK would take years even on high-end computers (NCK Brute Force - The iPhone Wiki).
Trying to guess the NCK is limited as well, After 5 or so unsuccessful attempts, the iPhone becomes permanently locked to the carrier - unless you're feeling really, really lucky, I wouldn't try it.
Apple has HWID, NORID, CHIPID... of all iPhones sold in countries, where the iPhone has to be sold unlocked. So once a phone of those is connected via iTunes, the apple servers check HWID, NORID, CHIPID and compare it to their database. If the matching iPhone is marked "factory unlocked" the Apple servers send the unique NCK for this iPhone."
 
Yay! I've had mine unlocked 90% of the time I've owned it, but it'll be nice to make it official :D

Only problem now'll probably be that the O2 website'll kick me out for not being in the UK.
 
Currently an O2 payandgo customer after havign an iPhone in the US and Australia I can happily say that they are total pants and the worst serive provider for iPhones I have some accross. Nothing but problems. Can't wait till I can be rid fo them
 
So what happens when, like me, you bought a 3G on contract and then upgraded to a PAYGO 3GS.....

My wife now has my 3G (with her SIMplicity account) and I the 3GS (with my 3G SIM and contract).... which one will they unlock and when?

I am in the exact same situation (well girlfriend, not wife). I'm reasonably happy on O2. I think the girlfriend would be happier back on Orange. So I hope they unlock the 3G...
 
In fact you do have a contract with O2 - there are terms and conditions on their web site for P&G. However having skimmed through them, the good news is that there are no terms which require you to remain with them for any period of time.

i haven't seem the terms and conditions that would be applicable when you bought the kit from Apple, but given that at the time they had an exclusive with O2, it probably says that you have to use O2. However once that exclusivity expires on 10/11, then that will probably be out the window.

You could always email them and ask :)

If I was a betting man, I would probably say that P&G will be able to unlock.

Alex

I'm hoping that you are right. I've only ever bought iPhones on PAYG so hopefully they will all be unlockable.
 
This means I can use *any* SIM? So I don't have to care about these daft Orange deals and can move to a SIM-only '3' deal which will doubtless be very cheap and means my phone will work in my own house? Brilliant :) Roll on the end of contract!
 
Just a note, based on experience in NZ: I suspect that if you swap SIMs, you'll lose tethering support.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_5_7; en-us) AppleWebKit/531.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.3 Safari/531.9)

oh my god, this is amazing
signature_smiley.jpg
 
I bought my iPhone 3G from Apple at full price

That's not strictly true. What you bought was a PAYG iPhone...not a SIM free iPhone, or a factory unlocked iPhone.

PAYG phones are still subsidised phones...just less so than contract phones.
 
Is this 'true' unlock, can I then use it anywhere in world, or will it just change the lock from O2 to Orange, then I'll still be locked to using it in UK.
 
Like a lot of folks, my iP3G sub with 02 expires in January.

I've been on Vodafone for personal/business for years so obviously want to consolidate everything back with them. Oh and my new employer has a global Vodafone contract so again, I'm waving arriverderci to O2 asap (Voda will be offering a 'simplicity'-like tariff or else I'll just use my employer's SIM - and wait for the next gen handset in the summer).

Anyway I called them to see (since Orange have now launched, Voda in Jan) if they're giving out the NCK. "Not at this time" I was told. Guess that means the 10th as per this thread and the O2 URL posted.

But what I'm not getting from Key's comments and needs clarifying, is if you can still unlock your iPhone NOW (i.e. before Jan contract ends)? As he says, obviously you still have to honour your contract (till Jan) but that has nothing physically to do if you have your O2 SIM in there or not. Anyone shed some light on this? Will there be carte blanche unlocking next week or is it just carrier updates and Orange switches only at this time?
 
Is it likely that O2 will be able to unlock an iPhone purchased in another country but is registered with O2 for use on their network? :confused:
 
From the conversations i have exchanged with O2, the unlocks will be available for all people who are currently with o2 and who are out of contract. Whether they will allow you to pay off your contract and then unlock you - I cant see that they would worry as they would be getting money for nothing.

Again my understanding, from the instructions supplied, is that it is not simply a switch from one locked network to another, and that you will be able to use anyones SIM card, once the unlock has happened

Given that you have to apply to o2, and at sometime in the following 14 days you will get a text saying that you phone is unlocked. You then insert a non O2 SIM and log onto Itunes. You then get a message stating that your phone is unlocked.

Given the delay between application and action, i cant see how it can be simply a switch to Orange - how would anyone know which SIM card you had put into the phone?
 
From the conversations i have exchanged with O2, the unlocks will be available for all people who are currently with o2 and who are out of contract. Whether they will allow you to pay off your contract and then unlock you - I cant see that they would worry as they would be getting money for nothing.
Yes like any contract, you can buy it out (I was quoted £100-something to cover the last three months till Jan), but that's for when you want to switch NOW; i.e. a PAC code.

This unlock (NKC code) is different - just means you'll be able to use a non-O2 SIM in your iPhone. As Key's said, you will still have to honour your O2 contract (paying off now or keeping until Jan), but as I said that is a legal/financial obligation nothing to do with unlocking the phone per se. So I don't see why O2 would only unlock customers "out of contract" if they so requested. I for one want to have my iPhone unlocked NOW, yet of course I am still going to pay for the last 3 months of my contract. I don't see the need for the distinction or indeed the restriction.
 
Wonder if they'd unlock my 1st gen phone that's currently sitting in a drawer with no SIM in it? Or would I need to get a PAYG SIM and put that into it to get them to unlock it?
 
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