Katie Marsal
AT&T began offering eligible customers the ability to unlock their iPhone on Sunday. Customers who were among the first to take advantage told AppleInsider that after dialing 611 to speak with a customer service representative, they were met with a lengthy wait to speak with a technician.
Once that AT&T representative was on the phone, they asked a series of qualifying questions to ensure that the user was eligible for their iPhone to be unlocked.
The unlock process is detailed by AT&T in a PDF document shared by users who request the service. In it, the carrier offers a series of four steps that must be accomplished in order to complete the unlock.
The unlock code actually comes through Apple and is administered through iTunes. AT&T's instructions tell users to open iTunes on their Mac or PC, connect their iPhone via USB, and backup and restore their handset. Restoring the iPhone will unlock it for use on other carriers.
AT&T's instructions also include a link to a support document available on Apple's website. There, users are instructed to reseat the SIM card in their iPhone, restore their handset, or contact their carrier if they experience issues with unlocking via iTunes.
If the authorized unlock is completed successfully, users are met with the message: "Unlock Complete. Congratulations, your iPhone has been unlocked. To set up and sync this iPhone, click Continue."
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75 Comments
Its weird, us Europeans have never ever had to restore our iPhones when unlocking them, and we've been able to unlock them for 4 years.
"If the authorized unlock is completed successfully, users are met with the message: "Unlock Complete. Congratulations, your iPhone has been unlocked. To set up and sync this iPhone, click Continue."
Don't be concerned if you don't get the message. I had my carrier in Europe unlock my iPhone and no message. It's worked great with 3 different services, an OS upgrade and 2 resets set up as new. Needs to be done with the carrier you started with (non issue in the USA).
It was years ago but as I recall, that first sync to unlock is a restore. Any carrier specific settings are checked during sync and modified if needed.
The iTunes restore isn't necessary in most cases. I've had 4 iphones unlocked through Rogers in Canada and after the first I never did the itunes restore. I just popped in a foreign SIM and it worked fine. I think for one of the I had to reboot the phone before it recognized the SIM.
Here in the US, i would have thought a carrier that offers a sim (plan) that can do voice only - no data plan at all would become very popular. I, and several friends have older phones that could be used by other members of their families (kids) and with this plan the phone is no more expensive on a plan than any other phone, and data is only Wifi
Well, I think the resale value of my eligible iPhone 4 has just been considerably enhanced.