I’ve already written articles about getting the cheapest iPhone on O2, Orange and Tesco Mobile. But all these operators sell their iPhones locked to their individual networks. What if you want more freedom than that? What if you want to use two different SIMs, or simply want to switch to local network when you’re abroad?
You could pay an eye-watering amount buying an officially unlocked one imported on the grey market from Play.com. The 16GB iPhone 3GS will cost you £715.99 (with free delivery!). Or, you could take your chances and buy an iPhone from eBay. I just watched an auction end for an unlocked iPhone; a 16GB 3GS went for £470 plus £6.99 postage – saving £239 on Play.com’s price. Not bad. However, the seller said he had “opened the box to unlock”, indicating that it’s probably unofficially unlocked using the iPhone Dev Team’s fine work on their ultrasn0w unlocking software. So that means you’ll have to update your iPhone using a jailbreak tool and custom firmware everytime – or to put that jargon-free – no easy software updates from iTunes.
So here’s an easier and cheaper option to buy an officially unlocked iPhone in the UK.
Buy it from O2
WHAT? You’re joking, right?
Nope. Thanks to a tweet from Ross McManus, I found out that O2 have changed their policy on unlocking Pay As You Go iPhones. You now don’t have to wait 12 months to request an unlock – O2 will activate your iPhone for unlocking within 14 days.
You’ll have to activate an O2 PAYG SIM with your new iPhone, and pay £15 to get it unlocked, but you can keep extra expenditure on top of the iPhone purchase cost to a minimum by following the instructions below.
Here’s how you do it
- Buy an iPhone from an O2 Store or online or by phone
- Buy £15 worth of top-up, and activate your PAYG SIM – BUT DON’T SPEND ANYTHING ON IT!
- Request an unlock from O2 here: http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/unlockmyiphone.html
- Ask that that they use the £15 balance on your O2 PAYG SIM for the unlock fee (sneaky…)
- Mutter impatiently for up to 14 days
- Get the text from O2 confirming you can unlock
- Connect to iTunes and your iPhone will be unlocked!
And that’s it! One unlocked iPhone, yours to use on any network!
Technical side note: iPhone unlocking works differently to other phone unlocks. Apple holds a database of IMEIs of iPhones that are eligible to be unlocked. So: O2 requests Apple to add your IMEI to the database, sends you a text effectively confirming that they’ve done that, and then when you connect to iTunes, Apple activates the unlock.
So the total cost is…?
At current O2 prices:
- 8GB iPhone 3G – £349 to buy + £15 top-up = £364
- 16GB iPhone 3GS – £449 to buy + £15 top-up = £464
- 32GB iPhone 3GS – £549 to buy + £15 top-up = £564
Savings vs Play.com’s grey market iPhones:
- 8GB iPhone 3G – £459.99 to buy from Play = £95.99 saved
- 16GB iPhone 3GS – £719.99 to buy from Play = £251.99 saved
- 32GB iPhone 3GS – £819.99 to buy from Play = £255.99 saved
Any drawbacks?
The only negative point is this – if you choose to unlock and continue using your O2 PAYG iPhone SIM, they will remove the bundled 12 months of unlimited Web and Wifi usage. But that’s not a problem if you’re planning on using an operator other than O2.
Conclusion
Rather than buying an unofficially unlocked iPhone from an eBay seller, you can now buy one direct from an official provider, officially unlock (thereby enjoying easy software updates through iTunes), and use whichever mobile network you like. And, compared to paying for a grey market import from Play.com, you’ll save money!
Happy New Year!
Yeah but you’re still locked into your O2 contract at a minimum £45 per month so whatever network you unlock to use you still need to factor in the O2 cost
No you’re not. This is a Pay As You Go iPhone, not Pay Monthly. Once you’ve unlocked you can use any network
IMO until the networks (or Apple?) activate ALL of the iPhones functions as standard (VV etc) on unlocked iPhones then it just isn’t worth it.
I really honestly don’t know why some things are “turned off” if you’re not on a pay monthly tariff :-/
O2 have been unlocking since Orange started selling the iPhone.
I agree that it’s a bit stupid that you have to be on an “iPhone tariff” to get certain features. VV has to enabled by the network though, but if you really want it you’ll have to pony up for an iPhone tariff or use something like Hullomail.
great report matt! Thanks for taking the time to share the good and bad points..
the handset prices have all stayed static, their are no january sales for apple products, so i think its time to relieve o2 of another 16gb iphone..
On a contract with a 3GS but near the end so decided to un-lock. Filled form in on Sunday and got text message back on Monday afternoon telling me to insert new sim and sync with iTunes. Done and now able to use any service providers sim when my contract expires. Easy!!
Wow that was quick! Have you decided on a new service provider?
Matt
Yes, I was impressed with the speed! Maybe it was because I am a 16 month subscriber and they want me to be happy to stay with O2. I might just get myself a pay monthly sim and try another provider but haven’t decided yet!
Cheers.
What about if you buy an iPhone from eBay. Can I still buy a Pay and Go sim, top it up to £15 and fill out a request? Is it that simple or is there a catch that I’m over looking?
That won’t work, unless it’s an O2 iPhone. O2 will only unlock their own iPhones.
But the iPhone is an O2 iPhone (it came with the O2 sim in it)?!
As I said, if it’s an O2 iPhone, they will probably unlock it. I don’t know – give it a whirl.
Yeah. Suppose I’ll just have to bite the bullet and see what happens. I read somewhere about needing to make a couple of calls, on the ‘Pay and Go’ SIM, which I suppose will get round the Security Question about Frequent Numbers!
I’ll give it a go and let you know how it goes.
Good luck!
Thanx Matt you fantabulous!!! one thing i wanna ask is “how much will it cost for wifi and unlimited-web on pay-go”
Well that all depends on your network Chester. The cheapest way to do it is buy a PAYG SIM off eBay with 12 months of web n wifi on it.
UK people must be happy after reading this review. Thanks
Sinthya
At the whole according to me Tesco is providing the cheapest prices for the iPhone deals. If one is not happy with that then best option is to stick with O2.
Just wanted to say a big thank you Matt for the info on his website, and can confirm that this does work!!
I bought a brand new O2 locked 16gb iPhone 3GS from eBay, bought a pay and go top up card with 20 quid credit, with unlimited texts & internet, and promptly filled in the unlock form on the O2 website. Waited 14 days, made some calls and amused myself by browsing the internet and downloading silly apps. After 14 days and no text from O2 I decided to re-submit the form anyway and then give customer care a call. After numerous calls (after being cut off several times, then having to redial and sit in a queue for 20 mins!!) I finally managed to find out that they had indeed taken the £15 from my credit and that they were escalating my case. The advisor added that I should receive a text in the next 4 working days. That evening I got a text saying “Sorry we cannot unlock your iPhone”. After spending 5 minutes being slightly miffed, I received two texts in a row saying that my iPhone was now successfully unlocked!! Weird but I’m happy!
I’m now happily enjoying my iPhone on Vodafone for 20 quid a month rolling contract. My advice is to give O2 a ring if you don’t hear anything after 14 days. Happy days!
You’re welcome – I’m glad it helped!