You can now unlock your iPhone 4 from O2 and Orange
With a quick chat and an email, reader Xavier managed to get his iPhone 4 unlocked from O2. There’s nothing special about his contract, and he isn’t an O2 employee or anything like that. And it seems that you can get your iPhone 4 unlocked from Orange as well, although reports are it can be a bit torturous. Here’s how it happened.
Confused about unlocking your iPhone?
This one is for jailbreakers only:
If you’re trying to unofficially unlock your iPhone, there are lots of guides around. I’d recommend the unlocking tutorials at iClarified, in particular. But it can be confusing.
I like sites that cut through the cruft, and I’ve just found out about Can I Unlock My iPhone?
It’s up-to-date with current jailbreak and unlock developments, and gives you a simple answer, based on your iOS device and firmware.
If you’re looking for an official unlock from your UK mobile phone network, then I’ve previously written about that (but it needs to updated for iPhone 4).
What are the full iPhone unlocking policies of the UK networks?
I’ve already looked at how to buy the cheapest officially unlocked iPhone in the UK, but what if you already have your iPhone?
If you’ve decided you either can’t or don’t want to use an unofficial unlock, such as ultrasn0w from the iPhone Dev Team, then that leaves you with one option: get it unlocked officially by a mobile network.
So what’s the likelihood of that happening with the UK iPhone carriers? (more…)
How to get the cheapest officially unlocked iPhone in the UK
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.
Vodafone UK iPhone’s are to be sold locked to their network
I received an email from a former colleague of mine today (who knows I’m a thorough iPhone geek!), with a question from a friend of his about getting an iPhone on Vodafone. One of the big appeals of Vodafone for his mate is that they supply phones on Pay Monthly unlocked as standard – no need to go faffing about with unlock codes and the like. Just buy your phone, and get on with using it however you want.
It’s not long to go until Vodafone launch their iPhone offering in the UK on January 14th, and my friend’s mate really wants an iPhone 3GS. So his simple question was: “It’ll be supplied unlocked right?”
Nope.
Extra details on the Tesco Mobile iPhone deal
You’ve probably seen that Tesco have announced the availability and pricing of the iPhone on Tesco Mobile. You’ll be able to pick it up from any Tesco store that sells phones Tesco Stores that contain Phone Shops (there’s a list here) from December 14th. PAYG iPhones are available online from Tesco Phone Shop, and from from Customer Services on 0845 600 4411.
There are a few things that their iPhone page doesn’t mention, such as whether tethering or an unlock will be allowed. I’ve been in touch with the very helpful Jo at Tesco Mobile PR, and here is some info that may swing your decision to chuck an iPhone into the basket with your Christmas turkey.
Unlocking your 3G iPhone with Rebel SimCard
Unlocking a 3G iPhone is hard. The best efforts of the iPhone Dev Team have not yet produced a software unlock, so if you really want an unlocked iPhone, then you have two options:
1) Buy a legally unlocked iPhone from Australia – with a premium of at least £200; or;
2) Use an unlocking SIM card.
The second option is trickier but does mean that you can buy a PAYG iPhone, and use it with whichever carrier you want, without having to pay the unlocking premium.
A little while ago, Solutions Point released the Rebel SimCard, and they sent me a unit to review. Here’s how it went.
