iPhone 5 unlock help. Worst luck ever?

Malibubass · Nov 27, 2012

Alright so I bought an iPhone 5 off Craigslist a few days ago. Seemed legit and I checks if it was blacklisted. I unlocked it and I was using it on tmobile for about a day but then yesterday I got the "no service" text up on the top left. I turned my phone off then on I restored it I tried everything. I haven't checked but I have a feeling it got black listed after the fact that I unlocked it? How can I fix this ?

scifan57 · Nov 27, 2012

Malibubass said:
Alright so I bought an iPhone 5 off Craigslist a few days ago. Seemed legit and I checks if it was blacklisted. I unlocked it and I was using it on tmobile for about a day but then yesterday I got the "no service" text up on the top left. I turned my phone off then on I restored it I tried everything. I haven't checked but I have a feeling it got black listed after the fact that I unlocked it? How can I fix this ?

You can't fix this problem yourself. You're going to have to contact the person who sold you the phone and ask him why it was blacklisted after he sold it to you. If he was the legitimate owner of the phone he sold you, he can get it unblocked.
It could have been blocked for any number if reasons, from non-payment of a phone bill to being reported stolen.

RichS · Nov 28, 2012

out of interest where did you unlock your iphone 5?
i have Orange Uk iphone 5 and cant find anywhere to unlock it

chantelle310 · Nov 28, 2012

RichS said:
out of interest where did you unlock your iphone 5?
i have Orange Uk iphone 5 and cant find anywhere to unlock it

Call orange and ask them to unlock it. It's will cost you maybe £20-£25 and can take up to a few weeks to become unlocked.

RichS · Nov 28, 2012

Yeah you have to wait 3 months till you can unlock.
I was lookong for a quick unlock.

chantelle310 · Nov 28, 2012

RichS said:
Yeah you have to wait 3 months till you can unlock.
I was lookong for a quick unlock.

Not sure if things have changed with the iPhone 5 but when I bought my 4 it took them about a month in total to fully unlock my device.

willerz2 · Nov 28, 2012

Check the IMEI and see if it's blocked. If it's blocked, then that means the person either stole the device, or abused the insurance and claimed a new one.

Malibubass · Nov 28, 2012

scifan57 said:
You can't fix this problem yourself. You're going to have to contact the person who sold you the phone and ask him why it was blacklisted after he sold it to you. If he was the legitimate owner of the phone he sold you, he can get it unblocked.
It could have been blocked for any number if reasons, from non-payment of a phone bill to being reported stolen.

Yeah the phone was not blacklisted. I took it to apple and they switched the phone out for me. I didnt go personally since i had work but my sister said the guy at the store told her she could not connect it to iTunes at all? thats crazy and i want to know if its true?

Malibubass · Nov 28, 2012

I used a factory unlock service off of ebay. Not sure how it works in the UK. it got done in less than 8 hours for me.

kingnba6 · Nov 29, 2012

for the unlock time questions; when i unlocked my iphone 4s, it took me i think at most 10 minutes after i called up AT&T. i havent done the iphone 5 yet because i dont need to it.

i beleive that you can use a blacklisted phone, but you cant start a new plan with one.

willerz2 · Nov 29, 2012

Nope. The only time you can use a blacklisted phone is with backdoor access to the whitelist or you get the original owner to lift the IMEI blacklist. If the owner did indeed steal or take advantage of the warranty for the iPhone, he won't revoke the blacklist request. And the backdoor method is illegal. My suggestion is to turn the iPhone in and report it as a stolen device that was being sold. Some Apple stores will reimburse you with a bit of money for being honest. Either way the phone will be useless anyways