iPhone unlocking on a budget

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

I've recently bought a second-hand iPhone 6 for £55, and upon replacing the cracked and beaten up LCD and back panel, it looks brand new! It does have the notorious "searching" issue, however, so only time will tell how long I can actually use it as a phone for.

Here is my question: I'd like to unlock it from O2, since I'm already in a contract elsewhere. The thing is, looking at O2's help page, I need to use a PAYG SIM for 1 year, topping up £20 before using £15 on an unlocking fee. Not only is the prohibitively awkward and expensive, but there is every opportunity that I could loose cellular function altogether.

I'm a student, so money is very right (that's why I buy second-hand), and I'd also like to use the phone as soon as possible. I believe the previous owner had the phone on contract with O2, but they haven't responded to my requests to help me unlock it.

I understand that unlocking can incur admin costs, but Vodafone and Three, etc, do it for free online. O2 is missing a trick here. Is there any other way I can unlock this phone?

Thank you!

[MI5]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Just to point out the phone needs to be used on O2 for 12 months if it was purchased as Pay & Go if you bought it off someone that had it on contract you can unlock it straight away. Buy a classic sim with £20 credit £15 for the unlocking fee £5 to make some calls so it registers on the network and you are good to go. But all above is only if it was purchased as contract or purchased as Pay & Go more than 12 months ago.

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Yes, that's all in the help guide but iPhones are excluded from the 12 month rule.

[Bambino]

Apart from the unlocking issue, which the OP should have researched before buying the phone, as it's an iPhone 6 they are eventually going to run into the battery problem, if the phone doesn't have it already. I understand that they're trying to live on a student budget, but it's a bit of a false economy trying to buy cheap for a device that isn't really a luxury item any more, but a necessity these days. 

[Cleoriff]

If honest, I am more concerned about the purchase of the phone. If it was bought from a site such as Shpock and the previous owner isn't willing to help get it unlocked, then there is a possibility that it 'could be' an insurance scam.(in which case it may be a barred handset) Of course I could be completely wrong but it is something else to throw into the mix...

[Anonymous]

 My apologies, I believe there has been a few misunderstandings.

I knowingly bought the phone broken - as in with a smashed screen and scuffed-up back. I've bought from this seller many times before, and they describe it as their daughter's old phone. This isn't a scam or a such and I've repaired quite a few iPhones before.

The phone isn't barred or anything, it has a fault. The iPhone 6 baseband chip is notoriously fragile, so if dropped, the solder that holds the chip to the board can become damaged. This means that the phone becomes stuck in the "searching" state, and the IMEI number cannot be retrived - since the CPU cannot communicate with the baseband chip.

The phone was in the above state when I purchased it. However, upon replacing the back metal cover (which involves gutting the entire thing and doing a transplant), the phone stopped "searching" and returned to a working state.

I believe this is down to moving the logic board around, and for this reason, is not a permenant fix. That is why I don't want to spend £20 (a lot of money for something others do free), on something that could be rendered useless, today, tomorrow, next month or next year (depending on when the chip decides to die again).

The seller hasn't refused to help, I just haven't got a reply from my query this morning. Understandably, the seller wouldn't want to faff around with O2 accounts and IMEI numbers for something I paid £55 cash for two weeks ago.

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

O2 will not unlock it for free unless you can get the seller to do it for you, or you get hold of a contract sim to use in the phone.
That's the bottom line and it won't change, regardless of what other networks do.

[Cleoriff]

@AnonymousApologies for the misunderstanding on my part. We see so many people ripped off by third party sellers it was a genuine concern. However, your above explanation clarifies that part of the situation. Thanks :smileywink:...

[Anonymous]

No worries. Thanks to everyone for your help.

[Cleoriff]

Hope you get it sorted @Anonymous