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Unlocking an O2 phone to use a different SIM card.

MI5
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Please note: all new O2 devices are sold unlocked, so you just need to test a different SIM in the phone before you request unlocking. If it is indeed locked, then you can follow the rest of this guide.

Note also that since June 2018 it is completely free to unlock any O2 phone at anytime. slight_smile

 

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If you want to use your O2 contract or PAYG phone with a SIM from another network, ie a local SIM when on holiday, you will need to release the network lock.

 

If you have a monthly contract it is free to get your phone unlocked......

 

Any phone can be unlocked (No exceptions).

The easiest way is by using the link found in your MyO2 Unlock (this assumes that it is the current phone you are using is the one you want to unlock)

If you want to unlock a phone you have stopped using, all you need to do is submit this form manual form taking care to enter the correct details. Pay attention in particular to the security question as this is the most common cause of failure.

 

PAYG as above.

 

If you have just purchased a PAYG phone which was previously supplied by O2, insert an O2 Simply PAYG SIM free sim and top up. Make a few calls to register the phone on the network then fill out the form as above manual form

 

Business users can also submit the form for a free unlock.

 

Once the form is submitted it can take upto 28 days to receive the unlock code but it is usually much quicker - Typically within 7 days.

 

You will receive the code with instructions on how to complete the process with your specific handset, but in general, you insert a non O2 SIM card and enter the code when prompted.

For iPhones you will not receive a code. Just replace the O2 sim with one from a different network once you receive notification that it is unlocked.

If the unlock fails first time, try connecting to iTunes to complete the process, but this is not required for every phone.

 

Note: Unlocking the phone does not relieve you of any contractual obligations. You still need to complete your minimum term as agreed.

 

 


Note for iPhones:

If you’ve already requested an unlock for your iPhone but you feel it hasn’t worked, try the following:

1) Insert a non-O2 SIM in the phone

2) Connect to Wi-Fi

3) Go to Settings > General > About, and enter your Apple ID and password, and you should be good to go.

If it’s still not working, please contact customer services on 202 or 4445 or post on the community so we can escalate the issue for you.


 

 

28 Comments
summne01
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Been trying to unlock my Mums O2 iPhone7 plus for weeks so she can give it to her grandson. She's forgotten her online secret work and can't submit letters from it. They've refused to help. I've tried Unlocking an O2 mobile to use on a different network | Help & Support | O2 but the page responds "oops, something went wrong - we've got our best technicians on it." I've raised a complaint. It's 4 weeks since and I've got to wait another 4 weeks before I can raise the complaint to the Ombudsman. It's an 8 year old iPhone ***. Jesus - the red tape and officious nature of this industry is astonishing.

gmarkj
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Is there no-one else with an o2 phone that could use it for a couple of days @summne01 and then request the unlock?

iPhoneuser-2000
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A manual form is insane - I need to be able to use the phone now, because my current phone isn't working and needs to be serviced. Also, I don't have an alternate phone number to put on the form. 

frogzelda
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Hi,

 

I received an email from 'O2referrals@o2mail.co.uk' after successfully submitting an 'unlock' request for an iPhone 6s, handed to me by a relative, that had been lying in a draw for several years. They confirmed that it was on O2 from day one. The phone is SIM locked.

 

The message was as follows: (I have removed pertinent information for obvious reasons).

 

"Dear Mark AXXXXXX Thank you for your unlatching request for IMEI
3XXXXXXXXXXXXXX. The mobile number that you provided is 07XXXXXXXXX.I'm
sorry, we have not been able to unlatch your device at this time. The
reason given is: The IMEI - 3XXXXXXXXXXXXXX has not been used on our
network with the MPN provided, so it will not be possible to unlatch
it.Thank you, UXXXXX"

 

I purchased an O2 PAYG SIM and have activated it, created an O2 account, added the supplied telephone number to the account, and used the phone for a bit sending / receiving texts and calls, then used the 'Unlock' option (which accepted the inputs) so can anyone please throw some light on how to get this phone unlocked?

 

I have trawled through these forum pages, and can see that many other people seem to be having difficulties, going back over the years, with getting phones unlocked from O2.

 

I have seen contradictory information elsewhere about how this should be done and I find that the information regarding this on the O2 web site itself very vague to say the least.

 

In contrast, I recently got an old iPhone 4 unlocked from what was originally 'Orange' via the 'EE' website in literally two minutes by submitting the IMEI number into their checker and Wham!, it was sorted.

 

Any advice on getting this resolved will be much appreciated.

 

 

 

 

Cleoriff
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@frogzelda 

Since requesting the unlock via your new account, have you tried a different sim in the phone?

If the answer is yes and it's still locked then I would give up on O2!

Personally, I would now take the phone to any generic mobile phone shop or market stall and ask them to unlock it.

It's not ideal but as O2 are failing to sort it, then this is the only option left.

Best of luck.

frogzelda
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@Cleoriff Thanks for the quick response.

 

Just tried my 'Three' SIM, no joy.

 

In fact, much to my surprise the iPhone popped up a message saying 'Activation needed....' (something like that) and then went into what looked like when you have erased the phone for a new user mode..

 

When I ejected the sim and put the O2 one back it was all back as it was. I have never seen that before.

 

Anyway, I forgot to mention in my original post that an 'IfreeIcloud' carrier report did say that it was "Locked Carrier: UK O2 Tesco".

 

Does that mean that I need to contact Tesco Mobil?

 

Also, what worries me about taking it to a shop to get it unlocked, won't they just jailbreak it?  And then next restore / erase it will be back to being locked as I understand.

 

One things for sure, no matter what the outcome of this, I will be avoiding O2 in future.

Cleoriff
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@frogzelda 

Try Tesco Mobile. I've googled and come up with this link:

https://www.tescomobile.com/help/device-help/unlock-your-phone/unlock-your-tesco-mobile-phone 

Let us know how you get on. 😉

frogzelda
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@Cleoriff Thanks again.

 

I've just submitted a request via the above link and its accepted it. It says it might take seven days for a response, so I will keep you posted.

 

One thing during the process that presented as a red flag to me was that I had to confirm that I had made a call on the phone. I obviously ticked the box to be able to proceed, but I think it will be looking for some sort of registration on their network. Does that mean I'm now going to have to get a Tesco Mobile sim card of some sort?

 

This could end up far from being 'free' to unlock a phone which if I understand correctly, should be, and more to the point is a legal duty of the relevant network carrier to action in the first place.

 

We'll see what happens.

 

It seems to me that it is always assumed that the phone you are trying to unlock is currently being used on the carriers network. It is as if there is no (clear anyway) procedure for situations like mine, which are not uncommon, where a phone that has been acquired has long since been out of service, but still locked to some carrier somewhere.

 

Just reading through this forum supports this observation.

 

Thanks again for your help.

Cleoriff
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@frogzelda 

All carriers now sell unlocked phones. O2 stopped locking phones in 2018, although it was the year after that when new iPhones were sold unlocked on O2. (I suppose that was Apple being a bit 'precious') Of course, if bought direct from Apple OR Samsung etc, their phones were never locked to any network.

Re your phone, I did notice Tesco say it will take up to 7 days.

I do hope it works out for you.

Re your other query about it being unlocked by a market stall or generic mobile phone shop ( new ones are opening up at a rate of knots where I live!) I know in the 'bad old days' they would lock again if you tried a 2nd network but I don't think that happens now. My youngest bought a second hand phone 2 years ago and had it unlocked at a market stall. He went with O2 but after a year could get a better deal with EE and had no issues at all. The phone remained unlocked.

Also, I suppose consideration is given to the 'lifespan' of any phone nowadays.

frogzelda
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@Cleoriff Yes, I did notice that Tesco say it could take seven days. Thanks for the good luck mention!

 

If all else fails, I'll give the market stall approach a go.

 

I agree, like in this case, being an iPhone 6s its effectively classed as obsolete, but its the principle of the whole thing that annoys me. I know plenty of people that are still happy using these (and Android) old phones.

 

These carriers are happy to have raked in the money when phones were locked to their networks, but seem to have a 'can't be bothered' approach when it comes to doing the right thing "Ah, its our time and effort, we won't make any money out of this, lets not bother..."

 

As I mentioned, I got an old iPhone 4 unlocked from EE (was on Orange) in two minutes on the Web, no hassle, done.

 

The trouble is, you can't really ever get to talk to a 'real' person about anything in this day and age, what with AI and Bots etc.

 

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to come back with your responses. As I say I will report back the final outcome, whatever it is!

Cleoriff
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@frogzelda 

Look forward to hearing from you again with (hopefully) good news xx

frogzelda
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@Cleoriff Hi,

 

Guess what?

 

I decided to submit another unlock request to O2 in exactly the same way, ie via the 'unlock' option within 'My O2', and shortly after got the following reply:

 

"This is the Msg Body** THIS IS AN AUTOMATED MESSAGE **Hi,Your iPhone
unlatching request for IMEI 3XXXXXXXXXXXXXX has been completed. Hi, it's
O2. We've unlatched your iPhone as requested. You can now use a non-O2
sim in your phone if you wish.Thank you, UXXXXX."

 

And Hey Presto! it is now unlocked.

 

I don't know what an earth is going on, but I am glad that it is now resolved. I did reply to the original email they sent, the one that I pasted into my earlier posts, saying politely, but strongly that they are duty bound to unlock when requested, but I honestly don't think that would have made any difference - but who knows.

 

Nothing is ever straight forward it would seem with technology...

 

What a farce this whole thing is, but anyway once again thanks for all your support along the way!!

 

 

 

Cleoriff
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@frogzelda 

What really excellent news. I'm delighted for you even though it's been more than stressful!!

Thankfully it's now sorted. Good job!

dk651
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Help. I have an old iPhone 7 Plus I am giving my daughter. I’m on 02 but I want to put an EE SIM card in as 02 service not great where we are. I’ve rung 02 3 times now over past 2 weeks and get told something different each time. I’ve given them the IMEI number to unlock and they say 72 hours and then nothing happens. Last time they said it was a week as they had to speak to Apple. This is mad. I don’t know what to do. 

dk651
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Help. I have an old iPhone 7 Plus I am giving my daughter. I’m on 02 but I want to put an EE SIM card in as 02 service not great where we are. I’ve rung 02 3 times now over past 2 weeks and get told something different each time. I’ve given them the IMEI number to unlock and they say 72 hours and then nothing happens. Last time they said it was a week as they had to speak to Apple. This is mad. I don’t know what to do. 

MI5
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@dk651 

Nothing we can do here, sorry.

Diegoxeleven
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I live in Italy and I bought a locked O2 iPhone 3GS on eBay. I bought an O2 simcard to access the My O2 web page to request an unlock with the IMEI code. I received an email confirming the unlock but if I insert a non-O2 simcard it doesn't work. I think I won't be able to unlock it because I'm in Italy

MI5
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@Diegoxeleven 

iPhones are unlocked on Apple's servers, so it makes no difference where in the world you are.

Note for iPhones:

If you’ve already requested an unlock for your iPhone but you feel it hasn’t worked, try the following:

1) Insert a non-O2 SIM in the phone

2) Connect to Wi-Fi

3) Go to Settings > General > About, and enter your Apple ID and password, and you should be good to go.

4) Connect to iTunes on your PC or Mac.

Diegoxeleven
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@MI5 

Note for iPhones:

If you’ve already requested an unlock for your iPhone but you feel it hasn’t worked, try the following:

1) Insert a non-O2 SIM in the phone -> done

2) Connect to Wi-Fi -> done

3) Go to Settings > General > About, and enter your Apple ID and password, and you should be good to go. -> iOS 4.3.5 you can do this

4) Connect to iTunes on your PC or Mac. -> done but there hasn't been iTunes on the Macbook for several years...

 

iTunes die in 2019

MI5
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I still have it on my PC.

Try DFU and reinstall firmware if it still works for something that old?

Diegoxeleven
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@MI5 

 

I find a pc and I install iTunes, after connect the iPhone I do the activation process and.... IT WORK

great thank you for all

MI5
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You're welcome.

Maserto07
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Hi, I have an old Android phone that was bought almost 10 years ago. It still looks locked to O2 and customer service refuses to help saying that it was bought from a third party. How can I get it unlocked?

pgn
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@Maserto07 -

Read the Guide: Unlocking an O2 phone to use a different SIM card guide again: "Any phone can be unlocked (No exceptions)." - and contact O2 via Social Media on either Instagram or Facebook (only!) for on-line support: https://www.o2.co.uk/abouto2/social-media

Maserto07
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Thanks for your reply @pgn . I've already checked that post but the links are broken for the manual form. I'll try social media but I think it shouldn't be that hard even if it's a very old process.

pgn
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Maserto07
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Instagram support was much better then the support I got from the O2 app. They took my details and sent the code within half an hour, the phone is unlocked now. Thanks again @pgn 

pgn
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Great to hear, @Maserto07 - some of the guides here could do with a refresh since O2 changed over to a new back-end system 18months back, and now MyO2 is being redesigned... Both App and web version 🙄