Apparently Bell does not unlock any of their iPhones?

[Evolutionian]

So I recently bought a phone from a member here, not goin to state his name yet.
I was over seas during the purchase, and my mistake for not asking my friend to test it with his SIM card, this iPhone4s I bought was supposedly unlocked according to the seller.
But now that I have the phone, it does not allow any other service provider, and there is a Bell SIM card left in the phone.

Now the question is, apparently bell doesn't unlock iphones..?
Is that true?

Also, this phone I bought is on 6.0.1 version which means no jb available yet. When it gets jailbreaked, would I be able to software unlock it?
Thanks!
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[Tim Budong]

if it doesnt accept other sims, then ya its locked, contact the seller

[Evolutionian]

I have private msged him, hopefully he will man up, if not i will have to leave him a negative feedback
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[FerrariEnzo]

Originally Posted by Evolutionian

Now the question is, apparently bell doesn't unlock iphones..?
Is that true?

have you called them? try that if the seller doesnt man up

[Evolutionian]

I will, but done some research apparently bell doesn't do imei unlock.. I don't think it's right is it? For someone to pay the contract for 3 years and to get what? A phone u cannot use? In this case shouldn't we just pay nothing for the phones? Since it becomes completely useless unless u keep signing contracts with bell.
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[c3m]

Actually Bell does unlock iPhone. Bell started the service late November. The catch is you have to be a Bell customer or have someone on Bell to call in customer service. Then the customer service would look up the iPhone to see if it is still under contract. If it is then they won't do the unlock. If it's not then they would charge the account holder $75 to unlock it.

http://mobilesyrup.com/2012/11/26/be...phone-cost-75/

[!MiKrofT]

You could always go and pay a 3rd party provider to get a permanent unlock. They're usually around $50.

[vafanculo]

Did you do a restore after you bought it? Maybe it was unlocked with a jailbreak, and you restored it to factory settings?
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[PJ]

Originally Posted by !MiKrofT

You could always go and pay a 3rd party provider to get a permanent unlock. They're usually around $50.

This was my first reaction.

I hate going through the dealers exactly for the reason OP posted. Technicalities with contracts, legalities, formalities, whatever, whatever.

3rd party providers can bypass everything and just straight up unlock it. Contracts and formalities don't apply to them so they don't care about any of that. Just get some sort of receipt from them when you get the service done, and bring it back to them if there's any problem.

[Evolutionian]

Originally Posted by vafanculo

Did you do a restore after you bought it? Maybe it was unlocked with a jailbreak, and you restored it to factory settings?
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I have just been informed by the seller on revscene here that this phone was from apple.
So this case everything shouldn't be happening, I have another iPhone 4S I bought at apple store when I left for Taiwan and its working properly, but the exact same SIM card does not work with the phone I bought from him.

Yes I did do a restore. But since the seller said its from apple, it shouldn't make a difference.
I have asked him if he can prove its from apple store.

Can anyone help me with unlocking it? I wouldn't mind paypaling u money, it's just very difficult for me to do it since I'm here in Taiwan.
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[theevilslave]

I'd say just get someone to take it to Apple store and check it out. They're actually pretty helpful there.

[insomniac]

Im going to step up now as the seller.

I bought this phone off another guy brand new sealed so I do not have proof of purchase. But i could ensure that the phone is unlocked because I was on rogers before and switched to Bell. My Co worker is on Rogers and even borrowed the phone from me before. But when I sold the phone I was definitely on Bell. Maybe it locked when I updated it from 5.1.1 to ios6?. I'm not sure what happened there and how it suddenly got locked. I think I'm as disappointed as OP if not more because on the day of the sale I said since hes on revscene and he messaged me before the person on craigslist id sell it to him even though the person on craigslist arranged a meetup before OP. Your friend should have tested the phone and I even tethered Internet for him to check if it works cause he doesn't really look over everything. But if anything I'm willing to something about the unlocking fee. Please text me OP.
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[Evolutionian]

This is exactly what I'm getting when I insert the exact same SIM card I have running in my current 4S from apple store
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[Evolutionian]

Originally Posted by insomniac

Im going to step up now as the seller.

I bought this phone off another guy brand new sealed so I do not have proof of purchase. But i could ensure that the phone is unlocked because I was on rogers before and switched to Bell. My Co worker is on Rogers and even borrowed the phone from me before. But when I sold the phone I was definitely on Bell. Maybe it locked when I updated it from 5.1.1 to ios6?. I'm not sure what happened there and how it suddenly got locked. I think I'm as disappointed as OP if not more because on the day of the sale I said since hes on revscene and he messaged me before the person on craigslist id sell it to him even though the person on craigslist arranged a meetup before OP. Your friend should have tested the phone and I even tethered Internet for him to check if it works cause he doesn't really look over everything. But if anything I'm willing to something about the unlocking fee. Please text me OP.
Posted via RS Mobile

Props to u for stepping up man, I wasn't trying to get u in trouble just trying to work things out for my surprise for someone else haha.. And yeah I understand the whole problem with not checking the phone out properly. It's definitely confusing since he's on Rogers as well so it will be working when he tested.

I'm not too sure what exactly happened there.
Check out the image, and see if its for sure locked. If so, I am not asking you to pay for unlocking, if anything I will only ask u to help me go thru the process of unlocking it.
I can PayPal u money, and really would just want to pay $50 hahahha.
I'm no longer with any carrier in van, can you help me make the call?


Consider problem solved, we will contact thru app or pm
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[insomniac]

I don't mind splitting the fees with you.

One question for revscene is that can I call any provider to unlock or do I have to call Bell? Because Bell is $79 and rogers is $50
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[zx7rrrr]

Bell is one of the hardest iphone 4 to unlock.its going to cost you $200 and 3 or more days
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[shenmecar]

How come you guys didn't contact Apple? If it was bought directly from them, they should have a record and should do something about unlocking it for free, since all iPhones should be permanently unlocked if bought from Apple.

https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do

You can enter the serial number of your iphone in the link above to check the warranty and purchase date.

[rk604]

go to apple store so you can check if its unlocked or not. even if the phone is unlocked, it will SOMETIMES show that the carrier is locked. you have to "DFU Restore" it...youtube it and it'll show u

[entrax]

probably a software unlock. why not try cellunlocker? they do factory hardware unlocks and prob cheaper than bell

[!MiKrofT]

Originally Posted by shenmecar

How come you guys didn't contact Apple? If it was bought directly from them, they should have a record and should do something about unlocking it for free, since all iPhones should be permanently unlocked if bought from Apple.

https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do

You can enter the serial number of your iphone in the link above to check the warranty and purchase date.

This is only the case if they didn't activate the phone on contract. It'll switch to locked mode if they sign or renew a contract at the Apple store. This is probably not the case here but just FYI.

[Impreza]

You can get a contract iPhone from apple that is locked to bell, Rogers, or telus. In order for this phone to be unlock by the locked provider, the original contract owner of the phone have to call the provider to unlock. If the seller been on different providers before, it should be unlocked, as there is no software unlock for the 4s unless they used a sim with a sim unlock card with it. I'll see if I can find a link that can show you the stats on the iPhone.

Here is the link, you need to enter info from your iPhone. I don't know if it is safe but what else can they use your info for. http://imei.s-url.ro/
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[Neva]

All the local unlockers we work with at Telus/Koodo won't deal with bell or virgin iPhones.
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[terkan]

hmm pretty sure there's no software unlock for 6.0.1 for iphone 4 4s. and as far as i recall there's no 3rd party unlock available for bell/virgin yet. Virgin (so you can assume bell is the same) started the unlocking service but requires you to purchase the phone off them either at full price or used it for 3yrs, and then pay a fee to get it unlocked. you can't just add a imei to an account and ask them to unlock it. so um right now you are pretty screwed unless there's a jailbreak for the phone soon and something like a gevey sim that works on 6.0

[Impreza]

There are places that can unlock bell and virgin iPhone 4S but it can cost upward of $200 CND.
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[terkan]

for $200 bux you are probably better off ship it back to a friend here and sell it. and then buy another unlocked one to use.