Australia iPhone 3G Factory Unlocked??

[jdm.accord]

So I'm about to buy an iPhone 3G from a guy who's australian and purchased the phone over there and had been using it with optus. AT&T told him the phone will work fine here in the states with an AT&T SIM card. I'm interested in using it with t-mo though and I've read conflicting info that these phones are factory unlocked. Can anyone tell me definitively whether or not this is factory unlocked? Aussies help me out!!

[willie498]

To be honest, It's a 50/50 chance. The only iPhone that I myself have ever heard of that was "factory unlocked" was the one that they recently gave away here at ModMyi. Even if it's not unlocked, It still isn't hard at all to unlock. I run my iPhone on T-Mobile no problems at all. Took 10 minutes to do from a 2 year AT&T user to T-Mobile.

Answer- 50/50 chance

[reddawg]

I know that the iPhone 3G and 3GS phones sold in Australia are officially unlocked. Their IMEI numbers are registered in Apples database.

When you activate your iPhone 3G, wherever you are, whatever the SIM, iTunes reconizes the IMEI from the phone, checks where it was send to, and unlocks the phone when the IMEI corresponds to a valid IMEI in Apple's database.

The only thing you need to worry about is whether the seller, I'm assuming from eBay, is selling a legally unlocked iPhone 3G. I would carefully check this seller's ratings and comments from other people who purchased legally unlocked iPhone 3G phones. Good luck.

[nickh]

I know that the iPhone 3G and 3GS phones sold in Australia are officially unlocked. Their IMEI numbers are registered in Apples database.

When you activate your iPhone 3G, wherever you are, whatever the SIM, iTunes reconizes the IMEI from the phone, checks where it was send to, and unlocks the phone when the IMEI corresponds to a valid IMEI in Apple's database.

The only thing you need to worry about is whether the seller, I'm assuming from eBay, is selling a legally unlocked iPhone 3G. I would carefully check this seller's ratings and comments from other people who purchased legally unlocked iPhone 3G phones. Good luck.

They are officially unlocked if you buy them out right from the apple store. You can have them unlocked from the carrier for free if you are out of contract, or you pay a fee $AU80.00 I think Optus charge to unlock & takes 5-10 working days.

[jdm.accord]

I know that the iPhone 3G and 3GS phones sold in Australia are officially unlocked. Their IMEI numbers are registered in Apples database.

When you activate your iPhone 3G, wherever you are, whatever the SIM, iTunes reconizes the IMEI from the phone, checks where it was send to, and unlocks the phone when the IMEI corresponds to a valid IMEI in Apple's database.

The only thing you need to worry about is whether the seller, I'm assuming from eBay, is selling a legally unlocked iPhone 3G. I would carefully check this seller's ratings and comments from other people who purchased legally unlocked iPhone 3G phones. Good luck.

I'm purchasing it locally and the guy is just selling it as an iPhone 3G, not unlocked or anything. He has no clue if its unlocked or not. Its only $160 so I'll flip it and make $$$$ on eBay even if its not unlocked. I've been selling locked 3G 8GB iphones for $310-$340 so I'll make money either way lol. But obviously if its factory unlocked, I'll make a lot more

Since I don't have a T-Mo account, is there any way to tell once I've got the phone if its unlocked? Are there certain letters in the serial number for the unlocked ones?

[WaLLy3K]

Most carriers here in Aus will happily unlock an iPhone. If they're on a contract like me, they'll do it for nothing (At least that's what I did with my Optus phone) and prepaid for a fee.

As for factory unlocks, I'm not too sure about that. To tell if it's unlocked, restore the firmware via iTunes. If it's unlocked, iTunes will display a confirmation screen after the process is complete... or you could you know, just throw in your existing sim card and see how it goes.

[jdm.accord]

Most carriers here in Aus will happily unlock an iPhone. If they're on a contract like me, they'll do it for nothing (At least that's what I did with my Optus phone) and prepaid for a fee.

As for factory unlocks, I'm not too sure about that. To tell if it's unlocked, restore the firmware via iTunes. If it's unlocked, iTunes will display a confirmation screen after the process is complete... or you could you know, just throw in your existing sim card and see how it goes.

Well my existing SIM is AT&T. I have an iPhone 3GS for personal use, just want this 3G to re-sell. Now as far as the restore trick you just mentioned, what is the confirmation screen gonna look like? Is it where the phone won't have the iTunes logo on the screen when there isn't a SIM in there? Kinda like how redsn0w opens the phone up like its already activated?