[notaslyguy]

Greetings All,
This is my very first post on this forum and was hoping to get some useful input. I recently bought a 3G 16gb iphone off ebay. When I received the unit, it was apparent it was previously owned and locked. So, i went ahead and performed a full restore with the latest firmware via ITUNES. I got it completely wiped out and is still locked up somehow. So i call ATT, and they tell me the previous owner must have lost this particular unit and is basically blocked by the network, unless i can show proof the unit was paid in the FULL RETAIL PRICE(no exceptions, not even a 2 year agreement price could help me). I tried ziphone and pwnage tool, both failed to unlock or do any mods to my iphone. Any suggestions??

Kind Regards

[confucious]

If your IMEI is blocked the phone is useless. Claim your money back through PayPal and report the seller.

[cpjr]

Ive never even heard of ATT doing this with an iphone.

You can however unlock it and use with another carrier if thats the case, using "Redsn0w" to unlock.

But Im with confucious.....If thats the case I would persue the seller.

[confucious]

I've never heard of in the USA but in Europe IMEI blocking is shared. Blocked on one, blocked on all.

[cpjr]

^Well it is here too, but ATT being well....what they are.....will usually only block the simcard and not the IMEI.

[confucious]

Blocking a SIM is pretty useless. The whole point of blocking an IMEI is so the phone can't be used if it's stolen.

[cpjr]

I agree....Im just saying thats what their normal practice is.

[confucious]

That's what I thought - which makes the OP's post rather strange.
Although he could have bricked it using ziphone it should have worked before he tried that as it was (I assume) a different SIM.

[cpjr]

This makes no sense:

So i call ATT, and they tell me the previous owner must have lost this particular unit and is basically blocked by the network, unless i can show proof the unit was paid in the FULL RETAIL PRICE(no exceptions, not even a 2 year agreement price could help me)

Because even IF the IMEI was blocked ATT could look it up and say either "yes it is" or "no its not", the PRICE he paid for the phone ISNT a factor. lol.

[confucious]

It does seem, how shall I put it, 'unusual'.

[cpjr]

Come to think about it.....

If someone purchased the phone with a service agreement then bailed and left their contract + owe ATT money, then I can see why ATT would say the phone must have been purchased for full retail. Its attached to an outstanding collections account.

That makes sense.

[seh6183]

ATT does not block IMEI's. You must be doing something wrong unfortuantely.

[notaslyguy]

Thank you for the feedback guys. But i found out it is the imei that is blocked and my seller is in no way replying to any of my e-mails. I got the phone for a baragain, so i want to try a few things before i report it to paypal. I was able to restore it to 3.0 firmware, and now i'm just locked out completely(only emergency calls). Even when i have my activated AT&T sim, it just tells me i need to plug it in with ITUNES and then says my device cannot be activated.
I was reading some people are still able to use there phone as an itouch. How can i do that? Itunes wont let me downgrade to 2.2, so i'm having a hard time jailbreaking this thing. Any suggestions, thanks again.

Don't mean to contradict you guys, but if it's not the IMEI, why can't i get a signal with my active sim?? thanks again.

[Sadhunni]

Does the seller sent you the box with the iphone? Maybe you can bring it to ATT to remove the block because you cant be stealing the phone with the box.

First thing you have to do is file a dispute that the item is not what described. If Paypal were unable to reach the seller or seller refused to respond your emails, your payment will be reversed to you and you can probably keep the iphone you have.

[madrich]

[QUOTE=
I was reading some people are still able to use there phone as an itouch. How can i do that? Itunes wont let me downgrade to 2.2, so i'm having a hard time jailbreaking this thing. Any suggestions, thanks again.

Don't mean to contradict you guys, but if it's not the IMEI, why can't i get a signal with my active sim?? thanks again.[/QUOTE]

I believe that if you are willing to forgo your iTunes songs, photos etc, you can delete and erase iTunes etal., and download and install an earlier iTunes version to downgrade to FW2.2.