Unlocking bill pay iPhone 4S

recoil_money

Hi boards. First post ever on here. Anyway,

My dad's got a new bill pay contract with Vodafone and gave me his upgrade, iPhone 4S. Obviously since Vodafone are a shower of cowboys they won't unlock his phone until the end of his contract, so now I can't use my 48 SIM with it.

Vodafone's website have a service for pay as you go customers whereby they give you an unlock code if you've topped up by whatever amount in the last 6 months. If I got one of those for my iPhone from my mother's Vodafone account, would it unlock my phone or would it not work because of the fact it's on bill pay?

Failing that, I'll have pay to use one of those factory unlock websites. Anybody have any experiences with them? Which is cheapest?

logic

I am considering using this guy
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/iPHONE-4-4S-3GS-PERMANENT-UNLOCKING-SERVICE-VODAFONE-IRELAND-FACTORY-UNLOCK-/200739938369

€25

Note that he says he can't unlock a replacement phone.

recoil_money

That does look legit. Scrolling down his feedback page, no problems with the unlock service are reported as far as I can see.

Wonder why it's so cheap though? Some third party sites I've seen charge up to like €65.

54kroc

recoil_money wrote: »

That does look legit. Scrolling down his feedback page, no problems with the unlock service are reported as far as I can see.

Wonder why it's so cheap though? Some third party sites I've seen charge up to like €65.

eBay prices are more competitive.
Anywhere around €30 is normal from my experience.

logic

I'm going to order now so i'll report if there was any problems

logic

Plugged it in to itunes today and it asked me to activate, failed the first time but went through the second (as per his instructions). Unlocked now. Not bad for $25.

recoil_money

Not bad at all! Definitely gonna go for that when I get the chance. Cheers again for the link.

guil

Strange that vodafone wouldn't unlock it. I got a new contract off them in march and they unlocked my 5s today.

whiterebel

guil wrote: »

Strange that vodafone wouldn't unlock it. I got a new contract off them in march and they unlocked my 5s today.

Maybe they didn't like being called a shower of cowboys for not unlocking a €600+ phone so it could be used with a different carrier? They can be a bit ungrateful like that.....

recoil_money

whiterebel wrote: »

Maybe they didn't like being called a shower of cowboys for not unlocking a €600+ phone so it could be used with a different carrier? They can be a bit ungrateful like that.....

As far as I know, O2 unlock iPhones with no questions asked, contract up or not. The bill has to be payed regardless of what phone is in use so I personally don't think they should make such a meal of unlocking.

recoil_money

guil wrote: »

Strange that vodafone wouldn't unlock it. I got a new contract off them in march and they unlocked my 5s today.

Really? I don't know, maybe it's because it was my dad's first contract. You got me there.

guil

As far as I know they won't unlock it until a certain amount has been spent on bills or after the first 3. I asked cc before but can't remember what they said. I'm only a vodafone customer since march, I was eMobile before that.