iPhone 3gs unlock failure

[kermit1971]

Today I tried to unlock my iphone 3gs through AT&T and the unlock failed.  My phone is not on contract.  (I've owned it for three years.)  It is not jail broken.  I recently updated to io6 (unintentionally but it works fine.)  This is a plain vanilla 3gs.  

I contacted AT&T tech support, provided the IMEI for my phone, and then followed the tech's directions: backup to itunes (computer, not icloud).  Then restore from backup.  The backup finished without incident.  So did the restore, except that, once the backup finished, the phone shut down; then it restarted (apple logo on screen), then it shut down.

At this point I contacted the online chat representative at AT&T.  He had me restart the phone (home and power button), which started the phone.  Then I went through the backup and restore steps as before.  Same result.  At the end of restore, the phone shut down, restarted and shut down again.  Would only restart by pressing and holding home and power button.

The chat rep was very patient and tried to figure out why the unlock wouldn't work but no success.  He suggested I call Apple and see if they have any idea.  I doubt they will but I will contact them.  Before doing so I thought I would post this to see if anyone else has had the same experience when trying to unlock their iphone 3gs.

Thanks.

[youngjm ACE - Master]

Try the online unlock tool and wait for your email.

https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/client/en_US/

[kermit1971]

Many thanks.  I'll give that a try and report back.

[kermit1971]

Excellent Advice!! Many thanks.  I requested the unlock as you advised through the AT&T website, waited a week, and voila, the unlock worked.  A word to the wise: I initially thought that I could do this through AT&T tech support (as described in my original post) butfor reasons I can't explain (or understand), it is clear that if you want to unlock your iphone you MUST go through the Web-based request.  After a number of failures with Tech Support, I followed the advice to request an unlock on rthe web.  I waited a week to get a confirming email, followed the instructions, and the unlock worked.

I want to thank the poster for this advice--terrific help--and alert others who are frustrated to persevere; use the web unlock process, and it will work.  Why the tech people we talk to on the phone can't pull us through the process remains mysterious....

[jabarsa]

I had similar bad experience with my iPhone 3GS..

I got AT&T unlock e-mail on October 23. Tried it with latest iTune on October 25, and when restoring, I got a message "There is no SIM card installed in the iPhone you are attempting to activate...". Actually I had the original AT&T SIM Card in it. Removing and re-inserting the SIM and disconnecting/reconnecting to iTune did nothing...I got the same message after timing out...

So now I am the proud possesor of what seems to be a dead iPhone.

I went to AT&T store in Morristown, NJ on October 25, 2012 and they had the same problem, and referred me to Apple. I went to the Apple store in Short Hills, NJ and they could not get the iPhone to work. They suggested I buy a refurbished iPhone for $149, or go back to AT&T.

I am sorry to say that I was disappointed with the "buck-passing" and no resolution.

Any suggestions?

Thank you.

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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jabarsa wrote:

I had similar bad experience with my iPhone 3GS..

I got AT&T unlock e-mail on October 23. Tried it with latest iTune on October 25, and when restoring, I got a message "There is no SIM card installed in the iPhone you are attempting to activate...". Actually I had the original AT&T SIM Card in it. Removing and re-inserting the SIM and disconnecting/reconnecting to iTune did nothing...I got the same message after timing out...

So now I am the proud possesor of what seems to be a dead iPhone.

I went to AT&T store in Morristown, NJ on October 25, 2012 and they had the same problem, and referred me to Apple. I went to the Apple store in Short Hills, NJ and they could not get the iPhone to work. They suggested I buy a refurbished iPhone for $149, or go back to AT&T.

I am sorry to say that I was disappointed with the "buck-passing" and no resolution.

Any suggestions?

Thank you.

---

not sure what buck passig you are tlaking about, ATT never did anythiing with hardware problems, Apple take care of all hardware issues, a simple unlock if handled by Itunes, have never heard nor seen ths proceedure cause a hardware failure. what did the Apple tech tell you the problem was and not sure why they would even point you back to ATT, no carrier that handles the Iphone has anything to do with the hardware, not even for warrenty exchanges