AT&T Community Forums

IMEI not found by AT&T, what?

I am one of the thousands who are trying to unlock my iphone. Yesterday, by a miracle, i was able to access the live chat for support (today, there is no way to do it). After explaining that i got my device from a friend (so no AT&T account), they asked me for my IMEI ... and surprise, my IMEI was not in their system and I got "Well, you need to call Apple to see what is happening". After that i called Apple for an explanation, than I got: "well, your iphone is locked to AT&T, you have to call them" What happened? How is my device locked to AT&T but not in their system?

Responses

Accepted Solution

Official Solution

dwill05

ACE - Master

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10.4K Messages

12 years ago

If that phone was tied to someone else's account and that account has some negatives in it, I suspect they wouldn't tell a third party the details of the account, beyond simply saying the phone is or is not eligible.

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dwill05

ACE - Master

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10.4K Messages

12 years ago

Did you confirm the number (that you gave it right and they input it into their system right)? Was your phone ever replaced under warranty? Was your phone ever activated with AT&T?

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erkbr

Tutor

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4 Messages

12 years ago

I don´t know most of the thingss about what happened to this device before i got it, but as far as i know it was on AppleCare, my friend got it and then sold it to me. I do believe that he bought it from Apple (considering the Model number), but still locked to AT&T << I thought in this case the device would be registered in their system. Right now i am trying to use the chat live (can´t call right now) but no success.

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stufried

Guru

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1.1K Messages

12 years ago

I am having a similar problem with my old iPhone 3GS. I bought it online from myworldphone.com and use it for two years without incident. They're now telling me that the I am yeah I was previously associated with somebody else's account and they can't unlock it. When I asked some of the could at least tell me whether the phone had been reported stolen or whether was an unpaid balance on that account, they refused to do so but told me to "submit additional documents and they will look at it.". I find this entirely frustrating since I don't even know what concerns I'm attempting to negate.

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erkbr

Tutor

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4 Messages

12 years ago

Finally i was able to chat with their support, it seems that the guy was able to check my IMEI and here is the conclusion:

I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, Mr. , but the IMEI is not eligible for an unlock.
There is not a reason provided.

First my IMEI wasn´t found, now they can´t provide me the reason for not unlocking it. I am lost

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youngjm

Master

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7.1K Messages

12 years ago

It may be associated with an account that was not terminated in good standing? Not your fault but the risks of buying third party and they have no way to know you legitimately obtained the phone? Not saying you did anything wrong but they just don't know.

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erkbr

Tutor

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4 Messages

12 years ago

Thanks you both, i´ll try to contact the seller and see what happened with his account. At least i´ll not be so lost without this kind of information

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RdnInMD

Contributor

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1 Message

8 years ago

I learned -- after much discussion with AT&T and Apple -- that AppleCare replacement phones may not have their IMEIs listed. I had to (a) ask AT&T to update the IMEI on my account (to the new AppleCare replacement phone IMEI), then (b) use my ORIGINAL IMEI [from my pre-replacement phone] on AT&T's website to unlock the phone. (Apple could tell me the original IMEI.) Good luck!

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Gary L

ACE - Expert

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16.5K Messages

8 years ago

@RdnInMD I've never heard such a thing, I've had my last few iPhones replaced with AppleCare and unlocked them when I sold them on eBay. Don't recall any trouble due to that.

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erkbr

IMEI not found by AT&T, what?

dwill05

dwill05

erkbr

stufried

erkbr

youngjm

erkbr

RdnInMD

Gary L

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