Help with Iphone and unlock?

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DarkDubzs

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 3, 2014
Messages
354
So my mom wants an iphone really bad, it will be her first real smartphone, all she has been talking about is how much she wants one. She currently has net 10 as her carrier and is adamant about keeping them as her carrier, in fact, she wants an iphone so bad because she heard they are selling and supporting iphones now, here. Her b-day is coming up, so it will be the perfect gift.
Thing is, no way we can pay $600+ for the iphone 5s via net 10, because it is no contract, you have to pay for the phone full price. So i took to craigslist and found some really good deals on iphone 4 and 4S, and i was thinking that i could just buy one there, unlock it, then get a net 10 sim card to put in the iphone, but is this even possible, will it work?
This is one good iphone deal that i am thinking about getting: http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/mob/4279993226.html But now the real problem, i am thinking that if i unlock it and lets say all goes well getting it to work with net 10, will i have to re unlock it at all like when she updates the iOS version, or any other time for that matter? Like maybe when she restores it or whatever else? Also, what is ESN? It says it is 100% clean ESN, what the heck does that mean? Lastly, will a phone like the one linked above be able to be unlocked and used with a sim card of a different carrier than it was primarily intended to be used with, in this case, Sprint... or is it Verizon... says two different carriers on the ad...?

Please help anyone! Open to any and all help and feedback, Thanks!!
 
Maybe. Net10 has changed the APN info for the iPhone several times since rolling out support for it on their network. Only the Net10 iPhones get the APN update automatically. If you have a BYDO iPhone, you need to find and set a new APN profile whenever this happens. If your mother is tech savvy enough to know why her data connection has stopped working and how to get new APN profiles and roll them out, a BYOD iPhone could be an ok choice on Net10. Otherwise go with Net10's device for the best experience.
 
Unlocking an iPhone is carrier level, so once it's unlocked, you won't have to worry about unlocking again due to software updates. You would have to go to Verizon to have them unlock it. I'm not sure if this will be a problem since she is not a Verizon customer.

ESN is the electronic serial number. Having a bad ESN means that it may not be activated on the carrier it was manufactured for. Here is some more info.

A Verizon iPhone can technically work on the Sprint network because they're both CDMA, but the ESN/IEMI has to be registered in the carrier's database to be activated.
 
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The trick isn't just having an unlocked phone, it's having that phone registered on the new carriers network. Most of the time switching carriers in the US is impossible due to this issue.

There are those whom are trying to get the government to create a national database to eliminate this issue and force providers to stop 'locking in' their customers to any one given network. But until there is some form of movement on this, for the time being it's a headache.

There are a few BYOD carriers that don't have this issue. I for example moved to Ting, and for the most part Ting accepts all Sprint devices (they have a white list). Of course they are an MVNO on Sprints network so the registration issue... isn't an issue. So I picked up a Sprint device used and moved over. For most other MVNOs a similar move is possible, but unless you're the type to research and really dig into what is compatible with what, it can be a headache at best.

In these sorts of cases, I recommend what CEpeep said and just buy a Net10 device and suck it up. It will save you a lot of hassle and headache, which if you ask me for the most part is worth the money.
 
Thanks guys, sounds like too much of a hassle and no way my mom can do that APN stuff. What about if i wanted to unlock an iphone to work with a bigger carrier like sprint or t mobile? What about even with Metro PCS? Possible with any of those, and without having to do other weird hassling technical stuff like updating the APN- dont even know what that means lol
 
I brought a phone from ATT over to T Mobile, just had to submit a unlock request online. They gave me the code, and now my phone works on Tmobile. it does not get full 4G everywhere like I used to though. Im not sure if that is due to Tmobiles service or my phone being used on a non native network.
 
Im no expert obviously, but 99% sure because you are now on T-Mobile, so you wont be getting ATT's network anymore, youll be operating on T-Mobile's network, which i believe is not as good as ATT.
 
I had a long post explaining things thoroughly since I used to JB and unlock iPhones for people as a side business but the short answer is it's way too much trouble to unlock a phone and use it off-network currently and the iPhone 4/4s is ancient technology. If you find one that is carrier unlocked (instead of jailbroken with an old baseband or a gevey sim) then that makes it less of a hassle but that doesn't make it ideal.

I don't know pricing from Net10 but Tmobile is competitive right now and has excellent coverage in your area. You *might* be able to use an AT&T device and get LTE soon (if not already). Tmobile is refarming their towers and using the same frequencies as AT&T. 5/5s iPhones currently have a single radio in all devices.
 
tjmonsen5 said:
I brought a phone from ATT over to T Mobile, just had to submit a unlock request online. They gave me the code, and now my phone works on Tmobile. it does not get full 4G everywhere like I used to though. Im not sure if that is due to Tmobiles service or my phone being used on a non native network.
Click to expand...

T Mobile network blows compare to AT&T...

It's a trade off for being cheaper.
 
shansoft said:
T Mobile network blows compare to AT&T...

It's a trade off for being cheaper.
Click to expand...

All depends on where you live and if you travel a lot. Makes no sense to pay tons for service if you can't take advantage of it.
 
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