Please help unlock iPhone 6 Plus

[ubuntootoo]

Hi,

This is my first experience of Vodafone and I am really struggling. My friend recently gave me her iPhone 6 plus after receiving her new iPhone 8 on contract with vodafone. She has had the iPhone 6 for just over 2 years on a monthly contract. 

I am not a vodafone customer so need the phone unlocked. My friend went into a vodafone store and was told to visit a different vodafone store 30 miles away. They said she would need to buy a pay as you go sim and use for 30 days!!! She has had this phone on contract for 2 years. She has previously completed the unlock form. She has phoned vodafone 3 times today and is very fed up. The last customer service person she spoke to said I need to connect to itunes and it will unlock. Nope, that doesn't work.

At this stage she is just as fed up as I am. She is even thinking of returning her iPhone 8, her Daughters 6plus and her husbands 6plus too and leaving vodafone. She pays for all 3 at over £150 per month (£3600 over two years) and she gets fobbed off and lied to when she contacts vodafone.

Can someone from vodafone please contact me to sort this out?

Thanks

[BandOfBrothers]

The 30 days option is if a person wasn’t a customer to begin with and can unlock using a Vodafone Payg SIM card making calls etc and then after 30 days request the unlock using the new payg account details. It’ll cost a top up but unlocking is free. 

As the original owner has used the iPhone on the Vodafone Network for the time frame you mention and will have I assume paid x3 bills on time then they can unlock free. 

I cannot fathom as to why you were advised to visit another store as they cannot unlock the iPhone and Apple wouldn’t help directly with you either as it’s a Network locked iPhone. 

An iPhone is not unlocked via inputting an unlock code but instead is unlocked via Apple and their Database.
 Vodafone would email you to confirm it's been requested after accepting your unlock request. (Check Spam Inboxes too)
 Apple then can take occasionally approximately up to 30 days sometimes to complete an unlock request made by a Network.
 Periodically insert an active Non-Vodafone Sim Card in the iPhone and hook up to iTunes.
 From the iPhone 5 onwards there's not normally the need to hook up to iTunes to complete the process.

[ubuntootoo]

Thanks for the reply. You say the phone is unlocked by apple. Their website states " Apple can't unlock your iPhone for use with a different carrier. Only your carrier can unlock your iPhone"

I have no idea why she was sent to a different store. The service and treatment she has received are disgraceful. By way of comparison, a couple of weeks ago I unlocked my tesco phone and it literally took about ten minutes. I requested the unlock and the code was sent to me a few minutes later. I appreciate the process on an iPhone might be different to my lumia but the customer service from Vodafone is shocking. It appears that every person she has spoken to was doing their best to fob her off and keep the phone locked to their network. 

[BandOfBrothers]

You’re welcome. 

Yes the iphones different as it’s not unlocked by inputting a physical code like other phones are. 

Instead Vodafone contact Apple and authorise for the iPhone to be released so Apple then release it from their database. 

Vodafone have no access to Apples Database so have to ask them to unlock it. 

[AnnS]

Hi @ubuntootoo

Follow the link below, this will explain how to get the phone unlocked when you are not a Vodafone customer.

How do I unlock my Vodafone device if I’m not a Vodafone customer?

You can get a free PAYG SIM from the website here.  

When you have the SIM, you will need to use it on the network for 30 days with a small amount of chargeable activity, this is needed to associate the IMEI with the SIM.  After which time you will have no issue completing the form to get the unlock as a PAYG customer.