Help: unlocking iPhone without a SIM?

Scapegoat

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I have recently upgraded my iPhone 4 to a 5S and I am on the EE network.

The iPhone 4 was recently swapped out by Apple store and I gave it to my niece as a Christmas present.

Unfortunately I didn't realise that the replacement handset would be SIM locked as it was over 2 years old and out of contract.

She has a Tesco SIM card and cannot use it.


EE processed an unlock request (at an extoritionate £20) but I have since recieved a text message to tell me that they cannot proceed as "your apple device has not been linked to your iTunes account".

I have got my niece to try and set the phone up via iTunes but it won't do it without a valid SIM card.

I no longer have a EE SIM that fits the phone.

How do I resolve this?
 
Thanks. But the 'free' SIMS still require a £10 top-up.

Given the fact that I have already had to pay £20 to unlock the phone, I am not keen on paying again (I won't use the credit).

I think I may have found a solution - which is a member of the family has an iPhone 4 with an EE SIM. Once we eventually get the confirmation from EE that it is unlocked (still not had that yet) I can hopefully pop the EE SIM in and connect to iTunes and eventually download the new carrier settings.

A frustrating and slow process EE. Not impressed. When I did my O2 one it happened in hours and was free.
 
Unless it's changed, it's only free on O2 if you're in contract at the time of the unlock request. If you're not, you have to get a PAYG sim, and it costs £15. At least it did when I unlocked an O2 3G I bought from a mate.

T-Mobile were a complete pain when I asked for an unlock for my old iPhone 4 - they dragged it out to about 6 weeks and charged me £15.xx, and actually charged it twice, so I complained and (I think) I got a refund on both charges. Soon as that was done I binned them for Three and have been happy ever since!

Such a shame as I was with T-Mobile for 10+ years and always had great service from them. Soon as they merged with Orange, even pre-EE, they rocketed downhill super fast...
 

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