Apple What's the big secret about "unofficial" Factory Unlocks?

[MelodieOctavia]

So, either my google-fu is not as strong as I thought it was, or this is one of the most closely guarded secrets in the iPhone "scene".

So, I'm searching around for IMEI unlocks, and all I can find is paid services. Cool, I can get around that witch a bit of google-fu. Yeah. not this time.

It seems like these pay services have the knowledge to unlock your iphone by "deactivating" your iPhone in the itunes database. Neat, and I have verified this by having it done to my sister in law's phone. It works.

I even called AT&T, but they refused to unlock my phone due to it not being in contract, and me not being the original customer that bought the iphone. Yeah it sucks, but whatever.

Yes, I know I can kind of get around it by changing the APN settings, but that throws me an "invalid SIM" error. I even jury rigged the sim to my old android phone. It works, so I know it's not the SIM card.

The reason for this rant is because I KNOW there has to be a way for me to do this myself, if these no name companies out of nowhere can set up shop and take orders online.

Does anyone know about this process? is it really as big of a secret as it seems?

 

[Dialexio]

The way how the paid IMEI unlocks work isn't that secret, actually. The person running the service simply has connections with people that work for carriers that sell iPhones (e.g. AT&T, O2, Softbank, T-Mobile…). The person gives the appropriate employee (i.e. only AT&T can unlock an AT&T-locked iPhone) your IMEI, and the employee inserts it into Apple's database of unlocked iPhones. When you restore the iPhone and set things up, iTunes will receive an activation token that allows your iPhone to work unlocked.

 

[Theconejo]

The fact that your phone is not in contract is the whole reason they should unlock it. ATT told me I could unlock my 3gs but had to wait until this past July to unlock my 4. It might be a game of luck to find someone who doesn't ask many questions about if you were the original owner and such. I find it bs that they wouldn't do it. Just say I didn't keep my records but I would like it unlocked. I'm sure you tried but no harm in calling again.

I had my receipts ready but didn't have to provide anything, not entirely sure why. Maybe even go into a store....I would treat the "pay to unlock" services as a last resort.

edit: http://soc.att.com/TVLVPi

Quickly scanned that and didn't see anything about proving you are original owner.