Hey My uncle works for a bus company and about 4 months ago he found an iphone obvously lost by someone, anyway it was put in the companys lost and found but since no one claimed it my uncle got it and has givin it to me, the prevous owner has blocked the IMEI obvously pressuming it was stolen so the phone function do not work. If I took it to orange and explained what has happened do you thiink they will unblock the phone for me or is it a no go ? thanks
The phone is still owned by someone, so if you take it to the network is on, they will just want it back.
Okay, so I just had a chat with my dad who works in Fraud and Protection etc etc etc in 3 Mobile. You've done everything right up until now, but Orange still has every right to take the phone back. My dad says that there are two methods of IMEI blocking, one which only blocks it to the network which it is tied, and one which shares the block across all the networks. There's no way of telling which is which, but if you take a punt on £10 and get it unlocked, and use it on any other network than Orange (just get a contract only sim, or a Pay As You Go) you might be able to get away with it. Take your pick.
Hey thanks sleepygamer that worked however the phone randomly drops signal and only works if i put the sim in another phone then put it back in the iphone then its fine for a while ?? any idea ? cheers
No worries mate! Not so sure on that one. It sounds like it might be a problem more tied to the iPhone itself. Sadly, neither I nor my father have much technical experience with iPhones. My dad just knows all the blocking stuff because he deals with that on a daily basis. Since you can pick up free SIM cards from pretty much any network, try grab one from a network that is neither Orange or the network you are currently using, and see if that clears up the problems. If not, then I'm stumped.
I believe the IMEI is blacklisted so any/all UK cannot be used. Even if you do have full reception/signal, you'll still not be able to dial out or receive calls/text messages. Unblocking mobile phones have been made illegal and there is no way around it, from what I've been told on mobile forums.
One option you have is running the iPhone under locked sim mode, turn on the wifi, and proceed to jailbreak the iPhone, upon which research into unlocking it to work with any network, I am not entirely sure on the legality of this, it has been ruled in America that jailbreaking the iPhone is completely legal, it just voids the apple warranty. Unlocking it for any network using third party software I am not sure about, but my friend has done it and says it works fine... Hope this helps a little!
personally I would return it to the proper owner. it isn't hard, call in with the imei/sim/whatever number they need to look up the account. the rep can put the customer in contact with you. I've done it twice in the past. first time it turned out to be a business phone(and they were very happy to have it back). Second time it belonged to a girl who worked at a hotel. She was beyond happy to have her phone back and was amazed that someone had the decency to return a lost phone to its rightful owner.
Hey I would like to point out it is working and making calls. Also I would like to point out that the bus company kept it in lost and found and contacted orange about the phone but it was never claimed so its not as if I have just found it and taken it there was a 4 month period in which the phone could have been claimed or taken back by the network please read the 1st post before suggesting I give it back because that has already been attemped.
Well I'm pretty sure the person who owned it would still like it back. Who knows what items they have on there. It seems the network didn't actually contact the owner, the bus company should of contacted the owner not the network. Never have any joy with the network, there is normally a home number.
I think it means that its now classed as stolen and cannot be unblocked. However if memory serves I think it will still work in other countries, there's a lot of phones classed as "broken" on fleabay that are blocked and are sold to countries outside the Uk only.
