Hi All...

here is my experience / problems with the Unlocking process from Voda....

**********************

Well, customer care have started being quite good at their job and caring.

The lady called me 3 times this afternoon to guide me through the upgrade, and frequently put me on hold so she could speak to Apple directly.

Finally, after much hassle, this appeared when I plugged in my iPhone 3G to iTunes.

AT LAST! An update to the carrier settings for your iPhone is available.



So I hit Update Settings and look what I got straight away.




HMMM… iTunes could not update the carrier settings on your iPhone. An unknown error occured (0xE8000001).

So I’m 99% sure this is now an Apple Server issue, I’m going to try this one more time on my Mac (not XP) tonight when I get home, and I’m hoping I’ll be able to post a video of me successfully swapping SIM’s and getting a signal on both!!!

In the meantime, I would suggest waiting for the iPhone Dev Team to release their unlock software because this is turning in to a real disaster. 5 Days Later… still a useless iPhone 3G.

UPDATE: no joy on the Mac…. (even thought I got a positive ending on the screen, nothing changed on the phone)




and then



But then no signal on the iPhone 3G.

I don't think this is a Vodafone issue but a iTunes/Apple issue.

I've done this process on 2 XP machines and one OS X machine now, with no joy. Has anyone else had similar experiences...?

Everyone else appears to be saying you need to do a full backup and restore to unlock. Slightly painful. Give it a try and let us know how you go.

I've just done that... and it seems to work 'ok'... until the last minute, where it pops up with 'Please insert a compatible SIM' in iTunes.

It's like getting 95% of the way through and bombing out...

I would help you and be in the same situation as you, if I could get through to the unlocking team!

Can you tell me what you did, to get it unlocked?

I've tried calling LARA (1555) and asking for unlocks but keep getting hung up on!

I just went to the Apple Store, and I had three genius' and one Vodafone Staff member (who happened to be there) try to work out why an unlock wouldnt work when syncing.

They plugged the iPhone in to their 'special' version of iTunes that allows 'flashing' of the iPhone and even then it came up with 'Phone is already activated' and wouldnt allow them to do anything.

They're reply was to take the phone back and get a refund. Not exactly what I wanted to hear really...

Looks like I'm stuck on a no-data plan with Vodafone AU, and will have to wait for the iPhone Dev Team or someone to hack the baseband!

bummer.

Are you sure you've contacted Vodafone and requested an unlock? $75?
Did you pass them your IMEI?
How long has it been?

My thoughts exactly... Never experienced any activation issues at all.

I'm getting really worried about unlocking the iphone 3g with Vodafone network..

I'm with vodafone but would like to unlocked it..

Please keep us update on this... I'm very curious how it goes.

What makes you worried, Supblek?

Kanevato, I had the same issue, trying to get my Telstra Iphone unlocked to use with Optus.

I restored the iphone to factory settings with the Optus SIM inserted in the Phone and it worked.

When you did your restore was it with the SIM inserted, or was the iPhone SIMless?

Cheers,
PP

Well... this was an eventful day...

I've spent about two hours in the apple store with one of the US Staff who came over to help with the iPhone Launch.... VERY HELPFUL...

Anywhere here is the run down...

I've paid Voda the $75... I've given them the IMEI code... and now when i plug in to iTunes I get the pop up to update carrier settings...

Yet 95% of the way it crashes out.

Spoke to the genius' at the Apple Store who sadly knew less about the iPhone than me (but then I am a bit of a fanboy)....

Basically... They had no clue, and so walked me to the front of the line (yes there is STILL a line at the Apple Store for iPhones) and we spoke to the Vodafone Rep that was working there... They were the MOST UNPROFESSIONAL and UNHELPFUL person EVER. Basically, because they wont make any revenue from me, he didn't give a damn about my problem.

The REALLY NICE HELPFUL apple genius saw my plight and decided to take the matter in to his own hands, he walked me up to the 'special' macs with the Internal version of iTunes that 'set up' the iPhones when you buy them in store. His plan was to 'reinitialise' my phone directly using my optus SIM, thus bypassing the voda/apple unlocking fiasco.

SADLY, when we plugged in the phone, iTunes immediately pops up with: 'this phone is already activated' and we couldn't get any further with the process.

At the end of the day, they THINK I should have bought the iPhone, NEVER have put a voda sim in it, called up and paid for the unlock, waited for the popup in itunes and THEN the first sim i should have put in SHOULD have been the optus sim that I want to use.

Now, NONE of this is told when you buy the phone on prepay or when you call up to unlock etc etc.

I feel TOTALLY MISLED by vodafone, and now until this is resolved I have to use my iPhone 3G on voda prepay with NO DATA, which make the iPhone a complete waste of time.

The apple genius recommended that I return my phone to dick smith and get a refund and buy a new one, but they don't have any prepay stock now.

So it looks like I'll have to just play patient, and hassle vodafone / apple care on a daily basis until this is resolved. although it DOES look like a iTunes issue.

Its a dumb idea to have every activation of every iPhone in the world going through Apple's main server...

Can you lay off the caps a bit?

How do you know your iPhone has been unlocked?
When did you ring up Vodafone and ask for the unlock?
How long has it been since then? 24 hours? 48 hours? 72 hours? More?
Are you sure you gave them the correct IMEI?
Have you tried your Optus SIM inside and performed a restore?

I'm in a similar position to you. I bought my iPhone outright (Vodafone locked) at DSE Sydney as well. I want to get it unlocked but only after their online unlocking service is available, rather than pay another $25 on top ($75 total) just to go through the operators.

I think you should have a read of the Optus/Telstra unlocking threads and see what the others have done. You're probably just not doing something correctly in the right order/sequence, with the wrong SIM inside, or something... just keep trying or wait until you know, for sure, that the unlock would have taken affect already.

Has anyone successfully unlocked a vodafone iphone yet??

Can you lay off the caps a bit? sorry!

How do you know your iPhone has been unlocked? Vodafone called me to tell me it would unlock the next time i synced, and it did try to update but fails.

When did you ring up Vodafone and ask for the unlock? 5 days prior to them calling me (monday)

How long has it been since then? 24 hours? 48 hours? 72 hours? More? 5 days

Are you sure you gave them the correct IMEI? yes, or else my iphone wouldnt be triggering the itunes carrier update. Plus I confirmed it every day I've spoken to voda

Have you tried your Optus SIM inside and performed a restore? yes. this is what the apple genius have done, and on their internal KB system it says its a software issue.

I'm in a similar position to you. I bought my iPhone outright (Vodafone locked) at DSE Sydney as well. I want to get it unlocked but only after their online unlocking service is available, rather than pay another $25 on top ($75 total) just to go through the operators.

I think you should have a read of the Optus/Telstra unlocking threads and see what the others have done. You're probably just not doing something correctly in the right order/sequence, with the wrong SIM inside, or something... just keep trying or wait until you know, for sure, that the unlock would have taken affect already.

I've done it exactly the way voda customer care have said, and now the way apple have told me.

Did you pay them?
Did they take your CC details?

Otherwise, I am really out of ideas as to why it shouldn't work. Doesn't sound very good for outright Vodafone customers.