How to Unlock your iPhone

This week we saw the release of the iPhone on Orange and the end of O2’s exclusivity. This is great news for a number of reasons. Hopefully it will force the networks to start bringing the costs down for the monthly plans, but it also opens the iPhone up to people that for what ever reason can’t use O2.

The even better news is that now the iPhone is no longer exclusive to one network, O2 have agreed to unlock all pay monthly iPhone handsets for free and Pay & Go customers that have had their iPhones for more than 12 months for a one off cost of £14.69 (taken from your pre-paid credit).

Unlock your iPhone to use it on any UK network

Unlock your iPhone to use it on any UK network

This means that once your phone has been unlocked you’ll be able to use your iPhone on any network. You’ll still need to pay O2 your usual line rental each month, but if you were an early adopter of the iPhone 3G, this could be as little as 2 months.

To get O2 to unlock your iPhone, simply head over to http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/unlockmyiphone.html where you’ll need to enter your details and the IMEI of your iPhone and O2 will unlock your phone within 14 days.

Unlike other handsets, the iPhone unlocking process is extremely simple and is carried out by O2 and Apple. O2 will update the activation servers at Apple and tell them to unlock your phone the next time that you sync with iTunes. Once you’ve received a confirmation text message from O2, you just need to put the sim card in the iPhone from your new network and sync the phone with iTunes. Once the sync is complete you’ll see a screen confirming that your iPhone is now unlocked and ready to be used on any network.

Confirmation in iTunes that your iPhone has been unlocked

Confirmation in iTunes that your iPhone has been unlocked

If you want to use your existing O2 sim as well as a sim for cheaper international calls or use abroad, you might want to take a look at our Twin Sim Charging Case. It allows you to use two sim cards in your iPhone without the need to keep swapping them over and has a built in extended battery that more than doubles the life of your iPhone.

Configure Internet, MMS and Voicemail:

Once your phone has been unlocked, you’ll need to change a few of the settings in order for your iPhone to be able to access the internet, send picture messages and divert to voice mail. I’ve listed the settings below for each of the main UK networks.

To change these settings, you’ll need to access the ‘Cellular Data Network’ settings. To do this, Press Settings -> General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network and change the settings in each section to what’s listed below.

You'll need to adjust the network settings in order to access the internet

You'll need to adjust the network settings in order to access the internet

If your network isn’t listed below, you’ll need to contact your network’s technical support team for them.
T-Mobile UK (& Virgin)

Cellular Data

  • APN: general.t-mobile.uk
  • Username: user
  • Password: pass

Visual Voicemail – Not currently supported on T-Mobile UK

  • APN: general.t-mobile.uk
  • Username: user
  • Password: pass

MMS

  • APN: general.t-mobile.uk
  • Username: user
  • Password: pass
  • MMSC: http://mmsc.t-mobile.co.uk:8002
  • MMS Proxy: 149.254.201.135:8080
  • MMS Max Message Size: (blank)
  • MMS UA Prof URL: (blank)

O2 UK

Cellular Data

  • APN: idata.o2.co.uk
  • Username: vertigo
  • Password: password

Visual Voicemail

  • APN: idata.o2.co.uk
  • Username: vertigo
  • Password: password

MMS

  • APN: idata.o2.co.uk
  • Username: vertigo
  • Password: password
  • MMSC: http://mmsc.mms.o2.co.uk:8002
  • MMS Proxy: 193.113.200.195:8080
  • MMS Max Message Size: 307200
  • MMS UA Prof URL: (blank)

Vodafone UK

Cellular Data

  • APN: internet
  • Username: (blank)
  • Password: (blank)

Visual Voicemail – Not currently supported on Vodafone UK

  • APN: internet
  • Username: (blank)
  • Password: (blank)

MMS

  • APN: wap.vodafone.co.uk
  • Username: wap
  • Password: wap
  • MMSC: http://mms.vodafone.co.uk/servlets/mms/
  • MMS Proxy: 212.183.137.012 (note the leading zero in the last octet)
  • MMS Max Message Size: (blank)
  • MMS UA Prof URL: (blank)

Orange UK

Cellular Data

  • APN: orangeinternet
  • Username: (blank)
  • Password: (blank)

Visual Voicemail – Not currently supported on Orange UK (even though the phone is sold on Orange)

  • APN: N/A
  • Username: N/A
  • Password: N/A

MMS (username and password are case sensitive)

  • APN: orangemms
  • Username: Orange
  • Password: Multimedia
  • MMSC: http://mms.orange.co.uk
  • MMS Proxy: 192.168.224.10:8080
  • MMS Max Message Size: 307200
  • MMS UA Prof URL: (blank)

Three UK

Cellular Data

  • APN: three.co.uk
  • Username: (blank)
  • Password (blank)

Visual Voicemail – Not currently supported on Three UK

  • APN: N/A
  • Username: N/A
  • Password: N/A

MMS

  • APN: three.co.uk
  • Username: (blank)
  • Password: (blank)
  • MMSC: http://mms.um.three.co.uk:10021/mmsc
  • MMS Proxy: 217.171.129.2:8799
  • MMS Max Message Size: 307200
  • MMS UA Prof URL: (blank)

Setting up Voicemail

As Visual Voicemail isn’t supported on any network other than O2, you’ll need to set up your voicemail box on the iPhone. Setting up your voicemail is fairly straight forward.

  1. Obtain your voicemail number from your network
  2. Open up the phone screen and go into the dial pad
  3. Dial in *5005*86*xxx# (Replacing xxx with your voicemail number, e.g. 121 for Vodafone)
  4. Press call

All done. Your iPhone should now work regardless of the network or sim that you’re using, but remember, you’ll need to have your handset unlocked by O2 in order to use it on another network.

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