Unblocking mobile phones

[160606]

Can anyone advise us on this.  We both have i phones a 4 and 5.  They were bought in England and we have paid to have them unblocked here in Turkey  but were told that Vodafone, the provider had blocked them in England.  We were told that we needed to get them unblocked and then we can use the turkish sim cards we have purchased. We were told that they could do it here but it would cost a lot of money to get this done. Can anyone advise us on how we should go from here or if they are aware of of anyone who can unblock them for us.Thanks for your help in advance.

[mac2010]

I think even if you get them unlocked here when you put a Turkish sim in them they will lock after a while if they are not registered here first.

[Phil]

An English phone with a Turkish sim card will eventually be locked out.
It's all because of Import Tax - if the phone has had no duty paid then it gets locked out.
The only way round it is to pay the Import Tax, but I don't think that is guaranteed to have success.

If you want to use the Internet functions of the phone, then buy a Turkish Wifi dongle with a Turkish sim card and away you go.

[KKOB]

You CAN get them unblocked in Turkey but what they do to them is referred to as "jailbreaking" and isn't actually unblocking. In some cases it can cause irrepairable damage to the phone and it voids all guarantees.

[160606]

The two phones have been registered here in Turkey and the duty paid on them.  Seemingly when they are out of contract, they can be blocked by the phone company.  There is then an extra charge, which we have been told is very expensive, to get them sorted.  Hence our question on here.

[Steve (redding43)]

You need to phone Vodafone if you held the contract with them and ask them to unlock them. Normally about £20 each. If you was not the contract owner then you need to get hold of that person and ask them to call Vodafone

[tonysue]

Have you tried ebay ?? i have bought unlock codes on ebay  for as little as 99p and it has worked a charm. The instructions come via email and i think i have unlocked 3 or 4 different phones.

[Steve (redding43)]

Have you tried ebay ?? i have bought unlock codes on ebay  for as little as 99p and it has worked a charm. The instructions come via email and i think i have unlocked 3 or 4 different phones.

Any of those an iPhone?

[tonysue]

no steve not iphones, just a suggestion.

[Steve (redding43)]

No problem tonysie. Just that I know that it is not possible on an iPhone unfortunately so was interested if you had found a way