Cell Phones

iPhone locking to first SIM

  • Last Updated:
  • Jul 1st, 2017 9:05 pm
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Deal Expert
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Feb 24, 2003
22162 posts
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Toronto
fightbriz wrote: How does that make sense? Won't even accept the sim from the carrier it was meant for?
My apologies. I meant to say this: "I bought two bnib iPhones, different carriers, neither would activate with a sim from a Canadian carrier that had not issued the iPhone."

I should have said that I got a BNIB Bell iPhone 6s that would only activate with a Bell sim and a BNIB Rogers iPhone 6 that would only activate with Rogers sim. For the Bell phone, the first sim I inserted was from Rogers and the phone would not activate. For the Rogers phone, the first sim I inserted was from Bell and it would not activate.

I posted my earlier response without properly editing beforehand.
Last edited by audit13 on Jun 30th, 2017 10:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Nov 28, 2013
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Oakville
fightbriz wrote: So there's no definitive answer for iPhones whether carrier phones are prelocked (inserting other carrier sim won't work), or if they will lock to the first sim (even if it's a different carrier)? Seems like for some people other carrier sims won't work, while for other people it worked and locked to the other carrier..

Any phone store employees can shed any light?
It may be carrier dependent. Many people in Koodo iPhone threads reported being able to insert non-Koodo sims as the first sim with no problem. So maybe Koodo doesn't pre-lock them, but other carriers do?
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Nov 7, 2016
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Canada
wearysky wrote: It's funny you say this, as more than one person reported in one of the Koodo iPhone SE sale threads that they were able to insert non-Telus-Brand sims (Rogers, etc) and it locked to those sims. So perhaps it varies by carrier?



It depends when you're looking to do it. It's almost never cheap, but when it is it ends up not lasting very long. And I'd worry about a re-lock when the employee gets caught.

Some carriers (Bell, I think, is one?) will allow you to unlock even if you're not a customer, for a higher price (usually $75).
It depends on the activation policy. iPhone purchased at Best Buy are like that (Reseller Flex Policy). They lock to the 1st SIM card inserted. Unlike carrier specific iPhones (an iPhone purchased from Rogers, in example) and unlocked iPhones bought from the Apple Store.
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