If I restore my carrier unlocked iphone, what will happen?
I have an iphone 4s and want to restore it (not update the ios, just restore via the phone itself). The phone was locked to Virgin when I got it and since I wasn't the original purchaser, I ended up getting it unlocked by a third party online.
If I restore the phone, will it go back to being locked to Virgin, or will it remain unlocked?
Boom
Hmm… I don't like the sounds of a third party unlocking the phone. Did they require you to install anything on your phone to do something (that's not good if they did).
The only people who should be able to unlock a phone is the carrier, and generally they will do so if it's over a year and the original purchaser asks them to do so. Once the phone is unlocked according to their systems, restoring the phone will do no damage, because iTunes will know that your serial number is tied to an unlocked phone.
However, I can't imagine how a 3rd party company can legally get a carrier to unlock the phone. If they have some other way of doing it, there's no telling what a restore will do (if they have got you to jailbreak the phone - again, read: bad idea - then it will no longer be unlocked). If you are still in contact with the original owner, I would be asking them to just call virgin and get it unlocked properly.
It should remain unlocked, but it depends on the unlock method used.
If you had unlocked by this method, restoring won't take back you to Virgin.
After getting the unlocking service from the 3rd party,
1. If you had received an email saying your phone has been activated or remotely unlocked.
2. Then you had installed the latest version of iTunes.
3. And you checked your Apple iPhone 4S phone software whether it is updated to the latest version using the iTunes software.
4. And you connected your Apple iPhone 4S to iTunes with a *NOT ACCEPTED* SIM card.
5. And you waited until iTunes detected your Apple iPhone 4S.
6. Then you disconnected your Apple iPhone 4S and reconnected it after 10 seconds.
7. Finally you got your Apple iPhone 4S is unlocked.
*NOT ACCEPTED*: I mean, you used a Sim card from a network other than Virgin.
As this method is based on whitelisting your Apple iPhone 4S' IMEI, restoring won't affect anymore related to network lock.
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