<p><img src="http://www.allaboutiphone.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/unlocked_small.jpg" alt="Unlocked iPhone" title="Unlocked iPhone" width="120" height="176" class="floatright" />With a quick chat and an email, reader Xavier managed to get his iPhone 4 unlocked from O2. There&#8217;s nothing special about his contract, and he isn&#8217;t an O2 employee or anything like that. And it seems that you can get your iPhone 4 unlocked from Orange as well, although reports are it can be a bit torturous. Here&#8217;s how it happened.</p>
<p><span id="more-4363"></span><strong>Unlocking iPhone 4 from O2</strong></p>
<p>Xavier has previously tried to get his iPhone 4 unlocked from O2 in November, submitting the O2 unlock form. The response he received was:</p>
<blockquote><p>Hi Xavier,</p>
<p>Thank you for unlatching request.</p>
<p>At present O2 is not supporting unlatching for iPhone 4 handset.</p></blockquote>
<p>However, <a href="http://forum.o2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=334890">the O2 forums have been reporting that some people have tried on multiple occasions</a>, and a few iPhone 4 unlocks have slipped through. But Xavier thought he&#8217;d try a different route. In Xavier&#8217;s words:</p>
<blockquote><p>Today I went went to the o2 web page and a pop up web chat customer service window appeared&#8230; I started a chat with the customer service and told her (Amy) that wanted my iPhone unlocked &#8211; She asked me for IMEI and two letters from my security answer and after a few mins she said it was done&#8230; That was around 5pm, around 7.30 got an SMS saying &#8220;This is O2 customer service. Thanks for your email. We&#8217;re pleased to tell you that we&#8217;ve just sent you a reply&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>The email he received said that his iPhone 4 had been unlocked. He hasn&#8217;t been able to confirm this in iTunes yet as he doesn&#8217;t have micro-SIM from another network. But I did a little digging on O2 Forums, and found that lots of people have been having success getting their iPhone 4s unlocked. </p>
<p>It seem  that O2 changed their policy in relation to iPhone 4, and <a href="http://forum.o2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=335923#p335923">have been unlocking them since December 6th</a>. They haven&#8217;t been quick to publicise this. As far as I can make out, it&#8217;s only for Pay Monthly customers. Right now <a href="http://www.o2.co.uk/unlockmyiphone">O2&#8242;s unlock form</a> doesn&#8217;t seem to work, and the key seems to be to go through their live chat on o2.co.uk.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s also interesting that O2 can unlock an iPhone <em>within 24 hours</em>; some people have reported getting it done within the hour! This is a change from before, as O2 claimed it always take 14 days. So if want a quick unlock of your iPhone 4, go through live chat, not the unlock form.</p>
<p><strong>Unlocking iPhone 4 from Orange</strong></p>
<p>It seems Orange have a 3 month waiting period in their Ts &#038; Cs for Pay Monthly customers, after which you can contact customer services and give them the IMEI of your iPhone (to get this, go into the phone keypad, enter *#06# and press call). They will then authorise the unlock, although it&#8217;ll cost you £20. </p>
<p>However, <a href="http://cow.neondragon.net/index.php/how-to-unlock-your-iphone-from-o2-and-orange">check out the responses near the bottom of this post on Ken&#8217;s Tech Tips</a>. Some people are having real problems getting the unlock approved, going round in circles with Orange support staff.</p>
<p>And there&#8217;s a further problem: if you bought your iPhone with an Orange SIM from Apple, Orange will refuse to unlock it. But so will Apple, as you&#8217;re an Orange customer. What&#8217;s the solution to that? The Sales of Goods Act states that your relationship is with the company you bought it from &#8211; which would indicate it&#8217;s Apple. But, if your contract is signed with Orange, and Apple insist your carrier needs to process the unlock, you&#8217;re stuck. Complain, and you may get your unlock.</p>
<p>Let me know how you get on.</p>
<p>&#8211;<br />
To see how Xavier&#8217;s chat with O2 went, here the transcript:</p>
<blockquote><p>Chat start time	 Jan 6, 2011 11:52:41 AM EST<br />
Chat end time	 Jan 6, 2011 12:11:00 PM EST<br />
Duration (actual chatting time)	 00:18:19<br />
Operator	 Amy</p>
<p><strong>Chat Transcript</strong><br />
info: Welcome to O2 live chat. Someone will start chatting with you soon.<br />
info: You&#8217;re through to Amy.<br />
Amy: Hi I&#8217;m Amy. How can I help?<br />
Xavier: Hello Amy, I&#8217;ve got an iPhone and would like to have it unlocked <img src='http://www.allaboutiphone.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' />  could you please let me have a link to the relevant page?<br />
Amy: I&#8217;ll check that for you. Please can you tell me the second and third character of the answer to your security question?<br />
Xavier: x<br />
Xavier: x<br />
Xavier: security question? or o2.co.uk password?<br />
Amy: Thank you<br />
Amy: Security answer.<br />
Xavier: oh, in that case it may be x and x<br />
Amy: Okay thank you.<br />
Amy: Please wait let me check for that.<br />
Amy: Please give me the IMEI number<br />
Xavier: ok<br />
Xavier: *****<br />
Amy: Thank you.<br />
Amy: Please give me few more minutes.<br />
Xavier: no problem, thanks a lot for your help <img src='http://www.allaboutiphone.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /><br />
Amy: Its been unlocked.<br />
Xavier: thank you <img src='http://www.allaboutiphone.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /><br />
Amy: Is there anything else I can help you with?<br />
Xavier: Thanks a lot <img src='http://www.allaboutiphone.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /><br />
Amy: You&#8217;re welcome.<br />
Amy: We&#8217;d really like your feedback. Click on &#8216;End chat&#8217; in the top right of this screen to tell us what you think. Bye.<br />
Xavier: that is all for now. Thanks a lot for your help <img src='http://www.allaboutiphone.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /><br />
Xavier: bye<br />
Xavier: and happy new year <img src='http://www.allaboutiphone.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /><br />
Amy: Wish you the same.<br />
info: We&#8217;ll email a copy of your chat transcript to {email address}. </p></blockquote>
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