So....it has been awhile since I did an update....well that is because I am in Qatar now! But that is a different story for another time....but yes, since I was going to be in Qatar for a bit, I thought how nice it would be to use my brand new-ish iPhone 6 from AU here. Ok i thought, let me get some prepaid service out here! I ended up going with Ooredoo prepaid service and got a SIM card that would fit in my phone. I loaded up the SIM card and then shortly the phone asked me to activate the phone...no biggy I thought...I put in my password...waiting...waiting...ERROR!!!! You get a message looking like the image above. For those that have been living in Japan for some time, know that just about every Japanese phone, from like...ever....is locked to the cell provider you bought it from. It dosen't matter if your contract is up or you straight bought the phone with cash from AU like I did, it will most likely be locked. This is crazy I thought! I paid freaking hard cash upfront for this phone (not cheap) and I CANT USE IT WITH A DIFFERENT COMPANY!? WTF!? SOoooo...rant done....so what happened? I had an unlocked iPhone 5 (T-mobile) with me anyways, because I knew these facts way before I left for Qatar, and I always prepare for this type of stuff anyways. So my iPhone 6 stayed pampered in my room on the wifi only, not ideal, but whatever, I couldn't do anything about it. So eventually I started getting hand cramps using the small iphone 5 screen (I have big hands, jeez!) and I started looking at trying to get my iPhone 6 unlocked somehow. No dice at first, since I have asked AU to do it before, and they told me it is not their company's "policy" to do such things. meh! I then start looking into the shady online "unlocking" web sites that promise they can unlock any iPhone...ANY mind you....except Japanese carriers....aaaragggghh! An guess what, they won't know for sure, until they try, and that is after you pay them first of course...hence shady. Well to be serious for a minute, there are A LOT of scam unlocking sites out there, so you have to be careful who you give your money to. I wiill help you with this though, save you the hassle, and tell you what I did to get my AU iPhone 6 unlocked...
1. After searching numerous fourms on this topic, I found a very short post about someone using a particular site to successfully to unlock their Japanese iPhone, and it seemed legit. It didn't read like some fake post hyping a scam company, so with great thought on the matter, I gave them a try. The site is here...
The best part is that they accept Bitcoin for payment! You have to ask them first to do it (via Skype) and that I why I went with them too. Since I mine all my BTC, I didn't feel like I would be too pissed if they scammed me, it is free bitcoin for me anyways! =)
2. You can navigate the site to find AU/Softbank unlocking services for about $135 at the time of this writing. I actually paid 0.63 BTC for my serivice at the time I ordered.
3. Ok now here comes the hard part...I ordered the service around April 16, 2015...and I didn't get my phone unlocked until June 4, 2015! There was a apparently a reason for this and I will try to explain shortly, but I want to mention this timeline for one reason really. The best way to communicate with this biz is via Skype, and they are decent at getting back to you on there. However, their english isn't the best, which started throwing warning flags up all over the place with me when the unlock didn't work after weeks of back and forth with them. I thought I got scammed and they were just stringing me along until they shut shop, and counted their bounty from other idiots like me. But rest assured that was not the case, whew! But it was a rather tedious wait, to say the least.
4. At this point though, I am happy to say that my phone is indeed unlocked, I can use my Ooredoo SIM card in my phone after I activated it with no issues....I even get 4G service out here on my iPhone 6, unlike my iPhone 5, which only works with the 3G signal out here. They were even nice enough to chat with me on Skype as I did all the SIM swapping, just to make sure everything worked for me.
5. Some final notes on all this...as far as the crazy long wait I experienced, I was told that the Apple GSX server was down for weeks (perfect timing, right?) and that keep their "supplier" from getting in there to unlock my iPhone 6. Speaking of "supplier", all these unlocking services seem to have inside men working at all these cell companies, or at least have access to the Apple GSX server to make your IMEI "unlocked". The whole process obivous sounds suspect, but the process used is just the same as unlocking done by the cell carrier, no hacking needed =).
In summary....it can be done! =) And if you didn't know, your AU iPhones 6 / Plus is a beast for world travel. The iPhone 6 model AU uses is MG482J/A, which happens to have just about every frequency you can possible need to connect to what ever cell provider you end up using. Score!
P.S. For those that are really in the know....yes starting May 1st, 2015, most (all?) Japanese cell providers, like AU, will unlock their customers phones under certain conditions. The key thing to know, is the date, and that any phones sold after that time fall under these new policies. Trust me, I emailed AU from Qatar (very quick on the response mind you, in english too!) on May 1st, and they basically told me they will not unlock my iPhone 6 since I bought it before May 1st. Oh well, my iPhone is unlocked now anyways. But I would still try asking them, you might save yourself some money doing it through them, as opposed of doing it through the biz I used. Here is a link to news article talking about this new policy by the Japanese government.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/12/16/reference/unlocking-carriers-sim-hold-cellphones-will-competition-heat/#.VXHZdlLXenN
***UPDATE*** 3-FEB-16
The kind people at www.theofficialunlocks.com have said to mention this blog and that "Djbert" sent you when you sign up, and they will throw some Bitcoin my way! Score for me! So thanks in advance to those that don't mind hooking me up =)
***UPDATE*** 3-FEB-16
The kind people at www.theofficialunlocks.com have said to mention this blog and that "Djbert" sent you when you sign up, and they will throw some Bitcoin my way! Score for me! So thanks in advance to those that don't mind hooking me up =)