Quick Links

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Unlock your AU iPhone 6 / Plus






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 =) 

19 comments:

  1. Thanks for this post.

    I bought my iPhone 6 for cheap about 2 month ago and when I asked them if they could unlock it, they said they could do that only if the phone has been used for 6 months. Sadly I would be leaving the country before the end of the 6th month. I was originally planning to sell the phone before leaving but now that I know it can be unlocked, I feel terrible. I wish I had bought the phone a month earlier.

    I wonder if they'll give in if I threaten to switch to another carrifrom because I have to use an unlocked phone. I indeed would be travelling overseas couple of times in the coming months and an unlocked phone is a requirement. Worth a shot I guess.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for such a detailed feedback, very helpful indeed.

    After reading the article i finally decided to go with their service and i must say the service and their customer support is just fabulous. They were always available 24/7 as written on their website plus the unlock didn't take that much time which is mentioned in the blog. It took almost 3 weeks to get the phone unlocked, however they said that usual the time frame is 15 to 25 biz days.
    After getting my KDDI AU iPhone 6+ unlocked i suggest their service to other mates and many of them also using the same service and very thankful. I'm again very thankful to the blog poster. (Y)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thank you for the feedback! I am glad it worked out for you as well.

      Delete
    2. you did mention that you emailed au, can have their email add so that i can ask them to unlock my phone

      Delete
    3. here is the link to email them. It is in English and they will respond in English.

      https://www.au.kddi.com/cs/cs119/au_english/index.html?fid=aueng

      Delete
  3. I bought this second hand iPhone6+ in japan as a gift for my brother, what will i do, do i need to email the service provider (au) so that it will be unlocked.?? pls help me my brother's birthday is on dec 24 2015. what will i do, i dont want to disappoint him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. well you can either try the service i used in this post or try contacting AU via email. here is the link to email AU. It is in English and they will respond in English.

      https://www.au.kddi.com/cs/cs119/au_english/index.html?fid=aueng

      good luck!

      Delete
    2. Hi!Did you finally contact au and they unlock you the phone?
      Regards.

      Delete
  4. I bought the service from the above mentioned website. They mentioned the time frame of 10 - 20 biz days but successfully completed the order in less than three weeks. I'd forgotten to put the imei number while checking out and contacted them via Skype and they were very cooperative and helpful indeed. I really appreciate the writer of this blog who wrote for us such an helpful post and explained everything in details!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you and I am glad it worked out for you!

      Delete
  5. I too bought an unlock service from theofficialunlocks for my au iPhone 6. They provided me with excellent customer service and unlocked my phone in the timeframe provided. I would absolutely recommend them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i am glad it worked out for you too! i need to get my iPhone 6 Plus unlocked soon...i will be contacting these guys shortly as well. I do want to note that my iPhone 6 is still unlocked, just tested it yesterday. no issues what so ever =)

      Delete
  6. Got another phone (iPhone 6S) unlocked this Friday by using theofficialunlocks services.
    Thumbs Up!

    ReplyDelete
  7. After KDDI refused the unlock request because the phone is under contract (iPhone 6S), I'd no other option and bought the mentioned service. At first I thought it maybe risky to buy a online services as there are so many scams these days but finally after getting my unlock this Sunday, I must say that I'm so happy and a very satisfied customer.
    The service was good and the Skype guy was very cooperative. I really want to admire the blogger.
    Appreciate it!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Awesome entry! My iPhone 6+'s contract with AU will expire next month and of course they will not unlock it. I want to use their services but I have heard that once you unlock it, it will work everywhere except Japan... Can you confirm or deny this? I am staying in Japan but I just want to switch to a cheaper operator while keeping my phone. Any input is appreciated. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry for the late reply! But yes I have heard the same as you have from the site I used to unlock my iPhone before. I am not sure why it is that way now, maybe the Japanese phone companies are checking for this type of external unlocking, but I am unsure. Sorry I could not give a different course of action.

      However, I do want to note that I am currently using my AU iPhone 6 & 6+ on ATT in the States right now with no issues. So if you end up moving to or visiting the States in the future, you can get ATT prepaid service with zero issues. No unlock needed, just pop in the new sim card and go!

      Delete
  9. I would like to know the answer to this too. I want to switch to a Docomo based MNVO, but if my 6+ gets essentially blacklisted inside Japan, then I'm hooped. Any info anyone has about this would be helpful. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete