UKC

after bit of help here re an I phone issue.
currently I have an I phone 4 s and have just changed providers but the unlock is not exactly straightforward for the following reasons.
originally the phone was my sons who had it on an 02 contract and when he got an upgrade I got his old one, I used a Tesco mobile sim as it also runs on the o2 network and it worked ok.
when I broke the screen I took it to the apple store who replaced it for another phone of the same make for £110.

I kind of assumed the new phone would be sim free but it appears it isn't and I think its still locked to I suspect 02.

now the problem is to get it unlocked who do I contact, Tesco mobile ( my current provider) never provided the phone and so wouldn't help i guess, as its technically a different phone and number and customer I doubt 02 would either and also I don't know my sons original number when he had the contract.
my new provider is EE through bt mobile and its advice is to contact the phone provider .
so the question is what's the easiest way to get this unlocked, by contacting the apple store, 02, or Tesco mobile or is there another less painful way even if it means paying a reasonable fee.

thanks .

In reply to buzby:
Order a giff gaff sim, bargain price . 02 phones don't need unlocking as giff gaff use the O2 network

In reply to Dave the Rave:

thanks, already committed to EE through a deal with my work, gives me much better reception in the house and unlimited calls and data for a cheaper price than I can get anywhere else. if I can get it to work that is.

In reply to buzby:

Sometimes carriers will flag a phone to be unlocked at the end of the contract. If so, it should unlock itself if you put a non-O2 sim in, then connect it to a computer (preferably a Mac) running iTunes. Might as well try that.

If that fails, try contacting O2. They might be willing to unlock the phone for £20 or so, provided the original contract is all paid up. Even if you don't know the details of the contract it was on, they do, they can link it up with the IMEI. Carriers are supposed to unlock phones which are out of contract, but don't like doing it. One common excuse for not doing it is "Oh, If you don't know every detail of the contract, it might be stolen. We can't unlock stolen phones!"

Failing that, I've had good experiences paying that dodgy looking geezer in a market stall to do it. Just make sure it's done properly (i.e. by flagging it on the system, then unlocking with iTunes), not via some software hack or SIM shim.

In reply to Jack B:

cheers ive got a mac and I tunes so will give that a try first, thanks.

In reply to buzby:

Loads of phone shops will do it for you for a few quid

In reply to buzby:
Got my iPhone from a friend who was on O2. My phone provider is ee. He had to ring O2 and get it unlocked for me. It costs £15.
Don't take it to one of those shops that claim to do it. It's usually more expensive and will only unlock to any network until you next update the software. If it's not unlocked by the network, it reverts to the previous network automatically at software upgrade and makes the handset useless unless u get it unlocked again. These shops can & do charge anywhere between £30-£70 for the priveledge of unlocking a handset temporarily

In reply to buzby:

Unlocking iphones isn't simple because it is a server based system and can not be done by a phone shop plugging in a cable and clicking a few things on the computer!
If you were the original owner and the phone is now out of contract you can simply contact your provider and they'll take the phone off their 'white list'. The best and easiest solution however in your situation is to use an unlocking agent. Go on ebay and search for iphone o2 unlocking. You'll see lots of buy-it-now ads for this service, you buy-it-now and when on the payment page, click 'add a message'. In the message text box, carefully enter the iphone IMEI number. In about a week you'll get an email advising that it has been done and the steps you need to update the phone. This is usually simply to insert a non-O2 sim card in the phone and plug the phone into iTunes. It'll be unlocked as if by magic!
What you have paid for is the agent gets the provider to release the phone off their white list and then for apple to add it to their database (hence why you have to connect to iTunes afterwards)
The ebay agent service works very well and I've unlocked countless phones this way for customers, in fact I've just had the email from an agent to tell me a iphone 5 unlock I ordered last Saturday is now done.#
You are very lucky that the phone is O2. This is one of the cheapest to unlock, £9.99. Vodafone unlocks cost about £17, EE is expensive at 50 odd quid and 3 unlocking is a stupid £70 odd! Its the providers who ramp their costs to make it this way.
I can PM you the O2 unlock agent I use on the bay of E if you like.

Oh, just one thing. From the moment you order the service until after its been done, 'find my phone' has to be switched OFF. Dunno why, just something to do with Apple and their quirky systems

In reply to wilkie14c:

thanks for all the help folks, im going to try it direct via Tesco, if I don't get any result then I think I will try wilkies e bay route mentioned above. thanks.

In reply to buzby:
There was none of this to worry about when Buzby was around!

In reply to Andrew Wilson:

yeah, your not joking, back to the days of land lines , no internet, film cameras, and 3 channels on the telly. sometimes I wonder if all this shit today makes us any happier. ive got my doubts.lol.