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[Updated] Fido/Rogers Introduce New Device Unlocking Policy, iPhone Included
Update 1: via twitter
atekant: @iPhoneinCanada I am on the phone with Fido and talking to the unlock guy right now. there doesn’t seem to be a problem with the iPhone
Update 2: the unlocking process explained via @atekant. He was told to restore his iPhone and it would be “unlocked” via iTunes
611->1st guy: huh?->2nd guy: how did you know?->3rd guy (unlock guy): check info & eligibility, done over the phone (done via Apple)
@atekant restored iPhone 3GS to factory 4.2.1. There was no message or indication of an unlock. Popped an AT&T SIM into 3GS and did not receive the “Invalid SIM” error. EU Wind SIM: works; O2 SIM: flashed “Invalid SIM”, then disappeared.
@atekant is restoring from iPhone backup. “Plugged the phone to iTunes with O2 sim. It said verifying iPhone, and now it is at emergency call screen. Rebooting once more…”
@atekant Rebooted with O2 sim without being plugged. It coughed and I am on Rogers network. Just received a text from O2 asking for more money
———————————————————————————–
We received a tip this morning that Rogers/Fido are going to be the first Canadian wireless carriers to unlock Rogers/Fido devices for a fee. This is reportedly a new policy that the company is rolling out.
Rogers/Fido Handset Unlocking Policy
Effective December 14, 2010, Rogers/Fido have introduced a new device unlocking policy that allows Rogers/Fido customers to unlock their device for a $50.00 fee. The policy applies to consumer phones, smartphones, embedded laptops, and rocket sticks depending on manufacturer restrictions.
To have a device unlocked, a customer must:
- Have an account in good standing
- Have paid the un-subsidized / no term cost for the device at least 30 days prior OR have finished their Commitment Period (contract)
- Unlock a device which is listed in their equipment history (no grey market devices)
- Pay a $50 unlocking fee plus applicable taxes (note: prepaid customers must have a $50 plus the applicable taxes, balance on their account)
As always, there is a handy Rogers/Fido Q&A:
How can a customer have their phone unlocked?
- The unlock service is available through the Customer Care team (1-888-481-3436 or 1-888-Rogers1)
What are the risks for unlocking devices?
- Some features on the phone/device might be compromised by the unlocking and could affect its performance on our network. Our devices are optimized to work on the network for which they were purchased. Not all settings will work outside the carrier that certified the device.
- Warranty may become void by some manufacturers if unlocked outside the Rogers/Fido policy or software has been tampered with.
- In regard to our wireless handsets, customers have the added benefit of our Fido Repair and Loaner service which will help cover the cost if their device is defective.
If a customer brings in a phone for service, please:
- Ask the customer if their phone has been unlocked; if yes, was it unlocked within the Rogers/Fido policy?
- If unlocked within the Rogers/Fido policy and the software has not been tampered with then there is no impact on the warranty. Note that if unlocked outside the Rogers/Fidopolicy or the software has been tampered with then the warranty may be void.
- Advise the customer the phone can potentially be re-locked as part of the repair process and if they wish to have it unlocked again, the policy and charge applies.
- In order for a customer to take advantage of either the Fido Repair and Loaner service, the customer’s device brand must correspond to the currently active CTN (i.e. Fido CTN cannot be sent for repair with Rogers branded hardware and vice versa).
- All Hardware service transactions where the CTN brand does not correspond to the hardware brand will have to be processed manually. Customer will have to provide proof of purchase in order to proceed with manual In Warranty Repair.
Device unlocking fee list:
Alberta
- $52.50 (with tax)
British Columbia
- $56.00 (with tax)
Manitoba
- $56.00 (with tax)
New Brunswick
- $56.50 (with tax)
Newfoundland & Labrador
- $56.50 (with tax)
Nova Scotia
- $57.50 (with tax)
Ontario
- $56.50 (with tax)
Prince Edward Island
- $57.75 (with tax)
Québec
- $56.44 (with tax)
Saskatchewan
- $55.00 (with tax)
Thanks to Gordun Ramsie and Jakub for the tip!
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Wow, iPhone is still missing..BTW, I bought my 3GS outright last year at apple store with no subsidy from fido, but it is locked to Fido as it is my network then. In order to have it unlocked and use it somewhere else, i’m going to pay $56?
This is ridiculous, they have no right to lock my iPhone in their network as i bought it full price and yet they will be rewarded with that fee? They should offer it for free when presented with receipt showing full payment!!!
$50 sounds bullshit to me…. $20 is the max for the unlocking. it shouldn’t have been locked at the beginning anyway. and iPhone is a miss as well. In Australia, I know ppl get official unlock for free as long as they’ve been using the service for a period of time like 30 days something..
not to mention this part “Advise the customer the phone can potentially be re-locked as part of the repair process and if they wish to have it unlocked again, the policy and charge applies.” sounds even more ridiculous to me…..
oh, man…..throwing something new is always good,,, it’s just a bad try…..
they cannot lock your iphone if you purchased outright. it’s not even possible.
this unlocking service is for those subsided phone from fido.
Good job Rogers.
Price is a bit steep though. $20 is reasonable.
Will this work on an old iPhone 3G after I have upgraded to iPhone 4?
Looking to give my old phone to a relative who is on Bell (i am with Rogers)
Sure they can, the only unlocked phones you can buy outright are from Apple. When you buy them from the carrier they’ll be locked. For now anyway.
just came of the phione with rogers toronto.. yes they will do iphone 4
iPhone 3GS unlocked successfully on Rogers. Got home, placed Bell SIM into iPhone and connected to iTunes. Received the iPhone has been unlocked screenshot as previously seen around the world. iPhone is working on Bell. Pulled out Bell SIM and went back to the Rogers SIM and it works flawlessly.
No restore required if you have another carrier’s SIM card, just need to attach to iTunes for activation.
Granted $50 is a rip but a step in the right direction.
Are you out of contract with the 3GS or did you buy the 3GS outright locked?
Ok you have to have th phone bought out outright.. in other words paid full price for it.. And rogers will unlock it for 50 dollars once you were locked into them.. if your on contract you would not be able to unlock
Unlocked 3GS through Fido. Here is the procedure:
– Call Fido, ask about the unlock. Prepare for confused reps at least today
– Your eligibility is confirmed, and you are transferred to another rep who will do the unlock. $56 goes on your bill
– Your info and IMEI is confirmed. You wait while the unlock rep connects to the unlock computer (at Apple?) to process your request and waits for confirmation.
– He gets the confirmation and tells you you are done, and when you want to put a different SIM in, you have to restore to factory and setup your phone as a “new phone”, and it should work
I did not buy this, and tried different ways. Here is the rest of the story
– I was on a pwned 4.0, unlocked with an old BB, so the first step is to plug the phone in and update to factory 4.2.1. (for some reason this took 3 reboots for me)
– Updated to 4.2.1 with all data and apps intact. At this point I was expecting a message saying I am unlocked. No such message appeared.
– Plug in AT&T sim, it sits there with half a bar and no carrier name, and no searching for service. Getting nervous, but lack of “Invalid SIM” is good news.
– Try it with Wind.it sim, same thing
– Try it with O2.uk sim, it flashed “Invalid SIM” for a moment, but went back to the blank stare mode
– With the O2 sim in, I plugged the phone in to iTunes. It immediately went to Emergency call screen. iTunes displayed a “Verifying phone” message for a few seconds and it stopped doing anything, including seeing the phone in the device list.
– I unplugged the phone and rebooted (with O2 sim).
– It came back, with the sim working, on Rogers network, and having service (other than I have no money on the sim).
– Tried Wind.it and AT&T sims again, this time they did the usual searching -> no service thing (normal behaviour when in Canada)
– So the phone is now unlocked, without having to setup as new phone/restore from backup deal.
I know the above story is convoluted and confusing, but I decided to include every step as I am not sure which exact step gave it the kick it needed. But if you ask me, to avoid a restore, these are the important steps:
– update to factory 4.2.1 (if you are not already there)
– unplug phone
– insert alternate sim and reboot (sim not working but no error state)
– plug phone in (emergency call state, and iTunes verifies phone)
– unplug phone (still in emergency call)
– reboot
– new sim is now active
Good luck all
Argun
contacted Fido today and they confirmed iPhone 4 can be unlocked for $50 plus tax with all the above conditions.. interesting…
I’m in toronto, ONT btw.
Thanks for updating us in such detail Argun! 🙂
It would be cheaper to buy an unlocked iPhone 4 from Apple, versus buying outright + $50 from Rogers/Fido.
It would be cheaper to buy an unlocked iPhone 4 from Apple, versus buying outright + $50 from Rogers/Fido.
It’s a start from Rogers/Fido, but I agree $50 is a bit steep.
It’s a start from Rogers/Fido, but I agree $50 is a bit steep.
Funny, I was watching for that unlocked screen, but it never came.
Maybe things got convoluted because my BB was old, and it missed the update if it came before I was on 4.2.1
The iPhone was purchased out of contract, but of course locked a year and a half ago.
Thank you for clarification.
uhh this article claims rogers/fido is the first carrier to offer this? Bell has been offering unlocking of HSPA devices for almost a year now ($75 fee). unlike rogers/fido policy, bell will let you unlock any Bell phone (except iPhone), even if you’re still on a contract.
keywords: except for iPhone.
I hope Virgin jumps on board with this.. ( with iPhone unlock and no contract restrictions)
Interesting call to Rogers. 1st rep was young and unbelievably rude. Told me Roger’s never unlocks phones. Directed to the iphoneincanada.ca website. Told me it was a hack site and they didn’t make Roger’s policies, then proceeded to tell me to google ‘unlock my iphone’. After having actually read your site she then said it was obviously only Fido and not Rogers. I told her Roger’s owns Fido and it applied to Rogers as well. She told me Rogers didn’t own FIDO at all…she apparently missed many training sessions on EVERYTHING.
2nd call went to customer service directly and the girl actually knew what I was talking about and got me to the right unlock department. I had an old 3G that I had when I was with Fido, moved to Rogers a year later to upgrade to 3GS without paying early cancellation charges. (Fido store rep suggestion). Sold the 3GS to a buddy on Rogers so no need to unlock and ended up buying an unlocked 4 from Apple. The 3G I kept as no one I knew had a FIDO account. Turns out that despite moving over to Rogers the system still keeps track of the device on the old Fido account and I have to wait the full 3 years until Nov 2011 (bought in Nov 2008) before they can put in the unlock code request in. Despite the fact that I resigned my contract for another 3 years with Rogers and the old contract was cancelled. Unless I wanted to pay the cancellation charges till Nov 2011 AND pay the $50 upgrade cost….I know this is an unusual set of circumstances but I never thought I’d still be held to an OLD contract when I resigned for a new one. Totally bizzaro!
**Just to clarify the first call got me to Technical support somehow. I hung up and called back and waited for Cusotmer Service.
Ah… the incompetency of reps.
It’s amazing an Internet blog knows more about policy than an employee of the company.
No way!! $50 is much lower than I expected.
Good job Rogers!!
You can buy iPhone 3GS from Apple Store outright purchase before the iPhone 4 came out. Initially, it is unlocked but once you pop in a SIM, it will be locked to that carrier, in my case FIDO. Ex, is it morally legal for FIDO to charge for the unlock while they don’t have anything to do with my purchase of iPhone? FIDO should even say “thank you for using FIDO” because I chose them against BELL or Telus? Should I demand the free unlock because in the first place, it shouldn’t be lock to them as it is my iPhone and not from them?
i agree
Morally, no. They shouldn’t be locking it to begin with. But unfortunately, morals tend to get tossed aside in business.
Especially when that business is the Canadian wireless industry. We’ve been making some decent steps in the right direction over the past month or so though. Telus and Rogers unlocking phones will likely force everyone else to do it.
The $50 charge is a bit much to get your own phone back once the contract has been completed though. Here’s to hoping that’ll be reduced over time or as the result of legislation.
im a bit confused by the “rules” of the unlock
Have an account in good standing
Have paid the un-subsidized / no term cost for the device at least 30 days prior OR have finished their Commitment Period (contract)
Unlock a device which is listed in their equipment history (no grey market devices)
Pay a $50 unlocking fee plus applicable taxes (note: prepaid customers must have a $50 plus the applicable taxes, balance on their account)
I bought my 3GS used from someone that did not need his phone any longer. he got a blackberry from his work and didnt need to carry a personal phone anymore.
it is a FIDO locked phone and I am on the ROGERS network.
i don’t have a FIDO account in good standing. (i don’t have a FIDO account at all but I have a ROGERS account in good standing)
is buying a used phone considered “grey market”?
is there much point in me calling FIDO to get my phone changed over?
So who has the guts to test a 4.1+ UltraSn0w unlocked iPhone with the iPad baseband? It would be interesting to see what happens there. Especially considering the dev team has made it pretty clear that you’re stuck on the iPad baseband and can never install stock firmware again.
I got my iPhone 4, purchased with subsidy (actually I got it free with some negotiations with retentions) unlocked by Rogers. Cost me $50, but having a factory unlocked for for a total of $50 isn’t bad. Now if I could just get my plan adjusted so I keep my retentions plan but terminate the contract for free, I am golden.
Oh and it took 2 hours yesterday to get it done because they are very confused as to how to handle it. I ended up on the phone 4 different people.
You can try, since it is a Rogers dept that does the unlock for both Rogers and Fido. Yes, buying it used would be consider grey market. They problem is that when trace the history of your IMEI it will come back that it was purchased with a subsidy that has not yet been completed. They _might_ still be willing to do it, but I doubt it. I would call Rogers and ask.
Way too much. Them selling a locked device and then unlocking it, even though you own it outright is not much different than me offering not to break your legs for $50.
I’d like an answer to this as well. My wife is currently using my old 3G with a Jailbreak/Unlock situation, but I’d rather have it done officially.
Yeah, but they still paid for a big portion of your 3g. Makes sense to me.
Hi all
I am Elise from Roger social media team. It’s interesting to read your feedback on this new policy.
I just wanted to touch base to explain why we are charging for this service. There is a lot involved from a technical and an administrative point of view to provide this value-added service and, as well, preserve the integrity of Rogers network. We not only provide the unlock code but also, whenever possible, walk you through the whole process to ensure everything is going fine.
I also wanted to apologize for those of you who encountered some glitches yesterday, the program is still very new and we have trained a special group of care reps so we’re still ramping up a bit!
Thank you for your feedback and don’t hesitate to contact me via Twitter: @RogersElise
Hi all
I am Elise from Roger social media team. It’s interesting to read your feedback on this new policy.
I just wanted to touch base to explain why we are charging for this service. There is a lot involved from a technical and an administrative point of view to provide this value-added service and, as well, preserve the integrity of Rogers network. We not only provide the unlock code but also, whenever possible, walk you through the whole process to ensure everything is going fine.
I also wanted to apologize for those of you who encountered some glitches yesterday, the program is still very new and we have trained a special group of care reps so we’re still ramping up a bit!
Thank you for your feedback and don’t hesitate to contact me via Twitter: @RogersElise
Why not just get an manufacturer unlocked phone from Apple? I can’t see Rogers is doing anything good. Other than they are selling you an originally unlocked phone, lock it and now ask you for $50 to unlock it….
how did you get around the rules? the phone was purchased with subsidy and they still unlocked it for you?
If you were to buy one now, yes, you would be better to just go straight to Apple and buy an unlocked phone and it would be cheaper. But, if you have an existing phone from Rogers and your contract is over, now you have a way to unlock it. It is sort of crazy that they are charging $50, but if every unlock takes 2-3 hours, I guess it is justified.
It is great they are offering to unlock. $50 however is insane. The entire process should take no more than 5 minutes. The infrastructure is already in place as they have always been able to provide unlock codes (except for the iPhone). For the iPhone, they have a single computer that is authorized to do unlocking, so let’s say that cost them $1000. There is no justification for $50. Maybe $7, maybe $3, but not $50. They are responsible for locking the property you own, they ought to fix it for a reasonable price. Locked phones are broken phones. They are charging to fix something they are responsible for breaking.
There is nothing “value-added” it is my phone. I pad for it buy agreeing with you on a contract for 3 years. Our agreement is complete, meaning I own the phone. What you are doing is holding me hostage now saying I have to pay up to get free.
“preserve the integrity of Rogers network”, what a bunch of hogwash. You can go buy an unlocked phone and but a rogers sim card in and you are on the network making calls. You are making this up as you go along.
“the program is still very new and we have trained a special group of care reps so we’re still ramping up a bit!”, again more hogwash, unlocking of phones is nothing new.
There is nothing “value-added” it is my phone. I pad for it buy agreeing with you on a contract for 3 years. Our agreement is complete, meaning I own the phone. What you are doing is holding me hostage now saying I have to pay up to get free.
“preserve the integrity of Rogers network”, what a bunch of hogwash. You can go buy an unlocked phone and but a rogers sim card in and you are on the network making calls. You are making this up as you go along.
“the program is still very new and we have trained a special group of care reps so we’re still ramping up a bit!”, again more hogwash, unlocking of phones is nothing new.
HOW DID YOU DO ? EVEN WITH YOUR IPHONE SUBSUDISED ? :O ! TELL US!
Elise, I don’t expect you to respond to this, but felt it should be stated. I appreciate your comment, but there really is no way to justify a $50 charge. Providing unlock codes or provisioning the IMEI with Apple should take no more than 5 minutes (10 if we are really generous) and you know well that the infrastructure was already in place (except perhaps for the iPhones). Charging to unlock the personal property of someone else seems like a bit of a racket. Charging $50 makes it a very profitable racket.
Having said that, I will also say kudos for at least bringing it this far.
so if i got promo pricing on the iphone 4 or 3g then i cant unlock via this service?
you can but only when your contract expires (or maybe when you terminate your contract)
Sorry, no can do. Hate to be a dick.