How to tell is iPhone 4S is unlocked?

[5.56 SS109]

A friend of mine thought he lost his iPhone 4S so he cancelled his service through Verizon and got another one, not sure of the carrier.

Anyway he recently found it and I got it for cheap, mainly to use as an iPod Touch if nothing else.

But I am curious if I will ever be able to use it as an actual iPhone or if it being lost and deactivated somehow "killed" its ability to be used as a phone.

So I was wondering if there is any way to tell if I can use ever us it as a phone or if it is unlocked or whatever.

I don't know jack shit about tech or cell phones in general so I have no idea what my options are.

I would mind having some el cheapo talk and text prepaid plan with no data plan, I just use wifi for that.

So, what are my options on making this thing work?

Also, sorry if this is the wrong forum for this question.

[Captain Falcon]

Jam it up your butthole

[5.56 SS109]

Ok.

Should I have it plugged into iTunes when I insert it?

[REDiXP]

Sell it to someone in another country. The IMEI will be blocked from all carriers in your country, so sell it as a near new condition iphone 4s on ebay.com.au or something. So long as it is not locked to his carrier at the time of deactivation it should be fine

Then take cash - buy a different iphone 4s

[Captain Falcon]

No.

Sorry, you got no responses and I thought I might just make a funny/

[roasted]

unless there is some other shady stuff going on with you or your buddy, you should be fine to activate it and use it. About a year ago I lost my phone and since I didnt have a house phone at the time, so I ordered a replacement the same day I lost it. A couple days later I found my original phone jammed in the bottom of my golf bag and I ended up giving it to a friend because I had two identical phones.

It was for Verizon and I never heard anything about it.

If everything else is on the up&up, just go for it and activate it. If Verizon or the insurance company says anything, I'd just be honest with them and tell them what happened (play dumb)

[Zok Jr.]

Verizon uses cdma which means no sim card and whenap phone us reported lost or stolen the IMEI is usually blacklisted meaning the phone is worthless. If it were a gsm you could just take it the sim card.

Also unless he specifically had the phone unlocked, which is usually something people pay for so he should know, them it is not unlocked.

[roasted]

Originally Posted by Zok Jr.

Verizon uses cdma which means no sim card and whenap phone us reported lost or stolen the IMEI is usually blacklisted meaning the phone is worthless. If it were a gsm you could just take it the sim card.

Also unless he specifically had the phone unlocked, which is usually something people pay for so he should know, them it is not unlocked.

I know verizon has the capability to do that, but I dont think they actually blacklist it unless you report it stolen (vs lost). From my personal experience, my lost phone wasnt blacklisted and I had no problems activating it after I gave it away.

If it is blacklisted, a work-around is:

have the original owner reactivate phone #1 it on his account
deactivate phone #1 on original account
activate it on 5.56's account

But like I said, I doubt its blacklisted. Its probably just deactivated

[5.56 SS109]

Originally Posted by Zok Jr.

Verizon uses cdma which means no sim card and whenap phone us reported lost or stolen the IMEI is usually blacklisted meaning the phone is worthless. If it were a gsm you could just take it the sim card.

Also unless he specifically had the phone unlocked, which is usually something people pay for so he should know, them it is not unlocked.

It has a micro sim in a panel on the right side of it.

And, maybe unlocked isn't the right word. I just want to basically use it as a fancy prepaid, not really interested in a plan or anything.

Anyway so you guys think it would be as easy as buying a prepaid micro sim (like an AT&T Go Phone sim or whatever) and just inserting and see if it works?

Thanks for the replies so far.

[roasted]

yeah go for it. Get a cheap prepaid card from WallyWorld and keep the receipt in case it doesnt work. I imagine it will work though