I sent an email to my sister in New York to tell her the end of my saga with the "new to me" used IPhone 5 I bought off craigslist when I was visitng her, and it ended up being a really long silly story- so silly I decided to make it- with a couple of edits my blog for today- cause anyone who has a smart phone, or upgraded to a new one...or is over 25 years old and struggling with a new smart phone will understand! Ok here goes...
Ok little preface: So I bought the phone and then tried to get it unlocked so I could by Telcel chip in Mexico and use it like a go phone, which is what I have been doing the past 2.5 years with my Iphone 3GS. So you know, in some ways the U.S. is exactly the same as Mexico ha ha. I think we went to at least 4 different places and of course I got 4 different answers on how to get the phone unlocked. The only one who thought they could do it was unsure if he's have the phone back by the end of my stay so I did not leave it with him. When I had been in Calif trying to buy a phone and do the same thing I was also told they had to "keep" the phone while it happened. This is not true, as it turns out. I spent quite a bit of time in the afternoon/evenings with AT&T on the phone with customer service trying to get them to unlock, especially since I found out they're shipping the new phones unlocked anyway. The biggest reason (excuse) they gave me was I had to wait 6 months as a new customer. I thought about that, then called back asking for a supervisor (after 2 calls with the exact same script being read to me, with a crappy connection to, I believe based on accents-India) and finally got a supervisor. I told her I was not a new customer.. I had been with AT&T for years! Before cell phones! When you made an overseas call and chose your carrier I always picked AT&T! I could give them previous phone numbers! They could look me up, I had different last name because i changed husbands more than I changed phone carriers! (I thought that was pretty funny & creative) and maybe she did too, because after much time of being on hold they decided to wave the 6 months. Now the 6 month thing I objected to because I was leaving for Mexico in 10 day and would be there the entire 6 months and if I had to keep the phone active I would be paying for a phone I could not use! Oh but you can- for something like .25cents a minute plus roaming plus blah blah blah.....Ok so she comes back and says.. well if you can fax me the original receipt we will unlock it. Oh! I said ok so finally you are agreeing that it CAN be done- it is just not your policy...now we are getting somewhere since previously they kept insisting it was impossible which was making me nuts!
However....I gently reminded her that the entire reason for my call was that it was a used phone I purchased from a college kid who upgraded to a new phone. I did not have the receipt. Oh she was so sad that she could not help me. I told her- well this is why people go to these websites and pay to have them unlocked outside of AT&T...I would have been happy to pay you. She gave me quite a stern lecture about using those websites, it was illegal and everyone is going to be in big trouble. To make certain she didn't put me on some blacklist (ha ha there really was a list, but I believe it's for stolen phones and I was not on it- at one place they actually checked that for me), I thanked her and said I'd try to get the receipt. Well I'd looked at a couple of online sites, but was nervous about it so wrote them down and went to yet another phone store to ask. This guy was great, and he is the one who said you shouldn't leave it with me because it might not get done before you leave...and he also at the 2 or 3 websites I had narrowed down to, and said he had used the UK site 3 times and it worked......ok so I bring the phone to Mexico...I can text for free to the states ha ha but make no phone calls even tho I paid $25 for a month. Went to the UK site, but when I chose it, the price went up and so did the hairs on the back of my neck. So I backed out and chose a different site for $30. A week went by, then 10 days, and oooops didn't work but they did refund my money. Ok back to the UK site, who now made the same offer for half the original price! hmmm ok. A week went by and I got the sorry AT&T barred us.....(sad face)..but we can bypass it for $. But it was only another $25 USD so I eneded up paying about $60 all together which is still WAY better than paying AT&T for 6 months to not use the phone but keep the number active to prove I am an AT&T customer and then they would be happy to do it.............how do you make the "wrong answer" buzzer sound?? Saturday I got an email that the phone was unlocked, to put the non AT&T sim card in and turn on the phone.
H aha we went to a Telcel store we like in Ensenada and this lady sold us a chip (after some consternation trying to get my fancy new Otterbox case off). The chip didn't fit!! My stomach turned, but I reminded myself that I had resigned myself to go the AT&T route if this had failed...so not to worry...but this was a new twist. But gotta love the Mexican people- they make everything work (you should see my laptop..a hinge broke and the screen got messed up, I have a new screen and these 2 shiny bolts in the top case ha ha looks like the little bolts in Frankenstiens neck....all for a few pesos!!
This women whipped out her nail file and whittle down that tiny chip (yeah the sim card for the Iphone 5 is much smaller than for the Iphone 3 which is what I was upgrading from). She whittled away, checked it, nope, whittle a little more, assured me in Spanish she does this "todo al tiempo" (all the time)..and ...IT WORKED!!! That was Saturday morning. Now ready for the email I sent my sister this afternoon? (It's Monday)
Hi,
Thought
I'd share! My Iphone is unlocked & it was the UK site. about $60
but I'd rather give to them than to AT&T!! Well this is why I like
to keep the same phone as long as possible ha ha. As it turned out- THAT
was the easy part ha ha!! A combination of things kept me frustrated I
tell ya!! Everardo had said he was not interested in my old phone but
we'd keep it because even without putting any $ on it he could use the
magic jack so stay in touch with his side of the family for free and not
need me to be here with my phone in order for him to do that. ahh ok
good.
But
then he started fooling with it at exactly the same time I started
trying to update mine once it was unlocked. Sounds ok- except- we needed
both our Itunes passwords, our email passwords, our interent code for
the house...etc...and in some ways he's just like Barry! Babe- what's my
password for this? Babe what's my password for this? Babe what's my
password for this? At the same time I'm trying to do mine. And of course
chubby fingers hitting tiny touch screens we always make mistakes...then
itunes made him change his password like they did me when I was at your
house...use caps, no consecutive letters at least one number...oh is that a zero or a one?
PLS KILL ME NOW!!
This
was Saturday evening. Friday nite we were up between about 2am and 4:30
because the house next door was on fire!! It turned out to be the
garage, intentionally set...but the building is a tiny alzheimers
facility- only 6 or 8 clients, but all about 1000 years old. We helped
evacuate them, then a bunch of fire trucks, cops...people all over the
place. Shoulda slept all day Saturday but we got up early as planned to
check out a new vege/fruit stalls in a big segunda place far end of
Ensenada...got there and no parking for blocks on end....changed our
minds because we were crabby & tired...so went to Telcel & then came home, showered and went
the "annual rib cook off" as promised....hot sun....not sure why we
didn't go to bed at 6pm ha ha. The rib cook off was fun- you bought tickets for 15 pesos and the got a rib and a side order...so you could try several booths with different kinds of ribs. So got home and- decided to mess with the phones. I
was so tired.....but soooo determined...yep me the dog with a bone...but
mr dog with a bone was sitting next to me with his own bone- but kept
asking me questions! Did I say pls kill me now??
Somehow
I connected to the "ICloud" even though I swear I repeatedly said
"NO"...and it downloaded over 1250 photos from my laptop to the phone!!
Can you say no memory left?? I messed with that damn phone for more than
2 hours and Everardo's as well because he wiped put my old phone and
reloaded as a new phone...while I had (mistakenly I think) did a restore
from earlier date on mine. Go to bed!! Last nite I wiped my phone out
and reloaded as new....after some other things and 8000 google articles.
I am now an Apple specialist who could work any customer service line
if I can be sure to have a lousy connection and keep repeating the same scripted answers regardless of he question asked! Somehow after carefully writing out all
the phone numbers i didn't want to lose...and it wasn't that many ha ha,
(well 68 I think) I was able to "import" them and I don't know how that happened since I
restored the phone to factory settings! Yipee.
Then
I discovered that the phone didn't ring...only vibrated....Googled
that...known issue- oh that's why it was so cheap! However....I tried
everything (I thought) and the simple answer ended up being...underneath
that fancy case...ringer was off!! Ha ha but now I know how to put my
phone on do not disturb or only ring when Karen & Barry or anyone else I choose calls! The
last thing was my music, that was showing, but grayed out and didn't
play but had little pictures of clouds next to them with a down arrow.
When I tapped that it said it would cost me $ to download the music...my
music??? After I got the living room window replaced from throwing the
phone thru it- which didn't break because of the fancy case.....ok that
was a joke- I only did that in my head....I left that for today. After
my workout and protein drink....I looked at the phone, then
googled....then went to itunes and looked at every icon and message. I
found a button I hadn't checked...clicked it and asked to "sync" my
library (which had been my mortal enemy the other nite with the
photos)....and WA LA! All the music started to copy to the phone...not
sure why it showed it was there...but wasn't.
So
Saturday to Monday it took for my peabrain to become a technical
engineer....and...I can make a local phone call or listen to music!! -Oh
but a local phone call in Mexico is a story for another day which
includes having to dial a 13 digit number if you are dialing from a
landline to a cell phone..and a different 13 digit number if you are
calling landline to cell phone long distance! Terry little house on the
prairie is back in business! And this is why I resist upgrading or getting a new phone....I don't want to learn one more new thing in phone technology!!! My first phone had to be dialed! The over 20 years working in manufacturing of telephone systems so I went down the whole freakin road of
dial phone on the wall, to portable (huge) phone, to cell phone that only worked within a network, fiber optics, to surface mount technology, to fiber to the curb, fiber to the home, to touch screen..to camera phone to the little computers our phones are today...it's so funny, although thinner, the Iphone 5 is actually smaller than the 3GS, so after years and years of smaller faster better...my generation is now needing the drugstore reader glasses to see the small screens so the phones have hit the smallest and now are starting to get bigger again!! ha ha ha ha ha I want offffff the train. I only need a smart phone because for now...magic jack is free on a smart phone and I want to talk to my daughters in the United States every couple of days if I can, and I can...Beyond that... ha ha I hardly use my phone as a phone- I check my email in the morning. I recently bought a camera for the first time in years, so I need the phone even less! Ok ok I do really like the touch screen however....
Oh
and by the way...hubby's phone is working as well, so he wants a new case,
not pink like I had- and he only asked me twice today for passwords! wheew...oh I mean viva!
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