Lost Iphone - Redemption on Tmobile?

[kurabii]

Hey My buddy lost his iphone and claimed it lost/stolen - but then found it last week. I was wondering if i bought it from him could i unlock/jailbreak it for tmobile as i do now with my 3GS. Also how much does it normally cost to replace?

So:

How much does it cost to replace a lost/stolen?
Could i activate it on tmobile if i unlock and jailbreak?
i dont know if its stolen or lost and if it matters which is it that im looking for?

thanks much in advanced

 

[runawayprisoner]

If it's an AT&T iPhone originally, then you can take it to them, report it lost every single day... and reactivate it the next without any problem at all.

It's only Verizon that blacklists ESNs and render phones inactive on their network when they are stolen.

That said, you should be able to use that 3GS however you like. Yes, you can unlock/jailbreak and make it work on T-Mobile network as well.

There is no such thing as a cost to replace for an iPhone as far as I know. If you lost the phone, you have to buy it again brand new.

 

[kurabii]

ok i thought he purchased a new one through insurance. I am talking about an iPhone4 as i have the 3GS. Thanks much for the response

 

[Oyeve]

You would have to chop up your sim card to fit in the iphone 4. I dont know if tmo started selling the micro-sim cards yet but its real easy to do. Ive done it a dozen times.

 

[vshah]

tmobile did recently start selling micro-sims.

 

[runawayprisoner]

ok i thought he purchased a new one through insurance. I am talking about an iPhone4 as i have the 3GS. Thanks much for the response

The iPhone 4 is a bit trickier to unlock. If it's on the latest firmware, you'll have to buy accessories to unlock it and even then, you still have to jump through hoops (jailbreak, mostly) to make the unlock work. iOS 5 has also been confirmed to block unlock so that might be food for thought.