A Telstra customer apparently wins a battle over unlocking his iPhone for FREE. An iTWire reader by the username of “Mac User” claims that he bought an iPhone outright from Telstra and denied to pay $150 unlock fee and he won. He has a valid point, he bought the iPhone outright which doesn’t have any contract with Testra then why will it be locked to Telstra?

“Any Telstra phone you buy ‘outright’ means exactly that - OUTRIGHT, unless of course you buy a prepaid phone, where it clearly states that it is locked to the Telstra network, and unlocking charges are between $50 and $200 depending on phone.

This is fair enough, as you get a subsidised phone, with a sim, and usually a couple of dollars of call credits, But all the other phones, if you buy them ‘outright’ then you buy the phone for the RRP, and walk away, no plans, no contracts, no SIM.” 

So he then spent his weekend doing extensive research on Fair Trading Act 1999 and other rules and regulations and found more than a few Breaches to help his case against Telstra and their unfair Unlocking Charge. And so he finally did. He called Telstra and got his iPhone unlocked for FREE.

If this is true then it means that Telstra cannot charge the unlocking fee for the iPhones purchased outright, and could even mean that Telstra needs to refund the fee to anyone who has paid for it. Well, we can just assume that’s the case, not guarantee anything. And if you think you’ve paid $150 for unlocking your iPhone and want to spend the weekend reading “The Australian Communications and Media Authority industry code for customer information on pricing, various parts of the Telecommunications Act, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Office of Fair Trading and Telstra’s own terms and conditions”, then you may give it a go and try and get your money back or unlock your iPhone like “Mac User” did. Good luck if you’re trying. And don’t forget to keep us posted if you do so.

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iPhone News, iPhone Unlock