Is my unactivated replacement iphone 3gs unlocked?

Hi,

Ok so I'll avoid a long winded explanation, here are the facts.
I had an AT&T iphone 3gs.
It broke.
I've moved to the UK so I've had it replaced under warranty.
The apple store guy tried to activate it but itunes said the sim wasn't collaborating or something like that.
He told me to hook it up to my computer when I got home.
I was planning to get it unlocked by 'a guy my cousin knows' next week.

So my questions are-
Is it still unlocked since it hasn't been activated yet?
If I buy a 3/voda sim and plug it into itunes with that will it be accepted?
Or is the locking mechanism on the apple database not on the actual sim and phone?

I'm quite lost, I would appreciate any help!

Thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tig

Or is the locking mechanism on the apple database not on the actual sim and phone?

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The locking mechanism is an apple database, your phone is looked up in that database and unlocked if it matches. You can use any GSM SIM card to activate (if your phone is registered in Apple's database as unlocked).

It's not unheard of that a warranty replacement for an AT&T locked phone might not be locked to AT&T, whether this stays unlocked is another question (AT&T don't authorize unlocks unless you purchased a subsidy free phone)