Best Buy no-commitment iphone 5

use the online AT&T unlock web site to unlock it. takes a few days

catgo said:

Just purchased a new at&t iphone 5 from best buy for full price ($699.00). I am planning on using the phone overseas with a local carrier. I currently do not have an at&t sim card to be able to activate and unlock the phone. Im using the blank sim that came with the phone but apparently it doesn't work.

I restore the phone on itunes to get it unlocked however i do not get the unlock successful message and once i pop my non-at&t sim to the phone I get a message letting me know the phone is locked.

What can I do to get it to activate?

Thanks

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was the 699 with tax included already?

Don't you need to have an AT&T account to buy the no-commitment iPhone outside the Apple Stores?

either apply on at&T website or if you want it done instant and done right then message will strafach (@chronic) and he will take care of it for $35 and you will be set for life.


Edit: You paid $50 extra and I would take the Apple.com print out along with local apple store pricing and have bestbuy refund you that $50 since it is $649.99 no commitment price. Bestbuy will reduce the price if you call them out on it but charge you $50 premium if you say nothing. I would do that and send $35 to will and have an unlocked iphone 5 instead of a locked overpriced phone
--



Will Strafach <will@chronicwire.com>

Thanks,
Will Strafach
will@chronicwire.com
Twitter: @chronic + @chronicwire

catgo said:

No..plus tax...came up to aprox $749 I believe. I think* i got the phone activated, I have it working on a At&t go phone sim and was able to sync all my apps and information.

However, when I restore on iTunes to get it "unlocked" it just does a normal restore, I do not get the "your phone is unlocked" message nor does the non-at&t sim work. I have submitted the unlock request to at&t and will be faxing them the receipt shortly. Hopefully this will do the trick.

Thoughts?

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this is for the 16g?

PeterTran said:

this is for the 16g?

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yeah, best buy charges $699 for the 16 gb + tax

Return the iphone, buy a regular att model and use ebay to unlock for 5 bucks.

mattopotamus said:

yeah, best buy charges $699 for the 16 gb + tax

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on their site, they said they match the iphone price at the apple store so i think you could have gotten it for 650+tax would be 700

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Will you price match with the Best Buy site on my mobile phone (m.bestbuy.com), iPhone and Android apps?
Yes. M.bestbuy.com, the iPhone and Android applications have the same pricing and are treated the same as BestBuy.com.
-best buy

Dtp8513 said:

Return the iphone, buy a regular att model and use ebay to unlock for 5 bucks.

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This only works if you want a two year commitment to AT&T. So if the OP is an existing AT&T customer and just wants the unlock so they can travel Overseas then yes you suggestion to purchase a subsidized AT&T iPhone 5 would be an option.

Dave

catgo said:

Just purchased a new at&t iphone 5 from best buy for full price ($699.00). I am planning on using the phone overseas with a local carrier. I currently do not have an at&t sim card to be able to activate and unlock the phone. Im using the blank sim that came with the phone but apparently it doesn't work.

I restore the phone on itunes to get it unlocked however i do not get the unlock successful message and once i pop my non-at&t sim to the phone I get a message letting me know the phone is locked.

What can I do to get it to activate?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Just because you paid "full" price does not mean the device is unlocked by default. It matter how the transaction was processed. As others have indicated, since you paid "full" price, AT&T will unlock your iPhone 5.

You will need to provide proof that you paid "full" price. You can start on the AT&T Unlock web page https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/client/en_US/

Once you get it unlocked by AT&T or via eBay then you will be able to complete your activation steps using any Nano-SIM.

Dave

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catgo said:

I'll definitely stop by and see if they can do anything to get those $50 + tax back. I have been looking for an iphone for the past week in s. florida and when i called and they told they had a few i raced to get there asap. Hopefully the unlock code from at&t will allow me to use the phone on other carriers.

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There is no unlock code that AT&T will provide to you. They submit a request to Apple with your iPhone 5 IMEI to update the Apple database to allow your iPhone 5 to be unlocked during the next "Restore". Also note that you may not get "Unlock Message" unless you do a "Restore" as new and then you can restore your backup.

Dave

How long does it usually take for AT&T to do the unlock request?

It was my understanding that all full price phones are unlocked. It was also my understanding that you cannot use these ebay services to unlock a phone that is not activated (a phone number assigned).

Even the ATT unlock process will not work until the phone activated.

I have tried twice to get ATT to unlock my 4s (not in service) and both times I have been rejected.

ZipZap said:

It was my understanding that all full price phones are unlocked. It was also my understanding that you cannot use these ebay services to unlock a phone that is not activated (a phone number assigned).

Even the ATT unlock process will not work until the phone activated.

I have tried twice to get ATT to unlock my 4s (not in service) and both times I have been rejected.

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this is not true. Only at the apple store is it true. If you buy a full price iphone at the apple store as device only (in att's case) it will be unlocked but if you buy it at other places such as best buy, target, radioshack, or walmart, it will not be unlocked.

Must Unlock my new iPhone 5 AT&T bought in Best Buy

PeterTran said:

this is not true. Only at the apple store is it true. If you buy a full price iphone at the apple store as device only (in att's case) it will be unlocked but if you buy it at other places such as best buy, target, radioshack, or walmart, it will not be unlocked.

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So, what's the best and fastest way to unlock my new iPhone 5, AT&T case which was bougt without contract, full price at Best Buy? Thank you!

PeterTran said:

this is not true. Only at the apple store is it true. If you buy a full price iphone at the apple store as device only (in att's case) it will be unlocked but if you buy it at other places such as best buy, target, radioshack, or walmart, it will not be unlocked.

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I bought one from Best Buy in Plano TX, it came unlocked. Activated fine with my non AT&T SIM Card and using it with Mexico Telcel Carrier. They Best Buy guy wanted to activate it for me, I just said no and asked him to just charge me for the phone and don't do anything else.

Use one of the sites that has an imei lookup and see of its already unlocked. Unlock fusion will do it for $6.

Full price phones should be unlocked.

Well I am confused. If you have paid the full price why are you even trying to unlock? Shouldn't your phone be unlocked right away ?

I bought my unlocked iPhone 5 from apple store directly at 649$ + tax coming up to 715$. I didn't have to do anything. Just put in my tmobile nano sim and I was on the network in 5 mins.