Buying Unlocked iPhone 5 at apple store USA?

Just picked up a device only iPhone 5 at the Apple store North Point in Atlanta. They didn't ask any questions and gladly took the $700. They did keep insisting it was locked to AT&T even if I paid full price. The manager came over and said the same thing. I told them, that is not what I read on the forums. But they said good luck and that I'd have to go to AT&T to have them unlock it.

When I went home, I restored it in iTunes and now I'm good on T-Mobile. Although, I never did get the 'Congratulations, you are unlocked' screen. It is working on T-Mobile so it looks like I should be good. Am I now fully factory unlocked just as if I bought a factory unlocked phone when Apple decides to start selling them?

Congratulations, are you going to ask ATT to unlock it?
Do you have a plan with them? How Did you ask for the phone in the store? I dont live in the US but I have friends around Buckhead area and the couldnt get one iphone as you did. What's the trick?

Thanks in advance for you help!

Max

gtgrad95 said:

Just picked up a device only iPhone 5 at the Apple store North Point in Atlanta. They didn't ask any questions and gladly took the $700. They did keep insisting it was locked to AT&T even if I paid full price. The manager came over and said the same thing. I told them, that is not what I read on the forums. But they said good luck and that I'd have to go to AT&T to have them unlock it.

When I went home, I restored it in iTunes and now I'm good on T-Mobile. Although, I never did get the 'Congratulations, you are unlocked' screen. It is working on T-Mobile so it looks like I should be good. Am I now fully factory unlocked just as if I bought a factory unlocked phone when Apple decides to start selling them?

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max5peru said:

Congratulations, are you going to ask ATT to unlock it?
Do you have a plan with them? How Did you ask for the phone in the store? I dont live in the US but I have friends around Buckhead area and the couldnt get one iphone as you did. What's the trick?

Thanks in advance for you help!

Max

Click to expand...

Why would he ask ATT to unlock it if its already unlocked?

'Congratulations, you are unlocked'

I just restored my brand new iPhone 5 full price 64GB AT&T from the Apple store, but I never saw a 'Congratulations, you are unlocked' screen. Seems like others are also restoring without seeing this screen now. Is there a way to determine if it is unlocked other than putting a T-mobile SIM in? I restored multiple times.

I plan on sticking with AT&T, I just got the unlocked version since I will be travelling internationally quite a bit this year and like to swap in local SIMs. I'd need to go to T-mobile store to try out another SIM.

Do you think it is possible to buy a device only iphone 5 at a Verizon store? Or anyone know if I can purchase it with a month-to-month plan if I'm not a US citizen (no SS number and foreign credit card)? I mean, physically going to a Verizon store.

Angellyca said:

Do you think it is possible to buy a device only iphone 5 at a Verizon store? Or anyone know if I can purchase it with a month-to-month plan if I'm not a US citizen (no SS number and foreign credit card)? I mean, physically going to a Verizon store.

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It should be fine but whether they have them in stock is another question....

Apple stores is currently selling only to those on partner networks. I live in the US and want to buy a full priced iPhone 5 to use on T-mobile. But I am going to wait until their quality problems go away and Apple finally starts selling to anyone who wants to buy one at full price (not just AT&T/Verizon/Sprint). As a regular reader of this forum I have seen too many reports of problems with Wi-Fi speeds, camera issues, scruff marks on the slate model and the like. The yield from Apple's factories has not picked up as yet so I plan to wait. If the wait is too long, then I might just wait for the 5 S model because the iPhone 5 will have become outdated

max5peru said:

Congratulations, are you going to ask ATT to unlock it?
Do you have a plan with them? How Did you ask for the phone in the store? I dont live in the US but I have friends around Buckhead area and the couldnt get one iphone as you did. What's the trick?

Thanks in advance for you help!

Max

Click to expand...

Just to get the official message "congratulations, your phone is unlocked" from itunes

iPhonesandMacs said:

Why would he ask ATT to unlock it if its already unlocked?

Click to expand...

I'm in Canada and bought an unlocked phone from apple.ca. I never got any messages from iTunes after doing a restore, so it's normal.

I think the message will only appear for phones that were previously locked, then unlocked. Not for factory unlocked phones...

It works in the US!!!

I can verify from first hand experience that you can buy an AT&T iphone 5 at $649 plus tax from an apple store and restore it through iTunes to get an actual "Congrats" screen saying the iphone is unlocked. Before cutting my sim card in my iphone 3gs, i used the T-mobile @home sim from my router and put it in my 3gs to see if would work as I recently changed the home line from a landline to an actual voice (cell) line. It called out fine so I trimmed down the card to the nano size sim card. Once i got it to fit, I inserted the sim tray back in the iphone 5 and it did it's normal "searching" and now it shows "T-mobile". Calls are fine. Still gotta put the text message or cellular data info in but I'm just happy it works!!! No waiting for 7 days or filling out a request for unlock form, just restore.

Bought the iphone 5 from an apple store in Hawaii last night and restored it this morning.

Island Boy

Angellyca said:

Do you think it is possible to buy a device only iphone 5 at a Verizon store? Or anyone know if I can purchase it with a month-to-month plan if I'm not a US citizen (no SS number and foreign credit card)? I mean, physically going to a Verizon store.

Click to expand...

I've been to a Verizon store and they had iPhones on stock but I couldn't get one. They said that even without contract the phone had to be linked to a number and to have that number I needed to provide some documents. If I didn't have a Social Security number I had to give a 400$ deposit but most important I MUST provide an utility bill that states MY name AND a US address. Being a guest obviously I don't have US bills with my name on it. So... no iPhone 5 for me unless I can convince someone to buy it for me with their personal data. I'm so sad... It would have been better if they hadn't them in stock... but to see it and not being able to buy it was really depressing!

i just bot 2 ip5 but the verizon ones, without contract, with device only and full price. i am assuming this will work with tmo, correct?

and where do you get the new sim for ip5?

troyhouse said:

i just bot 2 ip5 but the verizon ones, without contract, with device only and full price. i am assuming this will work with tmo, correct?

and where do you get the new sim for ip5?

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Why do people have such bad grammar on these internet forums....

Anyways go to a t-mobile shop and they'll give you a sim.... What state and store did you buy it from?

Any Verizon iphone 5 is factory unlocked...
Whether you buy It with a plan or not.

How I know this
I work for best buy mobile.
I opened a Verizon iphone 5 and put my at&t sim card inside and it worked just fine.
You won't get LTE on it here though unless you go with the carrier it was made for.

macman312 said:

Why do people have such bad grammar on these internet forums....

Anyways go to a t-mobile shop and they'll give you a sim.... What state and store did you buy it from?

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Did you buy them at a Verizon Store or Apple Store or online?

device only iP5 verizon at Apple Store Chicago

Friday afternoon called a couple of Apple stores in Chicago. Both said that device only sale is available for AT&T only. Friday evening a little before the closing time, swung by Apple store at Lincoln Park, asked one of the staff person if it is possible to make a device only purchase on a verizon iP5.

The apple genius scanned an iP5 32 gb and told me it was approved for device only purchase (no contract)! Not sure whether such sales depend on daily sale quota algorithm or really up to the genius but contrary to reports, I was able to pick up an iP5 32gb black verizon model with out a contract for $749. As far as eyes can tell, couldn't see any scratches. (Probably a different matter under a microscope.) A week 45 built. Would have taken a 64 gb model if it was available. May go back for a swap to 64 gb.

Angellyca said:

Did you buy them at a Verizon Store or Apple Store or online?

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bought from apple store. verizon device only, full price.

troyhouse said:

bought from apple store. verizon device only, full price.

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that may have been true for you, but you need to give context to your answer (as in both location and date).

initially, you could buy a device only Verizon iPhone 5 from any Apple Store, then some time after that some locations started restricting device only purchases to AT&T models (3 of my nearby Apple Stores are like this).

Nickolaubr said:

If you're a legitimate ATT or VZ user and is not eligible for an upgrade, apple allows you to buy a full price unit.

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you don't have to be a customer, I just bought 2 iPhone 5s yesterday device only with no questions asked

Lick said:

You didn't really ask a question but I'm in the same boat as you. Gonna stick this thing on straight talk and I want to know is it would be better the get the verizon version or the At&T one? Apparently they both should work fine with it but which version is gonna have a higher resale in a year?

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Used 4 or 4S. iPhone 5 is useless on ST, since ST doesn't do LTE. At that point, you may as well just have a 4S, as the only thing you're gaining is the HSPA+21, and you're losing a lot for that...

BiggAW said:

Used 4 or 4S. iPhone 5 is useless on ST, since ST doesn't do LTE. At that point, you may as well just have a 4S, as the only thing you're gaining is the HSPA+21, and you're losing a lot for that...

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cuz of course the only thing worth getting an iphone 5 over 4/4S for is the LTE

ANMA dojo said:

cuz of course the only thing worth getting an iphone 5 over 4/4S for is the LTE

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That's the only good difference. It's a bigger device, and it uses a proprietary new connector. Anyone not using LTE or without access to LTE has no reason to get a 5 unless they need to upgrade their current phone. If they have a 4 or a 4S, they should just stick with that.

BiggAW said:

Used 4 or 4S. iPhone 5 is useless on ST, since ST doesn't do LTE. At that point, you may as well just have a 4S, as the only thing you're gaining is the HSPA+21, and you're losing a lot for that...

Click to expand...

ohhhhhhhh....reallly.

I have straight talk and would never waste my time with iphone 4 or 4s if the 5 is available. I sold my 4s for $509 and upgraded to iphone 5 for $649. Do you realize what you typed up and only talking about data speeds . I guess the higher saturation screen, quad core processor(edit: DUAL), hd facetime/front camera, weight savings, battery life gain due to processor efficiency, lightning connector, larger screen and new earbuds have no benefit on straight talk . I guess if you don't have LTE that means you are not using any of the other hardware benefits.

Just cause you don't have a iphone 5 or can't afford / spend that much does not mean there is no benefits. How ever you want to justify your self but my wife and I are both enjoying the shizz out of our iphone 5 on straight talk. I could care less about 25mbps and 7mbps is more than plenty for my needs but lag and delay of the a5 processor compared to a6 is HUGE. Weight savings, battery life and other perks are icing on the cake.

faiz23 said:

ohhhhhhhh....reallly.

I have straight talk and would never waste my time with iphone 4 or 4s if the 5 is available. I sold my 4s for $509 and upgraded to iphone 5 for $649. Do you realize what you typed up and only talking about data speeds . I guess the higher saturation screen, quad core processor, hd facetime/front camera, weight savings, battery life gain due to processor efficiency, lightning connector, larger screen and new earbuds have no benefit on straight talk . I guess if you don't have LTE that means you are not using any of the other hardware benefits.

Just cause you don't have a iphone 5 or can't afford / spend that much does not mean there is no benefits. How ever you want to justify your self but my wife and I are both enjoying the shizz out of our iphone 5 on straight talk. I could care less about 25mbps and 7mbps is more than plenty for my needs but lag and delay of the a5 processor compared to a6 is HUGE. Weight savings, battery life and other perks are icing on the cake.

Click to expand...

I agree I love my iPhone 5 on T-mobile and am very happy with my 3G with 4g being released next year. Everything you said was correct except its not a quadcore. It's a duelcore with tricore graphics. But it still is much faster the the galaxy S III.

I went into an apple store this evening in NJ to try and get one and he was more than happy to sell me one at full retail price. Unfortunately they only had 16g models and I need a 32gb.

So it looks like supply is starting to catch up as the same store told me the complete opposite about 3 weeks ago.