Unlocked Iphone 5 help needed! Where to buy?

Just go to apple and buy an unlocked 5.

order online and they will make it to you...

Or buy a locked one on contract and buy one of the unlocks sold online. You'll save money up front, you'll have it unlocked for when you travel home. And when you move out of the country you may be able to get the carrier to cancel service without paying the ETF, or worst case you could pay it but it would be quite low after a year and a half....at least a lot less than buying it for full price now. Since the carriers here charge the same whether you are getting a subsidized phone or not, you might as well have them partially pay for your phone.

But if you will be staying in a place where t-mobile has updated their 3G service to support iPhone, you could buy the phone outright and get on their $30 a month no commitment plan with unlimited web and texts and 100 minutes if you won't be making too many calls. That plan is cheap enough to make it worth paying full price for the phone upfront.

Apple sells the AT&T unlocked version, which is not a good one if you live in Europe. Buy the Verizon model, as it is truly unlocked. Apple wont sell that without a contract, however, Best Buy will. Make sure they sell you the Verizon model and not the Sprint model. Both are model A1429, with verizon unlocked and Sprint locked.

tangerinee said:

Hi I'm interested in getting an unlocked iphone 5, I'll only be living in USA for about a year and a half..so i do not think it's convenient for me to get tied up in a 2 year plan with any carrier, plus i want to be able to use my iphone 5 when i'm back home during breaks..so an unlocked iphone 5 is a must!
I need to know where to buy an unlocked iphone 5, from a legitimate/authorized place. The thing is that there's no apple store in the small town i'll be staying in..and the closet one is like 2 hours away..and i rather not order online, i would rather purchase it myself. So, what kind of authorized stores sell an unlocked iphone 5 in the states? Best buy? walmart? radioshack? target? (all of those stores can be found in my town) Thanks!

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just buy from ebay.buy verizon iphone 5

If you want authorized I think your only current option would be direct from Apple.

None of those stores sell it outright. Your best bet is to sign a 2 year Verizon contract at one of those stores in your town. The phone is already GSM unlocked out of the box. Then just pay the ETF when you leave. It should be pretty cheap by then.

tangerinee said:

So i can pay the full price at verizon at once? right now i'm pretending to shop for an iphone 5 in verizon, like as a trial...i think i can pay the full price at once, but then i have to choose a plan and when i do it says something about "monthly line access" i don't know what is that about..plus it's $40! from my research i figured out that verizon is the most expensive carrier.. i don't get why they want to charge $40 plus say a 2gb plan which makes it $100 montly!
Monthly Line Access: 2 GB Shared Data Unlimited Talk & Text ¤60,00
Monthly Line Access: Share Everything - Smartphone Line Access ¤40,00
If i'm already paying for the iphone 5 all at once, i don't think i should be paying $40 monthly right?

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You have to pay $100 minimum on Verizon whether you get the phone full price or get a subsidized one. You're better off to just get the subsidized one since the bill will be the same regardless.

The OP will need a SSN in order to go for a post paid contract plan. I am not sure the visa status for his temporary short stay in the US.

Mr Hill said:

You have to pay $100 minimum on Verizon whether you get the phone full price or get a subsidized one. You're better off to just get the subsidized one since the bill will be the same regardless.

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Do you know what kind of coverage Sprint has in your town? Just because they sell it there doesn't mean it will work well for you unfortunately. Where I love there are Sprint stores and people subscribe to the service but it just doesn't work here at all. Everyone I know who has switched to save money always ends up back with AT&T or Verizon.

As for Verizon's pricing, you pay a certain amount for the unlimited talk and text and however any GB of data you need then you pay $40 per smartphone. AT&T is basically the same. I pay $90 for unlimited talk and text plus $40 for the access so it's $120. Your cheapest option would be $90, $50 for 1GB plus $40 for your access. Of course if you need more data obviously that won't work for you.