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Sprint iPhone 4S Unlocked? Or Not?

F

Forcefed03

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 7, 2012
3
0
Hey guys I'm new to MacRumors. I have a quick question I hope you guys can help me out.

I was in the market for an iPhone 4S last week, as im going to overseas for quite sometime. I found a great deal on craigslist for an iPhone 4S which was previously a Sprint iPhone 4S CDMA. The seller stated that it was Unlocked and that he used it in Hong Kong with no problems what so ever. So i said great, and did a little research on CDMA. It seems that Sprint can only unlock there iPhone's from apple, and what it does is, it makes it unlocked for any foreign sim card outside the USA, but here in the USA its locked to Sprint no matter what.

So i went on his word, and bought it. I then later called sprint to verify it was unlocked, they told me i couldn't verify it because they don't have an account with me. So they referred me to apple, i called apple, they told me that on there end it said LOCKED. This made me super nervous! So i decided to do a little test... i have my Foreign Sim-Card here in the USA (Its called HOT or CellCom) and i put it in the Sprint iPhone 4S and it Searched for a network, and what appeared was AT&T!!! Is this possible? Can a CDMA iPhone 4S (Sprint) show a connection of AT&T??? Does this confirm its unlocked?

Cellcom / HOT probably partners with AT&T while im here in the USA.

So my question is, is my CDMA Sprint iPhone 4S ready for a foreign simcard? or do i need to sell it or something. I leave in a couple days, and i need a phone overseas. Also does Sprint just unlock them themselves? which is not a factory unlock, just an ESN unlock or something of the sort?

What do you think? Sorry for the long post! i need help. thanks guys
 
Last edited:
F

Forcefed03

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 7, 2012
3
0
I just went ahead to test it again, this time i put in a T-Mobile micro sim (Cut), and it said INVALID SIM, and asked me to re activate then told me it couldn't cause its invalid sim. Then i went ahead and put in the Foreign simcard (Hot / CellCom) and AT&T Came up as the wireless service.... Im so confused, is this unlocked? thanks
 
S

SporkLover

macrumors 6502
Nov 8, 2011
498
1
Forcefed03 said:
Hey guys I'm new to MacRumors. I have a quick question I hope you guys can help me out.

I was in the market for an iPhone 4S last week, as im going to overseas for quite sometime. I found a great deal on craigslist for an iPhone 4S which was previously a Sprint iPhone 4S CDMA. The seller stated that it was Unlocked and that he used it in Hong Kong with no problems what so ever. So i said great, and did a little research on CDMA. It seems that Sprint can only unlock there iPhone's from apple, and what it does is, it makes it unlocked for any foreign sim card outside the USA, but here in the USA its locked to Sprint no matter what.

So i went on his word, and bought it. I then later called sprint to verify it was unlocked, they told me i couldn't verify it because they don't have an account with me. So they referred me to apple, i called apple, they told me that on there end it said LOCKED. This made me super nervous! So i decided to do a little test... i have my Foreign Sim-Card here in the USA (Its called HOT or CellCom) and i put it in the Sprint iPhone 4S and it Searched for a network, and what appeared was AT&T!!! Is this possible? Can a CDMA iPhone 4S (Sprint) show a connection of AT&T??? Does this confirm its unlocked?

Cellcom / HOT probably partners with AT&T while im here in the USA.

So my question is, is my CDMA Sprint iPhone 4S ready for a foreign simcard? or do i need to sell it or something. I leave in a couple days, and i need a phone overseas. Also does Sprint just unlock them themselves? which is not a factory unlock, just an ESN unlock or something of the sort?

What do you think? Sorry for the long post! i need help. thanks guys
Click to expand...

Yours is unlocked. If it can see GSM towers after you put the sim in then it's good. Btw, mine also picked up US AT&T towers when I put my european sim in.
 
A

ANMA dojo

macrumors regular
Mar 22, 2010
198
1
Forcefed03 said:
The seller stated that it was Unlocked and that he used it in Hong Kong with no problems what so ever. So i said great, and did a little research on CDMA. It seems that Sprint can only unlock there iPhone's from apple, and what it does is, it makes it unlocked for any foreign sim card outside the USA, but here in the USA its locked to Sprint no matter what.

....

So i decided to do a little test... i have my Foreign Sim-Card here in the USA (Its called HOT or CellCom) and i put it in the Sprint iPhone 4S and it Searched for a network, and what appeared was AT&T!!! Is this possible? Can a CDMA iPhone 4S (Sprint) show a connection of AT&T??? Does this confirm its unlocked?

Cellcom / HOT probably partners with AT&T while im here in the USA.

So my question is, is my CDMA Sprint iPhone 4S ready for a foreign simcard? or do i need to sell it or something. I leave in a couple days, and i need a phone overseas. Also does Sprint just unlock them themselves? which is not a factory unlock, just an ESN unlock or something of the sort?
Click to expand...
AFAIK, Sprint allows customers in good standing (the previous buyer?) to request their iphone to be unlocked for world use. It's not quite a full factory unlocked, because it only allows you to use non-USA gsm networks (so everyone besides AT&T and T-Mobile). You should be able to use it outside the country no problems, or even within the USA with a foreign sim card as long as it's not an AT&T or T-Mobile sim.

I use a foreign sim card in an extra phone here in the USA. Since foreign carriers obviously don't have their own towers here, they connect to AT&T or T-Mobile towers, whichever has the stronger signal.
 
S

SenseiPhone

macrumors regular
Jun 9, 2011
107
2
Forcefed03 said:
I just went ahead to test it again, this time i put in a T-Mobile micro sim (Cut), and it said INVALID SIM, and asked me to re activate then told me it couldn't cause its invalid sim. Then i went ahead and put in the Foreign simcard (Hot / CellCom) and AT&T Came up as the wireless service.... Im so confused, is this unlocked? thanks
Click to expand...

Because Sprint unlock iPhone for worldwide GSM, not US GSM (AT&T, TMobile, Straight Talk). You can use HOT / CellCom because it's not US carriers though the carrier uses AT&T network.

I hope that explains you well about your factory unlocked Sprint iPhone.
 
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