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Carrier (T-Mobile iPhone 5s is LOCKED- Unlocked iPhone 5s Discussion)

C

Coleman2010

macrumors 68000
Oct 9, 2010
1,919
164
NYC
ig007 said:
I want to buy iPhone from this sailer, but sailer mark red that "This is not an unlocked Iphone 5S. However, it can be unlocked through T-Mobile or third party unlocking services." Will it work with other sim-card without any unloking procedure?

This item http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-iPhon...1172444247?pt=Cell_Phones&hash=item2332947057
Click to expand...
That means the seller bought the iPhone directly from T-Mobiile and it is locked to the carrier. If you are looking for unlocked, don't buy it! T-Mobile will unlock it if you're a current customer. Too much of a hassle when you can buy unlocked directly from Apple.

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Guillermogm said:
I bough the tmobile one ,i put an at&t sim card and it worked but it doesnt shows lte , it shows 4g
Click to expand...
It should work for LTE as well if you have the proper carrier settings setup.
 
G

Guillermogm

macrumors newbie
Sep 24, 2013
20
0
Coleman2010 said:
That means the seller bought the iPhone directly from T-Mobiile and it is locked to the carrier. If you are looking for unlocked, don't buy it! T-Mobile will unlock it if you're a current customer. Too much of a hassle when you can buy unlocked directly from Apple.

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It should work for LTE as well if you have the proper carrier settings setup.
Click to expand...
Which settings are you talking about? I bought it from apple
 
T

typ993

macrumors newbie
Sep 15, 2006
27
20
Edmonds, Washington
Coleman2010 said:
Either they were ignorant and didn't know or they straight up lied to you. The T-Mobile version from the Apple retail store and website is UNLOCKED PERIOD!

You do not have to activate it with T-Mobile first. Get the iPhone in the mail. Remove the T-Mobile SIM, put in your SIM, turn it on and activate.

The Apple rep told you T-Mobile's policy as if you were buying a locked T-Mobile iPhone directly from T-Mobile.

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Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! This is so wrong.

If you bought it from the Apple store and it works with an international SIM it is UNLOCKED!! It works with any carrier. Inside the U.S. and out.

If you don't know, please do not respond to posts. You're posting incorrect information that will confuse people.
Click to expand...

Full-price T-Mobile no-contract phone purchased from the Apple Store working just fine on Airvoice. Ported my number over from AT&T, took less than a day.

Note: no mention of "Congrats, your phone is unlocked" when I first plugged it into iTunes. Probably because the phone was never locked in the first place.
 
Last edited:
C

chaudhry747

macrumors member
Oct 4, 2013
45
1
typ993 said:
Full-price T-Mobile no-contract phone purchased from the Apple Store working just fine on Airvoice. Ported my number over from AT&T, took less than a day.

Note: no mention of "Congrats, your phone is unlocked" when I first plugged it into iTunes. Probably because the phone was never locked in the first place.
Click to expand...


Bought full price T-Mobile iPhone 5S, when i first plugged in with my iTunes there was no "Congrats" message but later i had some issues so i restored my iPhone to factory resetting and that time when i plugged in my iPhone to ituens, it shows "Congratulations your iPhone has been unlocked"
 
M

macigo

macrumors regular
Dec 5, 2013
161
0
I just got my iPhone 5s and this was the SIM free version, yet it does not say, "Congratulations your iPhone is now unlocked."


...hmmmmmm
 
B

BruiserB

macrumors 68000
Aug 9, 2008
1,731
705
macigo said:
I just got my iPhone 5s and this was the SIM free version, yet it does not say, "Congratulations your iPhone is now unlocked."


...hmmmmmm
Click to expand...

And yet it is unlocked! Rest assured! For some reason the unlocked message only shows up some of the time. But if you bought a device only phone, it is unlocked.
 
V

Virac

macrumors newbie
Apr 19, 2014
3
0
Verizon Device Only

I don't understand why people just buy the Verizon device only iPhone 5s/5c since it is already unlocked and it can be used on Verizon and on any gsm network? Do people buy the tmobile full price because it's easier since you could buy it directly online from the apple online store? This forum made it seem like the tmobile full priced iPhone was the best. Thanks for replying.
 
PsstGreek

PsstGreek

macrumors 68040
Oct 21, 2010
3,776
59
Tampa Bay
Virac said:
I don't understand why people just buy the Verizon device only iPhone 5s/5c since it is already unlocked and it can be used on Verizon and on any gsm network? Do people buy the tmobile full price because it's easier since you could buy it directly online from the apple online store? This forum made it seem like the tmobile full priced iPhone was the best. Thanks for replying.
Click to expand...

Some people just don't know. But all iPhones purchased from the Apple store at full price come unlocked.
 
B

BruiserB

macrumors 68000
Aug 9, 2008
1,731
705
Virac said:
So they're all pretty much the same but the verizon version has more options?
Click to expand...


AT&T and Tmobile are the same. VZ is the same but adds CDMA support. So a VZ one can be used on any of the 3 carriers with full radio functionally.

Sprint is an odd duck and they won't unlock it, so avoid unless you want to use sprint.
 
V

Virac

macrumors newbie
Apr 19, 2014
3
0
If they're all the same but the sprint one, why do people get the T-Mobile one the most? Does Verizon suck so people don't pay any attention to its CDMA capabilites along with GSM?
 
B

BruiserB

macrumors 68000
Aug 9, 2008
1,731
705
Virac said:
If they're all the same but the sprint one, why do people get the T-Mobile one the most? Does Verizon suck so people don't pay any attention to its CDMA capabilites along with GSM?
Click to expand...


Mostly they buy the Tmobile one because it's the one Apple offers in the online store at full price unlocked. To get the others unlocked you need to go to an Apple store and request to buy "device only" with no plan and it will be unlocked. But not even the Apple sales people will tell you that. The carriers prefer the phones to be sold with new line activations on their service....so VZ doesn't want one of "their" phones to be sold and ultimately used on T-mobile. Also the CDMA doesn't do anything for you if you are going to use T-mobile, so it's not really an advantage, but it may help u at resale time as you can sell the phone to someone who uses any of the 3 carriers other than Sprint.
 
C. Robert

C. Robert

macrumors 65816
Oct 1, 2013
1,338
889
Baltimore
rolly3 said:
I told you this ***** just yesterday. But you didn't listen, and now you'll have to suffer.






If you want an unlocked iPhone,

Do not buy ANY iPhone with a carrier name attached. Period.

Only buy unlocked from Apple.





It's really that simple.
Click to expand...

No its not that simple. I buy my phones from ATT all the time and have them unlocked because I am a world traveler. You just have to be nice when you ask.
 
T

truelies

macrumors regular
Oct 14, 2011
201
1
PsstGreek said:
Some people just don't know. But all iPhones purchased from the Apple store at full price come unlocked.
Click to expand...


So tmobile & at&t phone bought from apple online and apple in store unlocked? But 'unactivated' from bestbuy locked?
 
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