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Sprint iPhone 6 bought at Full price is Unlocked ?

karan.k said:
Check this website
http://maypalo.com/2014/09/20/unlock-iphone-6-free/

Is it all BS?
Click to expand...
IDK about the others, but the instructions for Sprint will simply restore your iPhone and nothing else.

As "jimmy" in the comments learned…

jimmy on September 21, 2014 21:13:58

i bought iPhone 6 plus Sprint model by paying in full price at apple store and i did what you told here. and i never gotten the message saying it is been unlocked… it just restored the iPhone back to the factory setting and that was it…

jimmy on September 21, 2014 21:33:27
i bought sprint iPhone 6 plus in full price at apple store and followed the steps to unlock it and it doesn’t work …..
i didn’t get the message saying my phone has been unlocked …. i did all the restoring and all that
Click to expand...

You keep trying. You are going to keep failing. It's locked. Period.

Do you not think there would not be some legitimate and well known source for this by now if unlocking a Sprint phone were possible? Wonder why there isn't? Wonder why you have to wade through a sea of YouTube video and obscure website BS?

Precisely because it isn't possible.
 
karan.k said:
Check this website
http://maypalo.com/2014/09/20/unlock-iphone-6-free/

Is it all BS?
Click to expand...

What the hell???? If your phone is in an unlocked status with apple, the first time you plug it into iTunes it'll show the unlock screen. That's it. Or, just insert the sim you want to use.

There's no secret codes, no special handshakes, no bs.. Just use the phone.

The level of stupidity never ceases to amaze me.
 
WolfSnap said:
What the hell???? If your phone is in an unlocked status with apple, the first time you plug it into iTunes it'll show the unlock screen. That's it. Or, just insert the sim you want to use.

There's no secret codes, no special handshakes, no bs.. Just use the phone.

The level of stupidity never ceases to amaze me.
Click to expand...

They don't always show the message. As far as I know, the Verizon ones never show the message even though they're all factory unlocked. And the actual SIM free iPhones also don't show the message
 
eyoungren said:
IDK about the others, but the instructions for Sprint will simply restore your iPhone and nothing else.

As "jimmy" in the comments learned…



You keep trying. You are going to keep failing. It's locked. Period.

Do you not think there would not be some legitimate and well known source for this by now if unlocking a Sprint phone were possible? Wonder why there isn't? Wonder why you have to wade through a sea of YouTube video and obscure website BS?

Precisely because it isn't possible.
Click to expand...

Actually, there are a couple of Sprint iPhone unlock service providers.

I used it to unlock a two Sprint iPhone 5S I bought on eBay (seller incorrectly stated selling Verizon iPhone)

iPhone Unlock Guys (www.iphoneunlockguys.com) and Chronic Unlocks(www.chronicunlocks.com) both offer Sprint unlock service. Only tested the former. It only unlocks Sprint for international use however, and sometimes it can take 3 days, other times up to 3 weeks from experience.

One thing for sure- ALL Sprint phones are locked, full-price or subsidized, at Apple or the carrier.

Whether Sprint will unlock their phones for international use if paid in full, I don't know if they've changed policy.

I tried last year and they wouldn't do it.
 
libu said:
Actually, there are a couple of Sprint iPhone unlock service providers.

I used it to unlock a two Sprint iPhone 5S I bought on eBay (seller incorrectly stated selling Verizon iPhone)

iPhone Unlock Guys (www.iphoneunlockguys.com) and Chronic Unlocks(www.chronicunlocks.com) both offer Sprint unlock service. Only tested the former. It only unlocks Sprint for international use however, and sometimes it can take 3 days, other times up to 3 weeks from experience.

One thing for sure- ALL Sprint phones are locked, full-price or subsidized, at Apple or the carrier.

Whether Sprint will unlock their phones for international use if paid in full, I don't know if they've changed policy.

I tried last year and they wouldn't do it.
Click to expand...
Right. But the optimal word here is INTERNATIONAL. And chronic charges you $159 with a backlog. You are going to be waiting.

What you are speaking of is useful to someone who lives outside the country but completely useless to a US resident.

Oh. Sprint policy for an INTERNATIONAL unlock (the ONLY unlock Sprint will allow) is ONE unlock PER account PER year.
 
eyoungren said:
Right. But the optimal word here is INTERNATIONAL. And chronic charges you $159 with a backlog. You are going to be waiting.

What you are speaking of is useful to someone who lives outside the country but completely useless to a US resident.

Oh. Sprint policy for an INTERNATIONAL unlock (the ONLY unlock Sprint will allow) is ONE unlock PER account PER year.
Click to expand...

I bought Sprint for $145 from iPhone Unlock Guys. I know it's for international use only, which is where they were going.

The first Sprint unlock was done in 3 days. Second one took 3 weeks.

Haven't tried Chronic as the price was too high and saw the backlog notice.

It's possible to use RSIM I think on Sprint. I wonder why all the Chinese in front of me were buying Sprint iPhone 6 Pluses ..... didn't ask them ,wonder if they know it's locked or were going to unlock them.

Edging toward them not knowing Sprint is locked ..
 
karan.k said:
Anyone tried this yet?
Click to expand...

Yes I tried it ... I did know the answer but I just tried it to assure people.

The phone no matter where it's bought at or how much is paid for it is LOCKED. You will never be able to use it on another US carrier.

International is possible... Domestic NO!!
 
:D
Tthomas612 said:
Yes I tried it ... I did know the answer but I just tried it to assure people.

The phone no matter where it's bought at or how much is paid for it is LOCKED. You will never be able to use it on another US carrier.

International is possible... Domestic NO!!
Click to expand...

:D

Those Chinese scalpers in front of me just wasted a boat load of money then ::

They bought at least 8 Sprint Pluses, all Gold, and spoke no English.

I figure they thought as Sprint was CDMA, was compatible with whatever carrier in China based on LTE bands.

Guess no one told them Sprint has extra lockdown procedures in place ::

----------
Tthomas612 said:
Yes I tried it ... I did know the answer but I just tried it to assure people.

The phone no matter where it's bought at or how much is paid for it is LOCKED. You will never be able to use it on another US carrier.

International is possible... Domestic NO!!
Click to expand...

Is it unlocked internationally out of the box though ?

Or do you have to contact Sprint to unlock for international use ?

That's a question no one's answered definitively yet.
 
Praesto said:
What is all this commotion for unlocked phones??

That is like saying I know I don't like my carrier and I wan't to switch in the next 2 years.. Why not switch now and save the time and hassel....????

Do you guys have a phobia of sticking with one carrier for two years?

To all the people who say "Re-sale value", you don't actively buy technology as an invesment unless directly purchasing a financial instrument (Stock,or Tech Fund).
Click to expand...

As eyoungren said the Sprint iPhone 6 and 6+ are the only true "world phones." They have more bands then any of the other iphone 6's. Which is good and all. There's just one issue... It's Sprint. No matter how it's bought and where its bought it will ALWAYS be LOCKED!!! This phone will never be used on Verizon or AT&T ...

Heck I'm pretty sure it can't even be used on Boost or Virgin mobile which are Sprint MVNO's...
 
Tthomas612 said:
As eyoungren said the Sprint iPhone 6 and 6+ are the only true "world phones." They have more bands then any of the other iphone 6's. Which is good and all. There's just one issue... It's Sprint. No matter how it's bought and where its bought it will ALWAYS be LOCKED!!! This phone will never be used on Verizon or AT&T ...

Heck I'm pretty sure it can't even be used on Boost or Virgin mobile which are Sprint MVNO's...
Click to expand...

The question now however, is whether Sprint phones bought full-price are unlocked for non-U.S. carriers out of the box.

Last year, they were completely locked, including international, out of the box.

Don't know if this year they possibly just have the U.S. lock and unlocked for non-U.S. carriers.
 
libu said:
:D

:D

Those Chinese scalpers in front of me just wasted a boat load of money then ::

They bought at least 8 Sprint Pluses, all Gold, and spoke no English.

I figure they thought as Sprint was CDMA, was compatible with whatever carrier in China based on LTE bands.

Guess no one told them Sprint has extra lockdown procedures in place ::

----------



Is it unlocked internationally out of the box though ?

Or do you have to contact Sprint to unlock for international use ?

That's a question no one's answered definitively yet.
Click to expand...

I can't confirm that they are all unlocked for international out of the box... I Definitely don't wanna say YES ANDY it be untrue.

What I will say is this ... If not unlocked out of the box then (eyoungren confirm this for me) Sprint will accept an unlock request as long as your account is current and you have been a customer for more than 90 days and you account has stayed in good standing.

I'm going to assume those Chinese Scalpers were either misinformed or they were gonna unlock them themselves for international use. In order to sale in China... Just guessing
 
terraphantm said:
They don't always show the message. As far as I know, the Verizon ones never show the message even though they're all factory unlocked. And the actual SIM free iPhones also don't show the message
Click to expand...

I've noticed that actually on a few phones I've seen. But, I didn't realize it was due to the sim free/verizon thing. Just learned something!
 
They are locked period. Full price or not.

To get an international unlock you need to follow Sprint's policy. Which is:

1. Activate phone on a non ASL Sprint account.
2. Pay your bill on time for 90 days.
3. Call Sprint for the international unlock.

If you cannot meet 1 and 2 then your only options are to get it international unlocked through chronic or another unlock service. Again…those services are for international unlocks and are of absolutely no use to US residents.

About R-SIMs or Geveys. These are SIM Interposers. Interposers act as a man-in-the-middle attack. They trick the phone into thinking that it's on Sprint's network when it's not. As such they are a way of using a Sprint phone on a different network but they are not a true unlock. If you remove the interposer or update the software on the phone the phone is still locked.
 
Last edited:
eyoungren said:
Right. But the optimal word here is INTERNATIONAL. And chronic charges you $159 with a backlog. You are going to be waiting.

What you are speaking of is useful to someone who lives outside the country but completely useless to a US resident.

Oh. Sprint policy for an INTERNATIONAL unlock (the ONLY unlock Sprint will allow) is ONE unlock PER account PER year.
Click to expand...

How does that work? Apple's backend GSX system doesn't have a third "international" unlock -- only a locked or unlocked setting. It's binary AFAIK.

Makes no sense to me....
 
WolfSnap said:
How does that work? Apple's backend GSX system doesn't have a third "international" unlock -- only a locked or unlocked setting. It's binary AFAIK.

Makes no sense to me....
Click to expand...
It makes sense when you consider that Sprint is a CDMA carrier.

The GSM part of the phone is what get's unlocked for international use. The CDMA part of the phone stays locked domestically to Sprint.
 
eyoungren said:
It makes sense when you consider that Sprint is a CDMA carrier.

The GSM part of the phone is what get's unlocked for international use. The CDMA part of the phone stays locked domestically to Sprint.
Click to expand...

So, while the CDMA is locked, you *could* pop in a domestic GSM card then and use that. No? Since there isn't any other choice in GSX other than locked/unlocked, that whole 'international' BS is just that.. BS. However, since the only reason to buy a Sprint phone would be to get the extra 4 TD bands, and since those will never get unlocked, the whole exercise is pretty pointless..

Right? :)
 
WolfSnap said:
So, while the CDMA is locked, you *could* pop in a domestic GSM card then and use that. No? Since there isn't any other choice in GSX other than locked/unlocked, that whole 'international' BS is just that.. BS. However, since the only reason to buy a Sprint phone would be to get the extra 4 TD bands, and since those will never get unlocked, the whole exercise is pretty pointless..

Right? :)
Click to expand...
I'm not an expert on this by any means, but the GSM part while unlocked internationally is not unlocked domestically.

I "assume" that the way that is handled is by the pairing with the domestic SIM card. I further "assume" that whatever coding Sprint has done to the phone can detect domestic GSM and because a domestic GSM SIM would not be paired with the phone you get no service.

But again, I am no expert so this is just my guess(es). I do know that it's been tried again and again to use a domestic SIM in a Sprint phone (GSM or CDMA) and failed each time. But how specifically and technically Sprint achieves that is beyond my ken.
 
Sprint iPhone with international SIM

I have found two cases on Dutch iPhone forums where people have bought a Sprint iPhone 6 and were able to use it in the US and at home, with a European Dutch (Vodafone) Sim.
And with that sim they were able to use Sprint, AT&T and Verizon networks in the US.
So it is locked with a domestic US sim is, and it appears to be unlocked with a European sim.
So i am planning to buy a Sprint iPhone 6 full price in Las Vegas in 2 weeks time. :)
 
eyoungren said:
I hear you. It's not a big concern for me either as I tend to stay on one carrier. I've been with Sprint for 15 years. Planning on leaving, but even if Sprint did unlock my phones it wouldn't do me any good on T-Mobile.

I think the thought process is that certainty of being able to leave without an issue if your service is not to your liking. It's the same thought process that those (such as myself) have with unlimited data. I never worry, never obsess about any of my data usage because I don't have to. I'm free to use as much or as little as I wish. Likewise, being free to leave your carrier without having to jump through a bunch of red tape and hassle is a security that a lot of people want.

Additionally, people also think "It's my phone, I should be able to just take it to any carrier I wish. The carrier should not be able to prevent me from using my device on another carrier."

Now, I'm not providing any defense here one way or the other. I'm just stating what's been my observations since I joined the forum here as well as what I've seen on other forums.

Sprint's primary reason for locking phones down is that they have a $30 billion agreement with Apple. They have to sell that amount worth of iPhones. So, they lock them down because they lose money if people take their service to another carrier. Making it extremely difficult to do that prevents the average user from leaving. Sprint's pretty used to ignoring pissed off customers because that's usually all those customers can do to Sprint is be angry. Sprint get's it's money either by ETF or full price payment.

P.S. Your frustration about unlocked phones is the same I felt one day when no less than four threads about unlocking Sprint iPhones showed up in close proximity to each other. That's one of the reasons I made my own thread about it and put the link to it in my signature. No one wants to accept "no" when it comes to trying to get their Sprint phone unlocked for some reason.
Click to expand...

Okay that makes perfect sense. Everyone has their own opinion but I think people fight worthless battles sometime. If you knowingly don't like a carrier don't buy their phone in the first place. That has worked well for me in the past. But thanks for helping me wrap my head around it. :cool:


617aircav said:
Some people are buying the phones at full price, and as such would want an unlocked phone and the freedom that comes with it. I bought a Verizon 6 plus to be used on cricket, the next day I decided to switch to T-Mobile. That's the freedom an unlocked device provides. I will be in England in dec/jan to take in some premier league games. It will also come in handy.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that makes sense. You travel so I understand where you come from 100%. I guess I just have a issue with believing that everyone on this forum travels THAT much outside of the US.

Tthomas612 said:
As eyoungren said the Sprint iPhone 6 and 6+ are the only true "world phones." They have more bands then any of the other iphone 6's. Which is good and all. There's just one issue... It's Sprint. No matter how it's bought and where its bought it will ALWAYS be LOCKED!!! This phone will never be used on Verizon or AT&T ...

Heck I'm pretty sure it can't even be used on Boost or Virgin mobile which are Sprint MVNO's...
Click to expand...

Yes and thanks!
 
sjanssen said:
I have found two cases on Dutch iPhone forums where people have bought a Sprint iPhone 6 and were able to use it in the US and at home, with a European Dutch (Vodafone) Sim.
And with that sim they were able to use Sprint, AT&T and Verizon networks in the US.
So it is locked with a domestic US sim is, and it appears to be unlocked with a European sim.
So i am planning to buy a Sprint iPhone 6 full price in Las Vegas in 2 weeks time. :)
Click to expand...
Right. That would be an international unlock allowin the use of the Vodafone SIM. Whatever agreements Sprint may have with Vodafone then is what would allow you to be using Sprint's network via that SIM. But that still counts as an international unlock.

Insert an AT&T/Verizon/T-Mobile US SIM and you won't get service.

----------
terraphantm said:
Apple can send an activation ticket that has every country code except the US listed as valid. The phone would probably still show up as locked in the database

https://theiphonewiki.com/wiki/WildcardTicket
Click to expand...
Cool, thanks for that!
 
guy, why dont you go to Apple store, and ask the staff there?

I went to apple store last wknd at buffalo (new york state), and got me fully unlocked sprint iphone 6, he confirmed with me, it can be used anywhere in the whole world, including any carriers in US. All he told me is to not use included sprint SIM to activate the phone.

using this phone in canada with Bell network now, very happy, and cheaper than canadian iphone too.
 
i97ww4 said:
guy, why dont you go to Apple store, and ask the staff there?

I went to apple store last wknd at buffalo (new york state), and got me fully unlocked sprint iphone 6, he confirmed with me, it can be used anywhere in the whole world, including any carriers in US. All he told me is to not use included sprint SIM to activate the phone.

using this phone in canada with Bell network now, very happy, and cheaper than canadian iphone too.
Click to expand...

if it were that easy, wouldn't everyone be in the apple stores buying all of the Sprint iPhones? Seriously?!?!

Bell in Canada is an International SIM, so, it would work. AT&T, Verizon, & T-Mobile SIMs will not work in that phone.
 
Can someone post a video of Sprint iPhone 6 working on AT&T or T-mobile?
 
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