Just curious as I am thinking of going otu of the country for Vacation and I was wondering if they ever do this.
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Anyone Successfully Get AT&T to Unlock their iPhone
- Thread starter Wicked1
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They won't do it. They were willing to unlock ANY phone for me besides the iPhone. I'm pretty sure they don't even have the ability to generate iPhone unlock codes from their system.
Ah the joys of having the choice to buy locked on contract or legally (and forever) unlocked and do what you want with them...
I am really suprised that the states still have only locked phones available - most here are unlocked, or can be unlocked free, or for a really low fee even during the contract
I am really suprised that the states still have only locked phones available - most here are unlocked, or can be unlocked free, or for a really low fee even during the contract
Won't Apple unlock the phone for you if you pay the difference between the subsidy and the unlocked price? I thought I read that once they started selling unlocked phones.
A few things. Up until a few months ago ATT was the only carrier carrying the iphone and only one of 2 networks the iPhone worked on. The other network T-Mobile you could only get 2g (edge) speeds which blew. So having a locked iPhone really did not matter for most people that do not travel outside the US. Even not that Verizon carries the iPhone it is a CDMA phone so it still does not matter.
But as of a few months ago you can buy an unlocked GSM iPhone from Apple in the US so all is good now. But you still really only have one choice of carriers with good data speeds.
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Apple will not unlock an carrier locked phone. never, ever, never, ever!
In fact, Apple is the only entity in the world that can and does perform an "official" unlock of an iPhone.
Across the pond in the UK, when a customer with a carrier-locked iPhone submits an unlock request to their carrier, the process goes something like this:
- The carrier will first do a check to see if the customer meets their own internal eligibility requirements.
- Then they will pass the request on to Apple.
- Apple, in turn, will update their own internal database of iPhone serial numbers, flipping the UK customer's serial number out of the "carrier locked" category and into the "officially unlocked" category.
- Finally, the next time the iPhone "phones home" when it is synced through iTunes, Apple's servers will tell the phone that it isn't locked anymore, and presto! The phone will accept 3rd party SIM cards.
However, Apple will never process such requests unless the carrier is the one that actually originates the request.
And, at a corporate level, there is no mechanism in place for AT&T to send unlock requests to Apple. So, it automatically follows that AT&T customer service agents' hands are tied -- there will be no way for them to submit the request, so it's simply impossible for them to unlock a customer's phone no matter how much the customer pesters them.
Yours was a special case.
Since it was only a few weeks since you bought it and you could just return it and get an unlocked one that's why they must have done it.
But typically Apple does NOT unlock locked AT&T iphones.
I called and told them I was a professor leaving the country for SIX MONTHS and asked for an unlock. They offered me an international roaming plan. HA! I laughed and asked if they thought I could seriously consider ROAMING for six months. They said that was the only thing I could do. I said thanks, I'll just use my unlocked 3GS. I'm buying an unlocked 5. I plan to buy every other iPhone unlocked.
It will be so tempting to buy a factory unlocked iPhone, but with no decrease in monthly carrier charges, it may make more sense to just go the software unlocked route.
No one knows, and no.
The only software unlock for the iPhone 4 requires the 1.59 baseband. That was last available with 4.0.2, so if your device doesn't date back that far, or if it was updated since then without preserving that baseband, there is effectively no software unlock. You can research the Gevey SIM on this forum; it's your only option for the iPhone 4. And it doesn't work with iOS 5, so don't plan on upgrading if you decide to use it.
Right. So the short answer is: if you're not already unlocked (or have been), no, you can't unlock. And will you be able to unlock a 5? Probably not. Thanks for filling in the specifics.
I know about the gevey, and decided against that route (and it's also got a short life it seems, as you also point out).
You were basically returning your phone and buying an unlocked one. They may have unlocked the phone to save themselves from taking back a phone that couldn't be sold as new, but if someone goes to Apple now with an AT&T locked phone Apple won't unlock it.
Yeah because that is exactly what it means to have Apple unlock the phone you own
Same phone, bud.
I know mine was a special case, but I'm just saying Apple does have the ability and will unlock your phone in some stances.
Why would you buy a phone @ full price?
I tried just before traveling to Asia for 3 weeks. They shot me down of course.
I don't think anyone is disputing that Apple CAN unlock them. Just that they DON'T. And yes, yours was a very very very special case.
Apple has the ability to make every iPhone display porn on the home screen with iOS6, it doesn't mean that they will.
Apple is contractually obliged to NOT unlock a phone unless a carrier has requested it.
In your case, Apple got around that by effectively giving you a refund on your original (AT&T locked) device (as credit), allowing you to use that credit towards your purchase of an unlocked device with you then paying the difference in cost.
As far as AT&T is concerned, the phone you own has nothing to do with them.
ok.
I know what they did, I was there, I know how it worked. I was just throwing in what I had to say in relation to the thread's title, "anyone successfully AT&T to unlock their phone?" Sorry for telling how I got mine unlocked (which is pretty much the only way).
The people here are obviously strung too high to just say, "ok cool," and instead berate anyone who throws in their own experiences; everyone obviously can see that it was a special case since most are arguing about it. There's no reason to be a jerk.
I do not want to extend my plan with AT&T because I plan on leaving the country soon.
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