Apple Begins Offering Unlocked iPhone 4S in U.S. Online Store

[rufwork]

No, you don't have to.

There are tens of thousands of iPhones right now with AT&T GoPhone SIMs....

I think I can live with 250MB of 3G data per month. With AT&T's cheapest postpaid iPhone data plan, you get 250MB of data at $15 per month. With GoPhone, you can buy a 500GB data package for $25 which will last thirty days. ...
Total two month cost: $30 for 510MB of data, which is actually cheaper than the postpaid plan.

Calls are ten cents a minute. I average about 30 minutes of talk time on my current dumb phone (on a T-Mobile Pay As You Go SIM).

Wow. I thought I was joking about TracFone.

Well, at this point, you're much better off not slicking a system and signing up for VirginMobile (I was lucky enough to get the $25 plan, now replaced with $35) that gives unlimited data and 300 minutes. Unlimited both is $55.

Or maybe you'd consider Republic Wireless' plan with "550 minutes, send 150 texts, and ... 300 megabytes" for $19 a month after a phone for $180 -- both are without contracts.

There are "deals" for those who want to find them for both (though how folks get by with so little data, I have no idea).

The question really is how much it's worth to own an iPhone over an Android. Is it really $300+? Luckily for Apple, many think so. I love iOS on my touch; I'm just too cheap to shell out for the iPhone.

 

[joxes]

Cost comparison between AT&T iPhone 4S and unlocked 4S

I just created a PDF to quickly demonstrate it is cheaper to buy an unlocked iPhone 4S instead of buying one with A&T.

In the study I'm comparing AT&T unlimited $99 plan (same as Sprint of Verizon) with a $45 plan from StraighTalk.

After 8 months of service alone in the US both services will cost app. the same (monthly fee + phone). After 9 months it is only cost saving for you.

If you're traveling abroad the cost saving will be even more attractive.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Pardon me for being a noob, but what's the advantage of going with a non-subsidized phone, aside from avoiding an ETF over the next two years?

Would this reduce the monthly cost of my plan? (US, specifically) It would be worth it if I could get a cheap plan for about $20/month instead of $90.

I'm drastically off cycle for hardware upgrades as my Treo that I had pre-3 didn't expire until after the 3 had been out for a while. Well, then I got the 3gs early, so that means that I can't upgrade for the low price for the 4S until the end of March at the earliest. So in order to upgrade I'll have to pay the unsubsidized price for a 4S, wait until I can for a 4S, or wait until the next iPhone comes out next year and hope my current iPhone keeps running until then.

I do travel outside the US and have kept my old Windows based Treo around just for the ability to get a chip where I'm going and have cheap calls. Example: In London, I purchased a SIMM from Orange. I paid (I think) 10 pounds for the chip and got that entire value for pay as you go phone time. The cost, as I remember it, to call the states was something like $.45 a minute from AT&T and $.05 US per minute from them. I used the time up and actually bought more time for it. It was nice not getting screwed by AT&T for their 'generous' International Plan...

An odd note: I took my Treo with me to Canada and was told that I, not being a Canadian citizen, could not purchase a SIMM for my Treo in country and would have to use my AT&T phone with their international rates... First, is that true, and second, why would someone have to be a citizen of Canada just to buy a SIMM? It doesn't make sense. One guy even said that I could come back in six months and buy one, provided I stayed here in Canada. Strange... And I thought the rules here in the US were strange about innocuous stuff...

 

[HeatherA]

tmobile customers like my dad/brother/myself that like the iphone, but don't use/need a data plan and hate att. We use wifi most of the time. I've been using iphones with tmobile since 2007 first iphone 2g, 3g, 3gs, 4, and now 4s! It doesn't bother much now having 3g since I'm on wifi and plus I travel a lot.

What you said goes for my family as well. We have 5 lines on T-Mobile, 4 of them cellular and our monthly bill is $118. 2 of the phones have data, one is $6 a month, the other $10. We're on wifi most of the time anyway... it's win win. We end up coming out ahead in a 24 month period having paid full price up front.

 

[BeardedOrc]

No need to be a frequent traveler for the Unlocked to make sense . . . if you don't qualify for the full-subsidized price then you're probably can qualify to get a partially subsidized iPhone, but that iPhone is only around $100-$150 less than the Unlocked iPhone! Just one two-week trip to Europe and you could easily use $200 worth of International Data Roaming, plus you're still paying all the monthly fees as if you're in the US. With the Unlock you can shut off your US plan (since no contract) and buy a SIM in Europe/Asia/etc. which would be less than the monthly fees in the US (typically mobile service less in other countries than in US). Lastly, it's worth more when you want to sell you're Unlocked. So for infrequent international travelers who don't qualify for the full-subsidized price the Unlock is a better deal IMO.

If you're gonna upgrade early for a phone, then you know that "sense" has already flown out of the window. Its mostly emotion taking over and it becomes a want. No price is enough to stop you especially if you can afford it.

I don't frequently travel, and if I do for a week or so, its usually for leisure so my phone is not of heavy use. Its usually more for emergency and/or convenience and is not a necessity. I have an older SonyEricsson phone which I asked ATT to unlock that I have been using for the last 6 yrs now when I do travel for use with local simcards. If I need data, my laptop is waiting in the hotel with free WIFI. Your needs may vary.

They are making jailbreaking and unlocking easier everyday so you can sell it unlocked.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

One other potential reason not to get the unlocked iPhone: Do the providers in other countries support the 'microSIMM' that the iPhone uses...

I don't know... How many do?

 

[firestarter]

One other potential reason not to get the unlocked iPhone: Do the providers in other countries support the 'microSIMM' that the iPhone uses...

I don't know... How many do?

Any country that is selling iPads or iPhone 4s must support it.

It's not a big deal anyway - you can take a regular sim and cut your own micro sim from it.

 

[econgeek]

Why so cheap over there? It's basically the same phone. Yet in the UK we pay £170/$270 more for exactly the same phone?

The difference in the prices is due entirely to the differences in the taxes, import duties and fees that the UK government charges Apple for the "privilege" of offering high tech devices to UK consumers.

I understand that on top of that, they also charge you %20 in VAT as form of rubbing salt in your wounds.

This is why the standard of living in the UK is lower than the USA, by the way. (I've lived in the UK.)

 

[Hurda]

One other potential reason not to get the unlocked iPhone: Do the providers in other countries support the 'microSIMM' that the iPhone uses...

I don't know... How many do?

There's nothing for them to support. A micro SIM is a mini SIM with less plastic around is a SIM card with less plastic around.

 

[rolfbert]

I agree, but not just with Apple. Other smartphone manufacturers have ridiculous off contract prices as well (For example: Sprint Nexus S is $699.99 off contract...for a year old phone with a replacement coming out soon!

I assume thats the MSRP. No one will ever pay that over here. Except for Apple products basically.

A Nexus S is 220€ here.
A LG Otpimus 7 (a ohne year old win 7 phone) 120€. No one buys WP7 devices it seems ;-).
An Iphone 4s 16GB is 629€.

All of them without contract of course.

 

[econgeek]

Low taxes huh?
How's that National Debt working out for you?

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Lower taxes boost government revenue, because the lower the taxes, the faster the economy grows, and after a decade or so, the results are much higher government revenue.

But you're confusing a separate issue which is government spending. Government spending damages the economy, because it comes by devaluing the currency. When the currency goes down in value, prices go up, and deficits go up, and the economy slows.

So, while lower taxes produce higher income, deficit spending has the opposite effect.

If the government were simply responsible with is money, there would be no debt and the economy would be growing and people at all levels of society would be better off.

The reason they don't do this is that politicians profit from bad management, because it gives them power to hand out favors and cash to friends, which comes back to them. Its an inefficient system, but parasites don't care how much damage is done to their hosts.

The sad thing is, when you hear people notice that the countries blood supply is low and say "its because we don't have enough leeches!"

 

[BeardedOrc]

I just created a PDF to quickly demonstrate it is cheaper to buy an unlocked iPhone 4S instead of buying one with A&T.

In the study I'm comparing AT&T unlimited $99 plan (same as Sprint of Verizon) with a $45 plan from StraighTalk.

After 8 months of service alone in the US both services will cost app. the same (monthly fee + phone). After 9 months it is only cost saving for you.

If you're traveling abroad the cost saving will be even more attractive.

Is StraightTalk GSM or CDMA? How is the coverage as it doesn't allow roaming? Has anybody tried it with a jailbroken/unlocked phone? How fast is data transfer?

 

[cvaldes]

Wow. I thought I was joking about TracFone.

Well, at this point, you're much better off not slicking a system and signing up for VirginMobile (I was lucky enough to get the $25 plan, now replaced with $35) that gives unlimited data and 300 minutes. Unlimited both is $55.

Or maybe you'd consider Republic Wireless' plan with "550 minutes, send 150 texts, and ... 300 megabytes" for $19 a month after a phone for $180 -- both are without contracts.

Neither service issues SIMs. Virgin Mobile is the prepaid brand of Sprint and the former will not activate iPhones. Republic Wireless is an MVNO using Sprint's CDMA network.

There are "deals" for those who want to find them for both (though how folks get by with so little data, I have no idea).

Again, having strong WiFi signals at both home and work helps. Note that I'm an iPod touch user, so I am familiar with not having a signal in all places.

For that matter, getting by with so little data was something that everyone did just a few years ago. I've monitored my usage pattern both with my iPod touch (WiFi only naturally) as well as my 3G-equipped iPad (I've only activated the cheapo 3G data plan twice).

The question really is how much it's worth to own an iPhone over an Android. Is it really $300+? Luckily for Apple, many think so. I love iOS on my touch; I'm just too cheap to shell out for the iPhone.

In the long run, it probably is. I already have an iPod touch and an iPad, so I'm heavily vested in iOS apps. Also, the user interfaces are similar; as a matter of fact, both devices have the apps in the same locations. It's easy to find my news/navi/whatever apps on each device since they are in the identical place. Even in a few short weeks, I am seeing the benefits of iCloud as well.

Clearly I am able to get by using my dumbphone, iPod touch, and a digital camera (combined value $649), however I'm willing to pay a little more to get an all-in-one device, an $849 iPhone. More than anything else, the camera is the part of the iPhone 4S that interests me the most.

 

[thevofl]

You paid an extra $450 dollars to get the unlocked iPhone 4S 64GB iPhone. I assume that you would get the next iPhone 5 unlocked again for another extra $450 since you are an early adopter and don't want any contracts. Thats extra $900 dollars extra for the two officially unlocked phones. Paying $536 for early termination and upgrade fees I think is the better route. Traveling is always the best perk of unlocked phones as you can just buy local simcards to save money.

The iPhone 5 will probably be subsidized. I don't mind contracts, as I don't plan on switching to another carrier. The goal for this exercise is to circumvent the two early upgrade fees of $250.

 

[KPOM]

I just created a PDF to quickly demonstrate it is cheaper to buy an unlocked iPhone 4S instead of buying one with A&T.

In the study I'm comparing AT&T unlimited $99 plan (same as Sprint of Verizon) with a $45 plan from StraighTalk.

After 8 months of service alone in the US both services will cost app. the same (monthly fee + phone). After 9 months it is only cost saving for you.

If you're traveling abroad the cost saving will be even more attractive.

That's not quite accurate since you can't just buy a SIM from Straight Talk. You have to go to Wal-Mart and buy a phone that is capable of working with the $45 plan. The cheapest one I saw on their website was a reconditioned Nokia E71 that goes for $99, so that would add 2 months to the payback period.

That said, you can also prepay for a year and pay $499, saving roughly $40. With interest rates so low, discounting is almost negligible so I'm ignoring it in the analysis.

 

[snook911]

Are these really unlocked or are they just off contract. I always thought there was a difference. from the sound of it it looks like they are still locked to AT&T's network as it says is will only work on approved networks. How is that unlocked. Can u buy this phone and just slip a t-mobile sim card in and it will work. If not then it not really an unlocked iPhone is it?

 

[cvaldes]

Are these really unlocked or are they just off contract. I always thought there was a difference. from the sound of it it looks like they are still locked to AT&T's network as it says is will only work on approved networks. How is that unlocked. Can u buy this phone and just slip a t-mobile sim card in and it will work. If not then it not really an unlocked iPhone is it?

Since you are skeptical about the MacRumors article, I suggest you visit Apple's website and read about it there.

Summary: these are unlocked, unsubsidized, no-contract iPhones, just like they sell in Belgium and other countries where carrier-locked handsets are illegal.

Note that Apple sold the previous iPhone 4 unlocked here in the United States. This is not their first time doing this here in the USA.

 

[macUser2007]

...My uncle still gets frustrated when he comes over here and sees his same model (more or less) Jaguar, a British car, considerably cheaper in the US.

Nowadays both Jaguar and Land Rover are owned by Tata, which is an Indian company. Before that both brands were owned by Ford.

Regarding the unlocked iPhone: Why is it available ONLY in AT&T configuration?

I am guessing this is the deal Apple made with AT&T (to exert pressure on T-Mobile NA, among other things), but it effectively screws the end-users.

 

[dashtekahe]

I put my order in and it should arrive by 28th November.

 

[cvaldes]

Regarding the unlocked iPhone: Why is it available ONLY in AT&T configuration?

It's not in "AT&T configuration" (sic).

You can buy it, fly to a different country and shove in the local SIM. Or you could stay in the USA and shove in a T-Mobile USA SIM. There are many iPhones on the T-Mobile USA network. You don't need to use AT&T at all.

It is the same thing as the unlocked, contract free handsets that they sell in many (if not most) other markets throughout the world.

 

[macUser2007]

It's not in "AT&T configuration" (sic).

You can buy it, fly to a different country and shove in the local SIM. Or you could stay in the USA and shove in a T-Mobile USA SIM. There are many iPhones on the T-Mobile USA network. You don't need to use AT&T at all.

It is the same thing as the unlocked, contract free handsets that they sell in many (if not most) other markets throughout the world.

In the US, it is AT&T data bands only, so that makes it AT&T configuration only.

T-Mobile works on EDGE only, which effectively makes the unlocked iPhone useless for anyone who needs data in addition to talk.

The omission of T-Mobile NA bands was a conscious decision by Apple, most likely strongly encouraged by AT&T.

The Apple's closest unlocked competitor, the Nexus S, happily provides both bands, for a lower price. And so will the Galaxy Nexus.

So, why not the iPhone?

 

[stevensr123]

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As much as I love Apple, I think the off-contract prices are too high. Begin the down-voting.

You do realise people on contracts are probably,actually, almost definitely paying a lot more over the length of a contract?


I agree though, i wish there was a bit more competition to make mobiles cheaper.

Hopefully amazon brings out a mobile under 400 dollars.

 

[HeatherA]

T-Mobile works on EDGE only, which effectively makes the unlocked iPhone useless for anyone who needs data in addition to talk.

I whole heartedly disagree. I've used iPhones on T-Mobile since the 3 was out. Yeah I am not streaming any video or graphic heavy webpages while on E but I have no problems using the internet on my phone and definitely no problems paying the $6 a month it costs me for internet.

Email, google, twitter, even facebook work just fine.

 

[cvaldes]

In the US, it is AT&T data bands only, so that makes it AT&T configuration only.

T-Mobile works on EDGE only, which effectively makes the unlocked iPhone useless for anyone who needs data in addition to talk.

The omission of T-Mobile NA bands was a conscious decision by Apple, most likely strongly encouraged by AT&T.

The Apple's closest unlocked competitor, the Nexus S, happily provides both bands, for a lower price. And so will the Galaxy Nexus.

So, why not the iPhone?

Beats me.

Maybe they didn't want to put in the power amplifier circuitry for the AWS band.
Maybe they didn't want to twiddle with the antenna design for the 1700MHz frequency at the expense of the performance of other more commonly used frequencies.
Maybe AT&T gave Apple a big pile of money saying, "don't add AWS compatibility".

Despite all that, there are tens of thousands of iPhones on the T-Mobile USA network with EDGE data only. Clearly there is a segment of the smartphone user marketplace that will live with that.

In any case, I've been patient, done my due diligence and finally placed my order for an unlocked iPhone 4S which will get loaded up with a GoPhone SIM.

 

[HKZ/MST3K]

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I still don't get the advantage of unlocked phones here in the US unless you are a frequent traveller outside the country. You are gonna be paying same monthly recurring fees subsidized or not. And people keep on saying they don't want contract to justify the more expensive unlocked iPhone, seriously, you don't change carrier every 6 months or every year. Why would you do that? Unlocked phones will only work with AT&T anyways so might as well get subsidized by them and save yourself some money.

An unlocked iPhone will work on T-Mobile, just not 3G. So it's not that there is only one carrier. Plus, if you take very good care of it, being an unlocked phone you'll fetch a seriously great price for it should you choose to sell it. I want one simply to avoid renewing my AT&T contract and I might be going to Le Mans next year and would love to have the ability to make cheap calls from a local carrier.