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Carrier are Verizon iPhones from Best Buy unlocked?
- Thread starter kevjen888
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Well I've tried 4 times so I give up. Good luck OP. You have enough info to decide who to believe.
Here are screen shots from my Best Buy history- one is one of the outright iPhone purchases I did and the other is an upgrade that I did for my wife. You can clearly see the difference between the one I purchased outright and the other that was put on AT&T Next. Notice that the one that was purchased outright does not have a carrier associated with it like the AT&T device does.
no need to argue over this guys, it's a moot point since i do have an old Verizon sim card and i do plan on using it as the initial sim on the Best Buy iPhone. the purpose of this thread is just to confirm whether it works or not and i think i've gotten the answers. thank you guys.
The iPhone 7's that Best Buy carries (at least in the US, can't speak for other countries) are models A1660 and A1661 which are the same as the Apple sim-free models.
However, Best Buy iPhone 7's, whether purchased through an upgrade program or outright are subject to the US Reseller Flex Policy. What this means is that whatever SIM is first activated it will follow that carrier's unlock policy.
Therefore, when you inserted your AT&T SIM card, one of your iPhones was then activated to AT&T and followed AT&T's unlock policy. The other iPhone as soon as you inserted a T-Mobile SIM, that iPhone then activated to T-Mobile and will follow T-Mobile's unlock policy. Even though you purchased these phones outright!
You even say in your comment "I know that AT&T locked the device to their network but did unlock it upon request". So as you can see here, the iPhone that you got was not unlocked. It was actually locked to AT&T before you contacted AT&T, but since you met the requirements AT&T has, they were able to unlock it for you. This is an extra step that most people don't want to have to deal with.
An unlocked iPhone (or sim-free directly from Apple) means you can insert any SIM card into it without having to contact the carrier to unlock it.
Therefore, in order for the OP to get a truly unlocked iPhone 7 from Best Buy, they would have to use a Verizon SIM card first, since Verizon does not lock their LTE devices. Then, they now have an unlocked iPhone 7.
For Networks in the USA, yes. However abroad they are not. All iphones are sold with a flex policy, this can be seen once a gsx(Apple Global Service Exchange) report is pulled. i had an hour long convo with best buys tech department regarding this , they gave me a 120 days extended return time because the phones are not truly unlocked.
This is partially correct in that AT&T will even lock unlocked sim-free iPhones from Apple. This happened to someone I know. Purchased it from Apple and they later sold it to a Verizon customer who took it to Verizon and found it had been locked. My friend requested to have it unlocked and AT&T did so without any issue. So that lesson is that AT&T will lock even an unlocked device for whatever reason but they seem to be easy to deal with when getting unlocked. I wonder if they would still unlock an phone from Verizon that came to AT&T.
If it's locked to a carrier then the carrier can choose to unlock it as long as the device/account meets their requirements. For AT&T it's as follows:
If you bought a SIM-free phone from Apple, it should not be locked to ANY carrier. If for some reason it did, then you'd want to work with Apple to determine why a sim-free iPhone directly from them was locked to a carrier.
Are you sure your friend didn't purchase an AT&T version of the iPhone from Apple? Even purchasing it outright. Usually the sim-free/unlocked models aren't made immediately available from Apple. What it sounds like is that your friend purchased an AT&T iPhone 6s instead of a truly sim-free model. Because I purchased a sim-free 6s plus from Apple and was able to use it on several carriers without having to contact a carrier to have it unlocked.
That explains it then.
It did get locked, you just had to contact the carrier and ask for an unlock since you purchased the phone for full price and without it tied up to a contract.
The verizon sim is the workaround to not having to contact anyone or submit unlock requests.
Its just unlocked for good once you use a verizon sim for the first time.
I just checked my local Best Buy’s have plenty of 8+ in stock. I will stop by tomorrow to pick up a space gray 8+ Verizon model, I will bring my old Verizon SIM which is not active to activate the new phone, and then insert my T-Mobile SIM. Wish me luck guys hope it works.
My brother has the same issue- Let us know how it goes. He does not have an old Verizon SIM so I'm not sure how he'll unlock it, tho. Maybe go to Apple store and borrow a Verizon SIM.
This is incorrect. I bought a 256gb 8 Plus at BB yesterday. Didn’t have a preorder. I paid full price. Phone is an A1864. I use Verizon and inserted my SIM at home so I have no clue if it was unlocked or not. The BB rep did claim the only get one type of phone for all carriers so maybe mine was a fluke if it’s unlocked?
You do have to ask BB to price match Apple. They are selling the 256GB 8+ for $1049.99 Kinda sneaky.
The best part was I paid 911.75 OTD. After price match I was able to use a 10% off any purchase coupon BB sent me in the mail as an Elite member. It would only work on no contract phones.
Congratulations you now have an unlocked 8+, not because of your luck, but was because your inserted Verizon SIM first, so the new phone picked up verizon’s unlock policy which is unlock for all carrier.
I will get my 8+ in Best Buy instead of Apple Store because I have expiring reward money and I can get 5% back when using my Best Buy credit card, thanks for the pricing matching tip.
All VZW iPhones are unlocked regardless of where you buy them. It’s part of an agreement, now codified, w/ FCC when VZW won an auction for sought after frequencies.
using att sim and
https://www.att.com/deviceunlock
Is the easiest way to officially unlock Best Buy iPhone that is paid in full
https://www.att.com/deviceunlock
Is the easiest way to officially unlock Best Buy iPhone that is paid in full
Why do people always post useless things like this?
How is using an AT&T sim and then contacting AT&T for an unlock request easier than doing nothing at all and using a verizon sim?
Stop making useless posts.
Stop making useless posts.
correct however, with apple there is something called a us reseller flex policy as a reseller best buy must abide buy guidelines of selling apple phones.
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A1864 doesnt exist the part number you are referring to is A1784.
Sure, but Apple and BBs VZW iPhones come unlocked too b/c that is how VZW legally must sell them. US law trumps Apple policy.
that is incorrect. they are unlocked globaly. i was able to use my 7 plus in UK.
Think you are the one that needs to brush up. I already posted the relevant statute which does not make exclusions for CDMA. But here it is again. Pay attention to paragraph “e’” and also the last sentence which is specific to “other providers’ networks.
And here is Verizon’s unlock policy for post paid 4G phones from its website, again with no exclusions: