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AT&T and Apple Tightening Policies to Reduce iPhone Unlocking

Zolk said:
In-store activation will kind of ruin the traditional unboxing ceremonies.
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No stranger touches my phone. No one touches the box. No one messes up the plastic wrap over it (that I would carefully slice along the bottom seams). No one.

I'd rather pay Apple extra money than AT&T. I'm withholding judgement till I learn more and things are set in stone.
 
W1LLk said:
If you don't like it, maybe you should stick to a phone made by a different carrier. RIM will always be there for you whiney babies... :eek:
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Around here, carriers don't make phones. Hell, they don't even brand them as their own, and they certainly don't have them crippled (as in forcing the manufacturer to _exclude_ bluetooth et al).

I'm not whiney, as I won't be forced into any of that shyte any of you have to put up with, as I don't live in the US, but in Europe.

If any company tried that **** here in Denmark, they would get slammed hard and instantly.
 
Genghis Khan said:
and guys! stop worrying...the iPhone 3G will be unlocked shortly after release ;)

iPhone 2.0 will be as well...as if AT&T really thinks they can stop people unlocking the most popular smartphone on the planet :p




an obvious economics graduate speaking here:rolleyes:
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The Free Trade agreement (unbalanced I might add) between the US and CHINA is 100% lopsided. Google how NAFTA was bad and you will see every presidential candidate talking about how it was a bad idea and how they never should have created it. All it's done is ship millions of jobs to communist countries, empowered China (fastest growing on the planet, from Bikes (10 years ago) to auto's) and you have one of the many reasons gas is where it is, plus the over zealot capitalist mind set of big oil profits - - every day here they report on barrel prices going down yet up it goes at the pump - -

The oil companies are trying to squeeze everything they can out of the consumer before the new regime takes over - LOL

and I voted republican, sigh.
 
maceleven said:
But they will say before you buy if,if you cancel the contract you must return the equipment ,if opened a 10% restock fee ,and if must return within 14 days
and if you dont you must keep the equipment and still pay an :(early termination fee
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It should not be like that because the phone is not subsidized, i mean its sold at a regular price. If the iPhone was like $499 regular price or $99 with 2 year agreement, then if i choose to cancel the service, i would have to give back the equipment.

They cant do that,
 
koobcamuk said:
SH905i, SH906i, 920SH, 905P, 910SH, 904SH, 912SH ... I can list over 200.
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Erm, the version of those sold here are very much unlockable. Hell, I can get in a car, and in five minutes (12 minutes on a bike) and find the first four places that'll unlock those while I wait. How they do it? Beats me. But they'll do it. It most be a regional thing, then.
 
koobcamuk said:
they could block the IMEI rendering it useless.
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I hope this is the policy, and I hope that it is highly publicized on Fox News, The Today Show, Oprah etc.

The current iPhone has a nice price point but the discussed AT&T rate hikes ($10 a month + a text plan) make that a moot point. If you are going to pay as much as any other smart phone per month, I would think that the Sony Xperia, HTC Touch Diamond, Nokia N96, Samsung Instinct etc. are going to start to look interesting with their MMS, 5MP Cameras, 640x480 video etc. Personally, I know alot of people care about the up front cost more than the monthly but there are alot that don't. The Nokia N series proves this.

I just don't get the marketing strategy. Either take the high end smart phones on head-on or slash prices and go for the mass market. With the rate hikes, Apple/AT&T is doing neither.
 
They said in the conference call that you cannot walk out of an AT&T and/or Apple store with a iPhone unless you have an AT&T contract. That 30-day non-activation charge was kinda puzzling in light of that. All I can think of it applying to are refurbs bought off .com's.

An insider blabbed to me that the original exclusive contract was 2 years instead of 5. Whatever it was, it's renegotiated for 'multi-year', at least 2010.

Apple shared income from the AT&T user contracts which was a pretty good reason to find an exclusive carrier and a good reason for carriers to tell Apple to get lost. Maybe they helped with AT&T's huge 3G investment in return, aiding with this and that. From the speed comparisons earlier this year, made me wonder if Apple had a thumb in the pie. Now, AT&T pays Apple upfront for each phone sale and AT&T gets 100% of the money after that. Since $199/299 is the max price, it's gotta mean that AT&T used to split the sale with Apple and now they're taking $0. Since it's a max price, the amount that AT&T lowers it in the future will be paid by AT&T to Apple which I suspect would happen around this time next year. It could be that AT&T is having to pay a small subsidy already just to get the price to $199/299. [or maybe all the phone price went to apple and AT&T is subsidizing $200 from what macrumors says] Cancelling still gets AT&T some bucks with the credit card penalty charge. It would have to be enough to cover any subsidies, minimum. I figure if people happily paid $400 for an iphone in the past to unlock, paying $200 + $200 cancelation penalty is not a problem. As long as you fulfill the terms of the contract and cancellation, they don't legally care what you do with the phone.

And that's my incoherant rambling for today.
 
Here in france there is a law that does not allow compulsory plans with a phone or phone with plans. Same law forced Apple to sell iPhone locked & unlocked too, at 900/1000$ for people who did want an unlocked iPhone. Price of the iPhone was 499$ locked back then..

So let's figure it out, this law will bring unlocked iPhone 3G (199$ locked, not subv.) to some 499$, and the phone is even better, at a price everyone paid for iPhone v1 even if they unlocked it themselves..

Apple and AT&T made a smart move in the US, but are really f*cked by this French law. Not a lot of people kmow about it, so they won't lose a lot of money, but we're going to save a lot !

See, subventioned iPhone 3G might cost... 100$ here, with that law, you can leave the shop with NO PLAN and your locked iPhone for the original price, not subv. (wich is ridiculous, 199$) or an unlocked iPhone for a bit more... (499$)
So, your call, you either buy a locked one and wait for PwnageTool to be updated, or get an unlocked one if you want it really bad...
I'm not feeling poor, but I'd rather unlock it at home and get it for 199 than buying it unlocked for 499...
Enough money spent on iPhone in less than a year and and a half soon, if I buy the 3G version, it'll start to cost a lot.. ! (499+199 or 499+499 ? ) do the math, it's worth using unlock tools.
And since iPhone official providers s*cks.. No point in using them.
iPhone diggers won't go to US this time, but Europe (thank our laws).
And I think Apple deserved it, even if I love their products, iPhone v1 was way too expansive.
 
Well that is nice of Apple - i can safely remove my SIM card with the 'SIM card tool' and put in another one.... but i can't use it because the handset is locked. Such a stupid system. :mad:


Willis said:
haha oops..

Meh.. I never wanted to unlock an iPhone, it just didn't seem natural. What makes me laugh though is in the box it says

" - Sim Card tool "

wonder what's that for :rolleyes:
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RidleyGriff said:
This kills one of the most innovative features of the original iPhone, imo -- activating at home. Where you the user control the process at your convenience.

This sucks. I get that AT&T is now footing some of the bill for each phone but c'mon -- this is a big step backwards. It's this kind of nonsense and greed that I'd come to expect from other cell phone providers and manufacturers. Not Apple.
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What did you think ? That AT&T was going to subsidize a phone so you could unlock it for another network.

A cheaper subsidized phone is now available.
 
Man, one should be in the telecommunications business in the US. People will lap up anything. Hell, they'll even defend questionable practices, "because otherwise those poor companies won't be able to make enough money".

Yes, one should certainly invest in some shares "over there". :p
 
Tosser said:
Erm, the version of those sold here are very much unlockable. Hell, I can get in a car, and in five minutes (12 minutes on a bike) and find the first four places that'll unlock those while I wait. How they do it? Beats me. But they'll do it. It most be a regional thing, then.
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Tosser, what versions? There is no version.

Thanks for letting me know how long it takes you to get to this place on your bike :rolleyes:

I think you're mistaken. The 912SH cannot be unlocked. Same for 910SH. I guarantee you a MBP that they cannot get this to work outside of Japan. There is no version. It only works in Japan. 3G only too. No GSM. It cannot be unlocked. Ever. No way.
 
Hate to break it to you all, but the extra $10 per month is nothing to do with making up the $200 price difference. It's just ATT screwing you because 3G data is apparently worth more than EDGE data.
o2 in the UK has kept the contract prices the same as before 3G, no extra for 3g, no extra for GPS. And the UK price is exactly right £99=$199
 
koobcamuk said:
Tosser, what versions? There is no version.

Thanks for letting me know how long it takes you to get to this place on your bike :rolleyes:

I think you're mistaken. The 912SH cannot be unlocked. Same for 910SH. I guarantee you a MBP that they cannot get this to work outside of Japan. There is no version. It only works in Japan. 3G only too. No GSM. It cannot be unlocked. Ever. No way.
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Nope, but as an example, the 920 can.
Also, the 920 is also called the x-something (who cares).

Another thing, I wonder about the japanese market. One would have to venture the guess that the 3G-only phones, only meant for the japanese market are somehow hardwired.
However, the thing stands. The ones that have an "overseas" version (the x-something, for instance) can be hacked. Oh, sorry, unlocked.
 
koobcamuk said:
Tosser, what versions? There is no version.

Thanks for letting me know how long it takes you to get to this place on your bike :rolleyes:

I think you're mistaken. The 912SH cannot be unlocked. Same for 910SH. I guarantee you a MBP that they cannot get this to work outside of Japan. There is no version. It only works in Japan. 3G only too. No GSM. It cannot be unlocked. Ever. No way
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Of course it can't.
 
If AT&T allows you to buy the iPhone in the store with a credit card and records the number for the "30-day penalty" thing, then allows you to activate at home through iTunes, could you not just pay your CC bill and cancel the CC?
How would they penalize you?
 
pbkiller said:
It should not be like that because the phone is not subsidized, i mean its sold at a regular price. If the iPhone was like $499 regular price or $99 with 2 year agreement, then if i choose to cancel the service, i would have to give back the equipment.

They cant do that,
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It _is_ subsidized. AT&T is paying Apple an undisclosed amount per phone. That's why they are getting tough about the contract.

http://www.iphoneatlas.com/2008/06/09/breaking-iphone-3g-is-subsidized/
 
It's starting to seem like the Samsung Instinct may be a better choice if I don't want to deal with satan's cell phone company, AT&T.

Not that I particularly care about unlocking since Apple should have made it so that we didn't have to.
 
hotsauce3868 said:
If AT&T allows you to buy the iPhone in the store with a credit card and records the number for the "30-day penalty" thing, then allows you to activate at home through iTunes, could you not just pay your CC bill and cancel the CC?
How would they penalize you?
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Hypothetically, they could ruin your credit rating for one...
 
I just want to use my current ATT PAYG with an iPhone. With the PAYG unlimited talk, I spend less than $15/month to use my phone. I'm not a heavy phone user, I only need to make calls occasionally so I don't need an overpriced plan with more minutes than I will ever use. I don't need a data plan because I'm almost always in range of WiFi, the only places I go without WiFi also have no cell service (not just no ATT, no cell service at all). If there is no PAYG option available, and the phone has to be activated to a contract, then I can't possibly get one. I have no problems with ATT network or service, but it definitely isn't worth 5x what I'm currently paying just to have the luxury of an iPhone.
 
Tosser said:
Nope, but as an example, the 920 can.
Also, the 920 is also called the x-something (who cares).
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Right let's get this straight.

The 920SH cannot be unlocked. You can get a PSS SIM or variant, stick your SIM to it and use the phone to make calls. The camera doesn't work. To me this is not unlocking. I should know, I used to have this.

Tosser, see above. Variants do not count either. "Name a phone that cannot be unlocked";

"920SH". I did. I don't care about the variants in China - that's a different phone - hence the different name. As stated above, it's not a real unlock - you can't use the camera or the internet. Just SMS and call. Not only that, it's not software. It's a SIM HACK not and unlock.

Tosser said:
Another thing, I wonder about the japanese market. One would have to venture the guess that the 3G-only phones, only meant for the japanese market are somehow hardwired.
Click to expand...

What are you talking about? The software is locked in Japan. The phone only has a 3G chip because Japan is totally 3G for the most part. The phones have firmware that is assigned to the networks in Japan.

Believe me, I know all about this.
 
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