AT&T iPhone 6s paid in full is unlocked, has Band 30

[Older bird]

So you're telling me I have to call AT&T and request for a sim unlock of my fully paid iPhone 6s that I purchased from the Apple Store? I don't get it I wish I had a T-Mobile nano sim to test it out with. I am reading mixed reviews on the forums.

If you want to get the message saying it's unlocked, back it up to iTunes and restore the phone. Once it's restored the message will appear, then set it back up as your phone from the backup you did earlier. I did this today because I was unsure myself. I purchased a att 6s paid in full from Apple on launch day and set it up thru iCloud. I didn't see a message when I connected to iTunes initially. The only way to see it is to restore the phone

 

[Appl3FTW]

The fully paid phone is "unlocked" until you activate it from ATT. once you activate it, ATT puts a lock on it and you have to call ATT to unlock it by providing proof of purchase. ie receipt of paid in full. I'm going thru this now and this is the bottom line.

so basically:
ATT paid in full: fresh from the box = unlocked
once you activate the simcard i.e. ATT.. it becomes locked to ATT

Tmobile paid in full: unlocked regardless of the activation

so Fing annoying.

 

[menist]

Any one purchase from AT&T at full price and got theirs unlocked? I tried the unlock request and got denied "The account holder information you provided does not match our records." It's BS, I'm new to at&t and already have a account setup, and input the right information.

 

[7roca7]

I got confused after reading so many of the post about the phone's being unlocked? I filled out the form from AT&T to request it be unlocked, knowing i just switched over to AT&T GoPhone a few day's before, and that if it was already unlocked they would have told me, or unlocked it even though i didn't meet the requirements ?
The next day i received two e-mail's from AT&T, both with the same time stamp. One was that i was denied, and the other Congratulation's.
I went into iTune's backed it up, and Restored my phone. The window popped up Congratulation's your phone is unlocked.
I don't know, but the first time you go to iTunes to set up your phone couldn't you eject your phone after it was complete, plug it back in, click on restore the phone, and get the same Congratulation your phone's unlocked window W/O having to ask a carrier to do it?

 

[duaneu]

People, the iTunes restore is completely unnecessary to unlock the phone. That hasn't been a required step for years. But if you feel reassured to see the message pop up, knock yourselves out.

 

[7roca7]

I ordered online from Apple with my phone number. I activated the new SIM. I didn't see any "congratulations" screen, but the phone is definitely unlocked. Popped in a Verizon sim and everything worked fine

Do you remember if updating setting's came up when you put in the Verizon sim?

 

[Older bird]

The fully paid phone is "unlocked" until you activate it from ATT. once you activate it, ATT puts a lock on it and you have to call ATT to unlock it by providing proof of purchase. ie receipt of paid in full. I'm going thru this now and this is the bottom line.

so basically:
ATT paid in full: fresh from the box = unlocked
once you activate the simcard i.e. ATT.. it becomes locked to ATT

Tmobile paid in full: unlocked regardless of the activation

so Fing annoying.

I think your info is invalid. I paid in full for my att 6s from the Apple Store, I activated it with the ATT SIM card that came in the phone. It is fully unlocked. Verified by restoring the phone and getting the message "congratulations your iPhone is unlocked"

 

[bohbot16]

I think it comes down to which store you buy it from.
Apple - unlocked out of the box
AT&T - locked out of the box, need to submit an unlock request

 

[terraphantm]

Do you remember if updating setting's came up when you put in the Verizon sim?

It did not, but under settings, it did show the profile as "Verizon 21.0" or whatever, so the phone did automatically pull the correct carrier file. I think it only asks to update if the phone doesn't have it onboard for some reason

 

[terraphantm]

The fully paid phone is "unlocked" until you activate it from ATT. once you activate it, ATT puts a lock on it and you have to call ATT to unlock it by providing proof of purchase. ie receipt of paid in full. I'm going thru this now and this is the bottom line.

so basically:
ATT paid in full: fresh from the box = unlocked
once you activate the simcard i.e. ATT.. it becomes locked to ATT

Tmobile paid in full: unlocked regardless of the activation

so Fing annoying.

Not true. Mine was unlocked and I didn't have to submit any requests. I deliberately used the included SIM too

 

[rmrivera]

I wan't to pick up a phone unlocked at an Apple Store and pay for it in full, but I have a business account. Will I be allowed too or will they make me go to At&t and force me into a locked one?

 

[terraphantm]

I wan't to pick up a phone unlocked at an Apple Store and pay for it in full, but I have a business account. Will I be allowed too or will they make me go to At&t and force me into a locked one?

Just ask to purchase "device only" and they shouldn't ask for any of your account info

 

[elf42o]

I wan't to pick up a phone unlocked at an Apple Store and pay for it in full, but I have a business account. Will I be allowed too or will they make me go to At&t and force me into a locked one?

I purchased AT&T device only directly from the the Apple Store today and took out the AT&T sim in there and put my straight talk AT&T sim in and activated right away they didn't ask for any account info. I just need to find a T-Mobile sim to test if my phone is actually unlocked.

 

[Jeff R]

so basically:
ATT paid in full: fresh from the box = unlocked
once you activate the simcard i.e. ATT.. it becomes locked to ATT

Once you activate the sim that came with the phone?

I bought mine at the apple store paid in full. I popped out the sim that came with the phone & used mine.
I haven't tried a different sim yet. I requested the device unlock through At&t and got denied.

What are the chances that my iPhone was unlocked & now locked cause of the request device unlock that I did? lol

I will try a different sim when I get a chance and/or call customer service if I have to.

 

[duaneu]

Once you activate the sim that came with the phone?

I bought mine at the apple store paid in full. I popped out the sim that came with the phone & used mine.
I haven't tried a different sim yet. I requested the device unlock through At&t and got denied.

What are the chances that my iPhone was unlocked & now locked cause of the request device unlock that I did? lol

I will try a different sim when I get a chance and/or call customer service if I have to.

Don't worry, an unlocked phone isn't going to suddenly become locked. That other poster is wrong. You can swap SIMs all you want.

 

[Ternary]

Is there any reason NOT to purchase the AT&T iPhone 6s regardless of carrier? So far, I can't seem to find any cons purchasing that over the T-Mobile version.

 

[duaneu]

Is there any reason NOT to purchase the AT&T iPhone 6s regardless of carrier? So far, I can't seem to find any cons purchasing that over the T-Mobile version.

The only con might be if you want to use on Verizon. Even though the policy against activating non-Verizon phones has supposedly ended, some people have reported problems with getting Verizon to activate an AT&T phone.

 

[terraphantm]

The only con might be if you want to use on Verizon. Even though the policy against activating non-Verizon phones has supposedly ended, some people have reported problems with getting Verizon to activate an AT&T phone.

That would apply to any non-Verizon phone however.

Between the AT&T and T-mobile versions, it appears there's no reason to buy the T-mobile version

 

[bohbot16]

I bought a full price AT&T iPhone 6S from Apple and activated the SIM that came with the device on my AT&T account. I then did a restore through iTunes just to see the "Congratulations your iPhone is unlocked" message.

I think the confusion is surrounding full price AT&T iPhones purchased from AT&T instead of from Apple.

 

[Appl3FTW]

I bought a full price AT&T iPhone 6S from Apple and activated the SIM that came with the device on my AT&T account. I then did a restore through iTunes just to see the "Congratulations your iPhone is unlocked" message.

I think the confusion is surrounding full price AT&T iPhones purchased from AT&T instead of from Apple.

I did that and it doesn't work

 

[bohbot16]

I did that and it doesn't work

Try to set it up as a new phone in iTunes after you restore. Once you get the unlocked message you can restore from a backup.

 

[tworth23]

The fully paid phone is "unlocked" until you activate it from ATT. once you activate it, ATT puts a lock on it and you have to call ATT to unlock it by providing proof of purchase. ie receipt of paid in full. I'm going thru this now and this is the bottom line.

so basically:
ATT paid in full: fresh from the box = unlocked
once you activate the simcard i.e. ATT.. it becomes locked to ATT

Tmobile paid in full: unlocked regardless of the activation

so Fing annoying.

Sorry, you're COMPLETELY WRONG! I bought device only fully paid Att iPhone 6s Plus from Apple. I took out sim that was pre installed, put in my sim, got an att LTE signal and turned on phone. I then plugged into iTunes and IMMEDIATLEY got message "CONGRATULATIONS YOUR IPHONE HAS BEEN UNLOCKED". ATT iPhones are unlocked out of box when bought at full price from Apple.

 

[terraphantm]

I did that and it doesn't work

I don't know what went wrong in your case, but it seems to be an isolated incident

 

[Appl3FTW]

Sorry, you're COMPLETELY WRONG! I bought device only fully paid Att iPhone 6s Plus from Apple. I took out sim that was pre installed, put in my sim, got an att LTE signal and turned on phone. I then plugged into iTunes and IMMEDIATLEY got message "CONGRATULATIONS YOUR IPHONE HAS BEEN UNLOCKED". ATT iPhones are unlocked out of box when bought at full price from Apple.

Reading is fundamental. Like I said its unlocked until you activate it. In your case, if you took the sim and restored right away, you would've gotten that congratulations message. I didn't do that, I activated and from what apple is claiming is that once activated Att locks it and it is no longer unlocked. I think this is the biggest crock of bull.

 

[Appl3FTW]

If you want to get the message saying it's unlocked, back it up to iTunes and restore the phone. Once it's restored the message will appear, then set it back up as your phone from the backup you did earlier. I did this today because I was unsure myself. I purchased a att 6s paid in full from Apple on launch day and set it up thru iCloud. I didn't see a message when I connected to iTunes initially. The only way to see it is to restore the phone

I did that last night just to test and see what the fuss is all about but that's not the case. I restored it and it still didn't get the congratulations message.