But if you are no longer in contract with AT&T and purchase a non commitment iPhone 5, you can just call them to unlock it![]()
I called AT&T to order a phone and although I declined the offer for one once I found out that there would be 2 week wait after launch I did find out some good info. The sales rep was not able to confirm for sure but basically said he saw no reason why AT&T would not unlock an iPhone that was on an account in good standing. Meaning, if you buy an iPhone that is not in contract (i.e. you pay full price) then they should unlock it for you after the fact if you just ask. That was the sales reps interpretation and I don't see a reason why they wouldn't either. I had my iPhone 4 unlocked once I was out of contract with it.
So my plan is to buy an AT&T-locked phone at full price and then ask them to unlock. If that doesn't work I'll have to return it and just wait a month for the actual unlocked phones to go on sale.
Good luck.
Just wanted to throw out there that I've used the unlocking services on eBay (kind of a "grey market" thing) and had great success... It has worked for iPhone 3, 3GS, 4, and 4S, and I don't see why the iPhone 5 wouldn't work with those services also. Highly recommend a seller named unlock_fusion... Had my iPhone 4S's unlocked within 2 hours of using buy-it-now. Cost like $8 per phone.
I had a question about this also - I understand that it will still come locked, but can you call and have it unlocked immediately? Or do you still have to wait until your current contract runs out? Seems like they should be willing to unlock it since it wasn't subsidized...
And what about for phones you pay the $250 fee to upgrade? Seems like you should be able to unlock those somewhat earlier than the fully subsidized ones...
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So if you're in contract and purchase non-commitment you can't? That doesn't make a lot of sense if it's true... seeing as they aren't subsidizing.
Does anyone know if Apple Stores will be selling full-price AT&T phones or will I have to go to an AT&T store for that?
Last year any iPhone 4S that was bought from AT&T without a contract was factory unlocked even though they never stated that at the time of purchase.
Last year any iPhone 4S that was bought from AT&T without a contract was factory unlocked even though they never stated that at the time of purchase.
Same here--bought one at full retail from my local Apple store a few days after launch and after restoring through itunes, got the your iphone is unlocked message, no call to AT&T necessary.
Guys, remember that you get NO DISCOUNT on the monthly cost of your plan if you buy with no commitment. You pay FULL PRICE for your phone and get nothing in return.
It's much better to go with the contract. You're throwing less money away in the long term.
thats not true. paying the no commitment price rather than early upgrade fee is worth it for me, and plenty of others here.
thats not true. paying the no commitment price rather than early upgrade fee is worth it for me, and plenty of others here.
You can pay everytime the ETF and leave
So basically we can buy an unlocked iPhone 5 this way? Will AT&T lock it in the future?
You can't pay ETF and get your phone unlocked AND still stay with AT&T...