I reserved 2 64GB Black last night. Went in today, waited for about an hour. Ask the guy for 2 64 GB Black, he just said: 'sure, you want the no-contract, device only ones?' He mentioned that a lot of people have been buying those but he doesn't understand why people do that (obviously doesn't read the forums). Anyway, didn't have any trouble getting those and hopefully I can unlock them when I go home tonight!
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"Congratulations your iPhone has been unlocked"
- Thread starter BFW122083
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hahaha, apple knows why people buy the FULL Priced phone.
think about it they will make more money selling the unlocked iPhones $649 than the carrier subsidy ($199 + $350 or something = $549) - i bet apple will make about at least $50 more when Apple sells FULL priced iPhone
and they get the money directly instead of getting it from ATT.
I guesss, earlier ATT controlled Apple not sell the unlocked iPhones (even now it is not available until November)
to apple it does not matter, it is either from your or ATT, it is all good money.
Not so much did you bother to even read this post?
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/13676830/
There are a couple of ways for an iPhone to get registered in the Apple DB as a carrier locked phone. There have been a number of posts in this thread about some still being carrier locked to AT&T when purchased from Apple at full retail without the customer providing any AT&T information.
That's the reason why everyone should be checking to see if they get the "Unlocked" message in iTunes or test with a non AT&T Micro-SIM.
Dave
It is best to wait till the real unlocked iPhone 4S avaliable
unless you go Verizon or Sprint to get the GSM portion unlocked that is different route all together.
unless you go Verizon or Sprint to get the GSM portion unlocked that is different route all together.
Yes! Just came back from the Apple Store, I waited for 1-2 hours and finally got to the lady and told her mine was reserved, she pulled it out and I mentioned to her that I don't want to give any information. She said she could only sell it that way in November. I just told her that my relatives and friends have bought theirs without any information and that they told their clerk to ring it up as device only, so she said "oh, okay" and rang it up.
I brought home the iPhone, plugged it in and it immediately said Congratulations it's unlocked.
I brought home the iPhone, plugged it in and it immediately said Congratulations it's unlocked.
This is actually only a "loophole" until November when the unlocked phones become available. Once that happens, I believe it's no longer a loophole because it says on the Apple website that even if you buy an AT&T phone off-contract and full price, it will be unlocked.
You both should know that Apple does not have that statement anywere on Apple.com site.
Expect the same process as happened this past June when the Unlocked iPhone 4 became available at Apple. You had to purchase it "Micro-SIM" free to get a carrier unlocked phone. If you just chose to purchase a no contract AT&T iPhone it was still locked to AT&T.
Dave
Hmm strange.. I can't find it but I can swear it said so earlier (before the 4S release); I believe it was posted in this thread as well :s
However, I do know that there have been people who paid full price and still ended up with locked devices (which I don't understand).
I'm going to give Apple a call or pop into the store once the officially unlocked phones are out and have a chat with one of the reps on whether I actually need to exchange (I highly doubt they'll re-lock these phones; think about it... you bought it at full price so it makes no sense for them to do that and AT&T should have no say in the matter if it was bought as a device only).
However, I do know that there have been people who paid full price and still ended up with locked devices (which I don't understand).
I'm going to give Apple a call or pop into the store once the officially unlocked phones are out and have a chat with one of the reps on whether I actually need to exchange (I highly doubt they'll re-lock these phones; think about it... you bought it at full price so it makes no sense for them to do that and AT&T should have no say in the matter if it was bought as a device only).
Obviously I don't know for sure but I'm guessing those who bought off contract phones that didn't unlock had at&t selected on them instead of device only. When I got mine they tried to automatically select that, once I peaked at their screen I asked it to be switched to device only.
Is there a way to tell if the iPhone 4s is unlocked without using another SIM card?
I dont have another microSIM card.
Does it always have that "Congratulations your iPhone has been unlocked" message when u plug it into iTunes or is it only the first time?
Thanks!
I dont have another microSIM card.
Does it always have that "Congratulations your iPhone has been unlocked" message when u plug it into iTunes or is it only the first time?
Thanks!
So do you think it is safe to assume that if the iphone 4S was bought as "device only" = "unlocked" the definition by internal inventory at Apple?
I assume 99% in this thread bought theirs at full price (I did) and our receipts read out "device only", as mine reads "no wireless service activation during iPhone sale"
I assume 99% in this thread bought theirs at full price (I did) and our receipts read out "device only", as mine reads "no wireless service activation during iPhone sale"
I bought two 16 GB, white and black today for full price. Device only. Went to T-Mo shop next door and bought a pre-paid card for $30 and put it in the white to see what happens. After set-up of zone, location etc. it showed T-Mo Edge signal and setup was complete. I could make call and receive calls from the device.
Try restoring the device. I get the message every time I do a restore (which has been about 5 so far).
Let's say I walk into the Apple Store and ask for a full price, off contract phone. After the employee comes back with the phone, I say "oops, actually I'll subsidize it and renew my AT&T contract". Will he/she go get another phone or is it that they will activate it later on which will lock it?
No, you are actually wrong, and SirStrumsalot was correct. Here is a source that confirms what he was saying:
http://www.cultofmac.com/102496/apple-can-unlock-att-iphone-4-at-checkout/
...the point of this system is that if a store runs out of unlocked SKUs, they can substitute in an AT&T SKU, charge the same price ("device only"), and it gets unlocked in Apple's database as if it were an unlocked SKU. And that's why this "4S loophole" works: that system, which was introduced back in June just shortly after the official unlocked SKUs were introduced in the U.S., is still in place, and it doesn't distinguish between the AT&T GSM iPhone models (3GS/4/4S).
This is also why people who buy "device only" AT&T 4S phones don't have to worry about them getting locked in the future, or of having their unlocked "AT&T" model get serviced/replaced with a locked one if it needs warranty replacement. Apple treats the "device only" AT&T phone as if it was an unlocked SKU. This happens automatically at the POS computer -- which has ties into the whitelist/unlock database -- during checkout in real-time.
-- Nathan
My receipt also says "no wireless service activation during iPhone sale", but I haven't verified with another service's microSIM yet and I didn't get the unlock message in iTunes (though I haven't restored my phone).
Can anyone else verify that their iPhone is unlocked and their receipt says "no wireless service activation during iPhone sale"?
Thank you.
I got that message with no sim in my phone. The first thing I did before hooking up to iTunes for the first time was remove the ATT micro sim.
I've been happily using my phone on T-Mobile since last Sunday.
this articles talks about iPhone 4 (see the date it is way before iPhone 4S announced)
apple can do the same thing to iPhone 4S like what they did to iPhone 4 (get the ATT iPhone 4S and unlock it)
Wanted to let you know that I purchased a brand new 32GB iPhone 4S from the apple store here in Raleigh NC today. The phone was said to be an ATT iPhone 4S but I bought it at full price w/o a contract. Upon plugging the iPhone 4S into my computer I recieved the message you see in the link here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/941521/iPhone4SUnlocked.PNG
The iPhone 4S is fully unlocked! I assume they just aren't telling people about this so more ATT customers can get their hands on the phones first.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Going to go get a T-Mobile pre-paid sim to try today!
The iPhone 4S is fully unlocked! I assume they just aren't telling people about this so more ATT customers can get their hands on the phones first.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Going to go get a T-Mobile pre-paid sim to try today!
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did you left the default SIM card in there or removed it?
TIA, very tempting i might get one 16Gb for $649