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"Congratulations your iPhone has been unlocked"

I just bought a device only AT&T iPhone 4S from my local Apple Store after reserving online last night and confirmed it is unlocked via iTunes. Here is a copy of my receipt; notice it says "AT&T Account Information: No Wireless Service Activation during iPhone Sale" about half way down.

I am not an AT&T customer and did not have to provide any account info (although the receipt did have my name and e-mail address from my online reservation the night before.)

When I asked the rep if I could buy it "device only, off contract" he said yes, but that it would be locked (wrong, obviously.) One of the screens during the payment process had an "Activate" button I had to click which had me nervous, but as long as you don't give them any account info, the phone won't be activated and will be unlocked.
 
sanke1 said:
If your phone shows the message of congratulations..... It's unlocked and you do replacement under warranty, the new phone is default factory unlocked and such factory unlocked phones don't show any message when restored as they were not locked to begin with. My iPhone 4S purchased unlocked from London Apple store also does not display any congratulations message when restored and accepts sims from any carrier.

Mentioning to genius that your phone was unlocked at the time of replacement also helps.

Hope this is the info you all been looking for!
Click to expand...

Well I totally thought you were full of ****. But alas, I went to the T-Mobile store around the block and had them put in an active micro sim card and whala...everything worked like a charm! The phone worked perfectly and showed T-Mobile as the carrier.

I can now 100% confirm that when you get your phone replaced, iTunes no longer shows the message, "Congratulations, your iPhone is now unlocked" but it DOES retain it's unlocked status!
 
VeNoMiZeD said:
Anyway to verify on the receipt if it was purchase as a device only purchase?
Click to expand...

Mine says:

AT&T Upgrade Information
Changes made to the wireless phone number

But it is also unlocked (have restored it twice and always get the unlocked message). Definitely am still nervous if I ever get a replacement.
 
I am going to crack and buy my iPhone 4S this Friday (11/11/11). Hopefully that's the day they start selling it unlocked officially. If not, I'm still gonna buy it, and then consider exchanging it when they do release the official one.

This is going to be my first first iPhone ever (or smartphone for that matter), the wait has been killing me slowly and I'm almost dead now.

I'm upgrading from a Nokia 6230 :D (for which I payed $700 back in 2002)
 
arunim said:
I am going to crack and buy my iPhone 4S this Friday (11/11/11). Hopefully that's the day they start selling it unlocked officially. If not, I'm still gonna buy it, and then consider exchanging it when they do release the official one.

This is going to be my first first iPhone ever (or smartphone for that matter), the wait has been killing me slowly and I'm almost dead now.

I'm upgrading from a Nokia 6230 :D (for which I payed $700 back in 2002)
Click to expand...

haha awesome, welcome
 
I was at the Apple Store earlier today, and I was told that there was no way to do a device only purchase. She said that I had to provide all of my info, and they choose no-commitment price instead of 2-year contract, which would essentially sign me up for AT&T service. I left empty-handed.

I went back to the same store a few hours later, and the specialist who helped me this time said that I could buy it as device only, so I bought it.

Took it home, hooked it to iTunes, and confirmed that it's unlocked.
 
Guys I don't understand why everyone's still freaking out about this. There's no new information in this thread.

If you can successfully score a "Device Only" purchase without providing any info, good for you. It's unlocked unless you don't get the message and you try a third-party SIM and it doesn't work.

Nobody understands why they're selling phones like this but who cares, it works. I've been using a Taiwanese SIM Card in mine as a test for a bit now.
 
smash said:
Guys I don't understand why everyone's still freaking out about this. There's no new information in this thread.

If you can successfully score a "Device Only" purchase without providing any info, good for you. It's unlocked unless you don't get the message and you try a third-party SIM and it doesn't work.

Nobody understands why they're selling phones like this but who cares, it works. I've been using a Taiwanese SIM Card in mine as a test for a bit now.
Click to expand...

because they paid FULL price $649, $749 and $849 and they want to make sure it is remain "Unlocked"

if you do not like ignore the thread.
 
shanmugam said:
because they paid FULL price $649, $749 and $849 and they want to make sure it is remain "Unlocked"

if you do not like ignore the thread.
Click to expand...

That's been confirmed by El3tronics. So it is confirmed that your full price, off contract will come unlocked and it's been confirmed that your replacement is also unlocked.
 
maclook said:
That's been confirmed by El3tronics. So it is confirmed that your full price, off contract will come unlocked and it's been confirmed that your replacement is also unlocked.
Click to expand...

agreed, until the time apple releases the official unlocked version, you will see this thread goes on forever ;)
 
arunim said:
I am going to crack and buy my iPhone 4S this Friday (11/11/11). Hopefully that's the day they start selling it unlocked officially. If not, I'm still gonna buy it, and then consider exchanging it when they do release the official one.

This is going to be my first first iPhone ever (or smartphone for that matter), the wait has been killing me slowly and I'm almost dead now.

I'm upgrading from a Nokia 6230 :D (for which I payed $700 back in 2002)
Click to expand...

LOL no wonder Nokia is not as profitable as it used to be when they have lovers like you. 9 years.......?
 
Ok. So i got lucky and my iphone 4s was unlocked. Is there a possibility that it could be locked in the future if i connect my iphone again to itunes?
 
Another Happy camper :D

Cannot wait for the official unlocked iPhone, got one today 16GB iPhone 4S black.

One thing i noticed, without even connecting to iTunes (with out signing into iTunes account or iCloud setup) it activated through wi-fi (sign of unlocked iPhone)

Have to restore to see this screen! :D hope this stays forever.

Do not have other SIMs card to try.

happy anyway :D :D :D
 

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Couldn't stop myself and bought a 32GB AT&T device only. Unlocked Message popped up. Had to restore due to a problem during iTunes synch, the message did not appear after restore, I was a bit scared. But no problems so far! Tried with T-mobile SMS, works perfectly.

Still a little bit unsure to change after official unlock release or not.

So +1 ;)
 
Akinzo said:
LOL no wonder Nokia is not as profitable as it used to be when they have lovers like you. 9 years.......?
Click to expand...

Somewhat OT, but for over 2 years Nokia tried selling completely unlocked phones in the US at full price out of fancy flagship stores, but closed them for lack of interest. Even though there is only 1 network where the unlocked iPhone fully works in the US, there is a lot of interest in the unlocked model. Perhaps Apple users like to travel, the phone gets resold overseas, there are fans of MVNOs, or people OK with T-Mobile's EDGE (and who want the AT&T merger blocked), but something is making the unlocked model pretty popular.
 
Has anyone upgraded to iOS 5.0.1 and confirmed that the unlock status is retained? I'm out of the country using it unlocked and don't want to risk it but I assume that all should be ok.
 
Ziron3 said:
Has anyone upgraded to iOS 5.0.1 and confirmed that the lock status is retained? I'm out of the country using it unlocked and don't want to risk it but I assume that all should be ok.
Click to expand...

I didn't get the "congratulations" message, but have no reason to believe it wouldn't work with another SIM. The only phones I'd be concerned about are the Sprint ones, since they claimed a future update would lock the Micro SIM (which they would then offer to unlock to customers in good standing). Remember, the Sprint phones are already on a "locked" database. The "AT&T" off-contract phones are not on the database unless they were shipped to AT&T. Installing an update won't add a phone to Apple's database.
 
this is another me too here
just purchased two 32 GB from FW TX , connected to itunes and viola the unlocked message appeared..
:)
 
Ziron3 said:
Has anyone upgraded to iOS 5.0.1 and confirmed that the unlock status is retained? I'm out of the country using it unlocked and don't want to risk it but I assume that all should be ok.
Click to expand...

Upgraded OTA & unlock still works.

I know unlocking is new to us in the US but rest assured that once unlocked via Apple, it is unlocked forever.
 
Ziron3 said:
Has anyone upgraded to iOS 5.0.1 and confirmed that the unlock status is retained? I'm out of the country using it unlocked and don't want to risk it but I assume that all should be ok.
Click to expand...
As another test :)D), moments ago I swapped in my T-Mobile prepaid SIM, connected to iTunes, and restored, getting iOS 5.0.1 in the process. Once again, I got the "Congratulations, your iPhone has been unlocked" message. I was able to make a call from my T-Mobile SIM before swapping back to my AT&T SIM.
 
IO01 said:
As another test :)D), moments ago I swapped in my T-Mobile prepaid SIM, connected to iTunes, and restored, getting iOS 5.0.1 in the process. Once again, I got the "Congratulations, your iPhone has been unlocked" message. I was able to make a call from my T-Mobile SIM before swapping back to my AT&T SIM.
Click to expand...

:D

with the update 5.0.1 still working no need to worry about the unlock staying forever any more. thanks for all the efforts. :cool:
 
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