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Exchanged T-Mobile Contract-Free/Unlocked for the Sim-Free Factory Unlocked.

ET iPhone Home

ET iPhone Home

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Oct 5, 2011
3,823
529
Orange County, California USA
I was wondering if anyone has exchanged their T-Mobile Contract-Free Unlocked 6/6+ for the Sim-Free version? I was able to do the exchange flawlessly at Apple today. The first store I went to sold the only single Sim Free Gold 64GB version once I arrived. Luckily, upon suggestion of the Apple guy, he suggested to secure the purchase online and pick it up it-store at another nearby Apple Store, which I did.

I was told by both stores that the Sim-Free is better of the two because of the additional bands. How do these additional bands benefit me? Would these extra bands benefit me internationally?
 
The model that you purchased has more LTE bands (TD-LTE), and if you travel to China or Japan you'd be able to get LTE versus 3G with the T-Mobile model. The resale value should be higher as well.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
You did the exchange when you had no idea how, if any, it'd benefit you?
Click to expand...

I knew it had more bands, but what I didn't know was how these extra bands would benefit me, but I do now.

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ssl0408 said:
The model that you purchased has more LTE bands (TD-LTE), and if you travel to China or Japan you'd be able to get LTE versus 3G with the T-Mobile model. The resale value should be higher as well.
Click to expand...

Perfect! Thank you! I had 2 more days and I did contemplate for a moment on returning my T-Mobile 6+, but now, I'm glad I did.
 
OneMike said:
So are you going to China or Japan?
Click to expand...

My work has sent me to Narita, Japan for work, but not recently. It's good to have this added feature than not. I figured, if I'm allowed an exchange by Apple, then why not do it? They didn't even question why I was making the exchange. They did offer the information that it was a better phone due to the extra bands and made the exchange.
 
Besides the extra bands, this model can also be activated with Sprint (previously only units sold as Sprint specific SKUs were eligible for activation on Sprint).
 
ET iPhone Home said:
My work has sent me to Narita, Japan for work, but not recently. It's good to have this added feature than not. I figured, if I'm allowed an exchange by Apple, then why not do it? They didn't even question why I was making the exchange. They did offer the information that it was a better phone due to the extra bands and made the exchange.
Click to expand...


Apple released a phone with more features in my opinion so why not take advantage of it if you're within the return period? Maybe in a year you'll travel to China and need LTE service lol. I would have done the same thing honestly.
 
Electroni said:
Besides the extra bands, this model can also be activated with Sprint (previously only units sold as Sprint specific SKUs were eligible for activation on Sprint).
Click to expand...

Wow! Will it work for Verizon too? So basically, it covers all CDMA and GSM networks here in the U.S.

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ssl0408 said:
Apple released a phone with more features in my opinion so why not take advantage of it if you're within the return period? Maybe in a year you'll travel to China and need LTE service lol. I would have done the same thing honestly.
Click to expand...

I'm so glad I did the exchange. Previous threads claimed both Sim-Free and Contract-Free were virtually the same phone, until someone posted about those extra bands. That's what motivated me.
 
You were able to do it??? I want to do it!

But I highly doubt that's normal. Or doable in most cases but I really need my thread back.

We got straight punk'd this year.

I guess those who waited it was definitely worth it this time.

Am I ticked off? A little. Do I really care. Not now. I changed my mind. Of course I wanted the TRUE unlocked but now it's too late. I got my 6 and I like it but the 6s will be better and we all know it.
 
ET iPhone Home said:
Wow! Will it work for Verizon too? So basically, it covers all CDMA and GSM networks here in the U.S.

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I'm so glad I did the exchange. Previous threads claimed both Sim-Free and Contract-Free were virtually the same phone, until someone posted about those extra bands. That's what motivated me.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I remember those threads. They were pretty funny. Both sides thought they were right.
 
ET iPhone Home said:
Wow! Will it work for Verizon too? So basically, it covers all CDMA and GSM networks here in the U.S.

----------



I'm so glad I did the exchange. Previous threads claimed both Sim-Free and Contract-Free were virtually the same phone, until someone posted about those extra bands. That's what motivated me.
Click to expand...

The "officially" sim-free model is basically the Sprint variant of the iPhone except that it's unlocked. It supports all the bands that the att/vzw/tmo variant supports plus the Sprint "Spark" LTE band and a few other LTE bands used overseas. It can be activated on any one of the major US networks (although you'd need to get a SIM card from the network of your choice yourself since it doesn't come with one out of the box).
 
nouveau-apple said:
That's on Apple. They were WAY late. Hey how about you congratulate me like I deserve.

I love saying I told ya so.

They need to make a thread dedicated to me!
Click to expand...


I never commented about it, just read the threads, so I won't be congratulating you. I thought the threads were funny though. But, yeah, you kind of got the last laugh.
 
Electroni said:
The "officially" sim-free model is basically the Sprint variant of the iPhone except that it's unlocked. It supports all the bands that the att/vzw/tmo variant supports plus the Sprint "Spark" LTE band and a few other LTE bands used overseas. It can be activated on any one of the major US networks (although you'd need to get a SIM card from the network of your choice yourself since it doesn't come with one out of the box).
Click to expand...

WAIT!? Sprint variant? Is the Sim-Free iPhone GSM supporting CDMA or is it CDMA supporting GSM? GSM or CDMA?
 
ET iPhone Home said:
Wow! Will it work for Verizon too? So basically, it covers all CDMA and GSM networks here in the U.S.
Click to expand...

There have been reports that all other unlocked phones (even AT&T's phone) would work on Verizon anyway (6 or 6 plus of course). People are saying, though, that one must already have an account with Verizon. They won't start a new account with that phone, for whatever reason. I imagine all of this would apply to your phone too.

What I don't undesrtand is why Apple doesn't just sell ONE iPhone model and then attach a carrier to it when it is purchased. Must be carrier agreements. Can't really think of anything else. Would make it a whole lot easier, as a customer, to tell them I want a 6 plus 64gb in silver and THEN have them ask me about carrier info/upgrades/loans etc.
 
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