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How much longer will we be able to use Unlocked iPhones?

K

KrazyKuul

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 16, 2008
115
0
I don't have an iPhone yet, but eventually want to get a used one, unlock it, and use it with a Tmobile family plan.

Have they started cracking down on this yet and ending people's contracts, or are you still able to use unlocked iPhones?

I do not want to unlock the iPhone, set up the Tmobile plan, and then have my service ended a month or two later, and I also don't want Tmobile to find a way to block the unlocked iPhones so people are then sol.
 
I don't see this ever happening to be honest. Why would T-Mobile care? You're giving them money, as far as they're concerned you could be talking into a stick.
As for Apple, they'll never be able to cover every hole. I wouldn't worry about it and would just go get one!
 
Tmobile doesn't care, they are glad people unlock and use iPhones on their network. They will even offer tech support on iPhone issues like setting up mms and other settings for Tmobile.
As long as you're carefull with apple updates and stay jailbroken and unlocked you're good.
 
Actually some of the t-mobile employees use the iphone instead of the t-mobile phones, not saying thos phones aren't awesome. They pretty great!!
 
I am sure that they make some money,ok lots of money on the physical phones but when compared to the mountains of cash they rake in from contracts........I bet they're cool with you using whatever you want for as long as you can continue to pay pay pay.

This is of course just my opinion and I could be wrong.
 
macordiefool said:
I am sure that they make some money,ok lots of money on the physical phones but when compared to the mountains of cash they rake in from contracts........I bet they're cool with you using whatever you want for as long as you can continue to pay pay pay.

This is of course just my opinion and I could be wrong.
Click to expand...
Actually most (all?) cell phone companies lose money on the subsidized phones that they sell which is why they charge huge break fees (AT&T is like $175.00) if you leave before the end of your contract. It's usually to recover the cost of the phone that they paid vs the $100 or $200 you paid...

That said I've heard nothing but good things about iPhone users that switched to T-Mobile...
 
Yes, I was very direct with them when I got my iPhone (I called CSR to ask how to switch from my BB plan to an appropriate plan), and they never expressed any concerns. Also, when they made a change that interfered with voicemail, and I sent in a concern e-mail, I was contacted by someone from T-Mobile corporate, who discussed the issue with me, again knowing I had an unlocked iPhone. Rather than expressing any concern, he was very supportive of my use of it on their network (and they fixed the issue!).

These are your concerns...
  • That Apple will eventually close enough exploits in the iPhone firmware that it will be hard for the Dev Team, Geohot, et al., to unlock it.
  • That AT&T's (or whomever's) contracts will become so onerous that there is not a supply of newer unlocked iPhones at reasonable prices.

But T-Mobile isn't your concern. They sell high data use phones themselves (e.g., Android). Now, if you're talking about something like the T-Zones hacks to avoid paying T-Mobile properly for data services, yes, these loopholes they have closed in the past and may close in the future. That's a completely different matter.
 
If you think about it, why would T-mobile or any carrier care what phone you're using? I remember when I was younger I would probably buy a new phone from someone at school every week. The phone company doesn't really have a say in the matter as far as you're concerned.

I think it's slightly changing now where you find iPhone plans and standard plans which are similar in features but different in cost. I know for one that o2 do a web and wifi plan for both standard and iPhone users and the price is different. Now, to my knowledge there isn't any difference. It's clear though that iPhone users data usage would be far higher than a standard user but the limit is the same (500mb I think)
 
T-Mobile really doesn't care or ever will, they are just happy you didn't switch to At&t..and Apple I don't think cares either. I think the jailbreaking concern is because it makes your phone vulnerable to viruses, but other than that why would they care..yah they are exclusive with At&t..but they are selling phones for almost double the price to T-Mobile customers.

At&t is the only person who really would care about the iPhone with T-Mo costumers but im guessing in a few months that won't matter.

As for "cracking down"..as long as they keep updating the firmware to try to prevent unlocks and jailbreaking..there will be a cyber genius out there working on how to get passed it. So I wouldn't be too worried about it.
 
Yeah T-Mobile doesn't care at all. I've actually gone to a t-mobile store and asked some employees and they were more than willing to set me up with a plan for my iphone (without 3g of course), if I needed to.
 
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