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That's interesting... "they're all unlocked until we lock them" - does this mean the Verizon versions are also unlocked?

That I couldn't answer for you but during this exchange my carrier was never brought up, so when he made that statement he didn't know I was going to buy AT&T. Just call an Apple store and ask, never hurts to check.
 
That I couldn't answer for you but during this exchange my carrier was never brought up, so when he made that statement he didn't know I was going to buy AT&T. Just call an Apple store and ask, never hurts to check.
Did you buy full price from AT&T or from the Apple Store?
 
Makes sense and sure enough when I got home the phone was already unlocked ("Congratulations your iPhone is now unlocked.") and all I had to do was call AT&T to hook it up to my line.

That said, I still bought the AT&T specific model, meaning it's compatible with AT&T's LTE, etc. But the phone was fully unlocked otherwise and I can use it overseas on 3G/HSPA+ networks (and LTE if compatible, but probably won't be).

Is there any way you can check to verify your unlock? Put a different SIM in?

Had I known I had an option of purchasing no-commitment and it came unlocked, I would have done so! I was actually planning on purchasing another i5 factory unlocked when it comes out for my overseas use.
 
Is there any way you can check to verify your unlock? Put a different SIM in?

Had I known I had an option of purchasing no-commitment and it came unlocked, I would have done so! I was actually planning on purchasing another i5 factory unlocked when it comes out for my overseas use.

"Congratulations your iPhone is now unlocked." Not much more needed. Or you can just return it and buy another at full price.

----------

Did you buy full price from AT&T or from the Apple Store?

Apple Store.
 
I called apple and they will sell no commitment iPhone 5 but they are not unlocked. It will be locked to the carrier you choose but it won't extend your contract. Unlocked iPhone 5 won't be for sale until 2 months later.
 
I called apple and they will sell no commitment iPhone 5 but they are not unlocked. It will be locked to the carrier you choose but it won't extend your contract. Unlocked iPhone 5 won't be for sale until 2 months later.

That is not true. There are people buying device only no contract and they're getting the unlocked notice in iTunes and swapping AT&T and T-mobile SIM cards.
 
That's interesting... "they're all unlocked until we lock them" - does this mean the Verizon versions are also unlocked?

All Verizon iPhone 5s will be shipped unlocked, whether activated on a new line, upgraded, or bought at full commitment price.
 
Bought my AT&T 64GB White on a two year plan with Apple Care, came up to $548 with tax. Unlocked via third party IMEI service for $35 immediately on Friday, it was unlocked within 45mins, now it's worth $1,032 with tax. I'm not selling it, but I'm grateful that this solution exist.
 
I called apple and they will sell no commitment iPhone 5 but they are not unlocked. It will be locked to the carrier you choose but it won't extend your contract. Unlocked iPhone 5 won't be for sale until 2 months later.
same scenario as last year. Apple employees will adamantly deny that the Device-Only AT&T iPhones are Factory Unlocked... (because they don't officially sell those til later), but when you Restore the phone from within iTunes, it will give you that "Congrats" screen saying it is Factory Unlocked.
 
same scenario as last year. Apple employees will adamantly deny that the Device-Only AT&T iPhones are Factory Unlocked... (because they don't officially sell those til later), but when you Restore the phone from within iTunes, it will give you that "Congrats" screen saying it is Factory Unlocked.
There are tons of reasons why, but most important is to avoid scalpels and resellers for China market... Otherwise, they wouldn't have a single phone for people like you and me that wanna use it in the U.S.
 
I called apple and they will sell no commitment iPhone 5 but they are not unlocked. It will be locked to the carrier you choose but it won't extend your contract. Unlocked iPhone 5 won't be for sale until 2 months later.

They told you wrong then...If you pay for an AT&T iPhone 5 at full price from Apple Store, it WILL BE unlocked.
 
IMEI Unlock

Guys, if nothing else works, head up to I M Z D L and purchase their IMEI unlock for iPhone 5. I successfully unlocked my 4, and 4S, upsold them on craigslist to fund my iPhone 5, then unlocked that too ;) It is kinda steep for some at $35, but if you plan to travel international or go with T-Mobile or a local carrier, its a small price to pay for bigger savings. And with Apple not planning to offer factory unlocked devices until mid-October, this isn't too bad a deal.
 
$35??? I paid $14

If you are looking to unlock via IMEI, do yourself a favor and look on ebay for the "unlockfusion". I got mine 5 unlocked thru them in under 10 minutes for $14. I restored via iTunes and got a congrats, your iphone is unlocked message.

No need paying more for the same service.
 
I actually work for a company that does iPhone unlocking, so hopefully I can clear some things up.

Every iPhone (or any other phone) is originally unlocked when the manufacturer makes them. The networks then buy the phones from the manufacturer, who (upon request) then applies the lock for them.

This is legal for the networks to do because they then sell the phone at a subsidised price. The plan being that they will then generate the lost up-front revenue over the phones lifespan.

If you were to buy the phone directly from the manufacturer (the Apple store in this instance) the phones will be unlocked - unless they are being subsidised. This is how it has worked for all iPhone releases.

If however you got your iPhone on an upgrade or straight from a network, you can still unlock it using the phones IMEI. This is done through iTunes. Once the iPhone unlock request is ordered, we (or any other decent provider) then send the request to Apple who locate the phone on their servers using the IMEI. To unlock it, they tell the iTunes servers that from now on the phone should remain unlocked. The next time the phone is connected to iTunes with a non-accepted SIM card, the lock is removed and the iPhone is unlocked.

Be careful if you go down the temporary unlocking route however, because this isn't done through iTunes and the lock will become active again if you update the iOS.

More info on instructions and order details here: http://www.mobileunlocked.co.uk/apple/iphone+5/

I hope that answers a few questions that were bouncing around, but if anyone has another one, I'll try my best to help answer it. Let me know.
 
I'm assuming you live in America since you mentioned AT&T. You can't get an unlocked one in America yet, he probably got it in another country.

I thought America was the land of the free but yet you can't buy an iPhone unlocked
 
I thought America was the land of the free but yet you can't buy an iPhone unlocked
Silly statement. You can purchase and unlocked iPhone 5 from the Apple, AT&T or Verizon store by purchasing full retail price no commitment off contract. Those phones are sold unlocked. Plug it into iTunes with a foreign SIM and you will get the unlocked message.
 
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