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iPhone 5 unlocked
- Thread starter KrepsaK
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Will the the apple store sell unlocked iPhone 5s on Friday?
If not, hypothetically when are they?
Thanks for answers
I will say October 19th since last year it took exactly 4 weeks from release day
Probably not. But, if you pay full price for an AT&T model, you can fill out a form online that will allow you to unlock the phone.
Lolwut?
AT&T would only unlock the iPhone if it is OUT OF CONTRACT and in good standing. Since they aren't selling any unlocked iPhones for a few weeks, ALL iPhone 5's would still be under contract and wouldn't qualify for online unlocking by AT&T.
A full price iPhone 5 is technically out of contract. I am, however, inclined to agree with you; AT&T seems unlikely to unlock a phone who's number is currently under contract.
Interestingly if Sprint follows their current policy, they will unlock the GSM/LTE sim on theirs wihtin a day or two of buying for eveyrone who has been a sprint customer for a year or so. As the sprint version is identical in every way except the logo, to the version sold in Europe, this makes their subsidized version identical to an unlocked European version.
By purchasing a phone outright(at no discount) you qualify for a month-month contract assuming you do not already have an account with AT&T that is under contract.
So if you do not have a contract, you can essentially get it unlocked the moment you buy it.
Except it doesn't.
To start with, the european version doesn't do CDMA and for reasons I will never understand appears to be missing a few LTE bands (or, those bands do work but Apple chose not to mention them. This we may never know. In theory Apple can add them later though, as the hardware itself will likely be identical.)
But anyway that doesn't matter because technically the Sprint version is ahead here. So more importantly, if Sprint keeps up what they've been doing so far, what you'll get is a partially unlocked phone.
That is to say, it'll take any SIM except those belonging to US carriers.
Again...they are not selling full priced iPhones at this Friday's launch, I would know because I have not signed a contract in over 3 years and would have found a way to pre-order one at full price by now if they were available at launch. You cannot bring them out of contract iPhone 5 to unlock because all iPhone 5's at this time are still under contract (AT&T's number one requirement for unlocking iPhone), secondly, it wouldn't be in good standing due to ETF (AT&T's number two requirement for unlocking iPhone).
Why was I able to pre-order a full priced iPhone 5 then? Unless your only talking about the unlocked one.
On AT&T's website, they give you the option of pre-ordering with a 2 Year Commitment or No Commitment.
Because you can buy an iPhone from AT&T at a full price without a contract but carrier locked to AT&T.
And since it's without a contract, they should unlock it per their policies.
Though I find it bizarre they don't just sell them unlocked from the get-go like they do here in Europe.
True. If you paid full price, you can get it unlocked right away by filling out this form.
https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/client/en_US/?
Otherwise, you can unlock your phone at the end of your contract (in 2 years), or if you terminate early and pay the ETF.
Chances are you were ineligible for a subsidized upgrade. If you qualify for a subsidy, even a partial one, that's the only price that Apple will sell it to you for.
My guess is that it has something to do with their agreement with AT&T, plus a desire to keep the phone out of the "gray market." Remember that the US is the cheapest market for iPhones. Here in NYC, the lines historically have been filled with scalpers (many from Asia) who take up lots of stock. If the unlocked phone were sold Day 1, a lot of inventory would wind up in their hands, and AT&T wouldn't be able to sign as many people onto 2 year contracts. It wasn't until AT&T's exclusivity deal ended that we even got unlocked phones at all here.
Are you a non-US resident? Where are you from?
How? I tried looking and the only ones that were available were the $199's, not the $649's.
Yes, although that isn't foolproof. Some people have reported issues with getting it to work. You ought to be able to go into an Apple retail store once it launches and pay full price. If it's like last year, you won't need to request AT&T to unlock it. It will be unlocked as soon as it is sold to you (though they won't advertise it as such, and your receipt will still have all the language about the phone being designed to work on AT&T only).
AT&T will unlock the iPhone 5 you purchase at full price... but the catch is that they won't be selling any iPhone 5 at full price for the next several weeks. Last year, there were loopholes where you can go to Apple Store (Brick & mortar) and purchase no commitment AT&T set but they probably found out about it this year and stopped doing it. Some evidence of this is the fact that Apple Store (B&M) Canada won't be selling the unlocked set. Canadians can only purchase their unlock set via online.
I think our safest bet to get some sort of unlocked or unlock-able device is to wait for Apple Online Store to sell it in 2-4 weeks or so.
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And even if it's not unlocked, you can go to AT&T and ask them to unlock it and show that you purchased it at full price... They will definitely honor that.
I think our safest bet to get some sort of unlocked or unlock-able device is to wait for Apple Online Store to sell it in 2-4 weeks or so.
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And even if it's not unlocked, you can go to AT&T and ask them to unlock it and show that you purchased it at full price... They will definitely honor that.
We'll see. Technically, after the 21st when I activate my new line, I ought to be able to go into an Apple Store and buy an iPhone 5 at full price since I'm ineligible for an upgrade. For all AT&T cares, i could have bought a Galaxy S3 or some giveaway Android device and reset my contract.
Unfortunately, I checked my account and my new contract end date is 9/14/14, meaning I have only until 10/13/12 to get my hands on a full priced version if i want to return my Day 1 purchase and go back off contract.
In any case, even if I don't cancel the contract, chances are that I'll get the unlocked version at some point, even if it involves selling the on-contract one or handing it down to a relative. I travel to Europe 1-2 times per year and even though AT&T offers discounted data packages, they don't with voice calls, so between the higher resale value of unlocked phones and the savings from using local SIM cards on short trips, it is worth it.
Indeed... I think at this point, my plan is to just return my order altogether (might hold on to the box for a couple days to play around) but will just return it and wait for the unlocked version from Apple website.
I don't recall, did you order an iPhone 5 like me, and is it coming this Friday?
Quite frankly, if AT&T took the same attitude as Verizon and Sprint, and at least partially unlocked it for "valued" customers like me (so that we could use local SIMs overseas), I'd be OK with locking out T-Mobile for the duration of the contract.
Yup mine is coming this Friday as well. I wish AT&T would do what Verizon does but their policy is indeed extremely strange... As we discussed on the other thread yesterday.
Yes, I'm a US resident.
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Yes, I'm not not eligible for a upgrade until May 2013. Paying the full price was the only option they gave me, when I went to pre-order on Friday.
https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/apple/iphone/5-16gb-black.html
Change 2-Year Contract to No Commitment
I'm on the GoPhone prepaid and none of the options apply to me =(
1) I'm not a new member
2) I don't want to add a line
3) And I can't upgrade
...this sucks