iPhone 5S unlocked USA availability

M

Michielfm

macrumors member
Hy there,

Does any one has any idea when the iPhone 5S will be sold fully unlocked in the USA (as the 5C is allready) ? It is because I wan't to get one here in the US but I live in Belgium, so I need a fully unlocked one.
 
verizon phones are gsm unlocked.

you can also buy an off contract version for t-mo that is unlocked for international use. Not sure if it is locked locally to tmobile, but I would think it is not since it's an off contract phone. Either way, there are ways to get a phone here that is unlocked for use in Belgium (assuming Belgium carriers run on GSM like most of the rest of the world. - I know nothing about Belgium)
 
Michielfm said:
Hy there,

Does any one has any idea when the iPhone 5S will be sold fully unlocked in the USA (as the 5C is allready) ? It is because I wan't to get one here in the US but I live in Belgium, so I need a fully unlocked one.
Click to expand...
Buy the Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile version full priced "device only" from an Apple store and all 3 will be unlocked.

The Verizon version is GSM SIM unlocked so you can also buy it from Apple or any 3rd party retailer if they will sell you one full priced without a contract. BestBuy, Target, Walmart, Radio Shack.

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glasshead13 said:
verizon phones are gsm unlocked.

you can also buy an off contract version for t-mo that is unlocked for international use. Not sure if it is locked locally to tmobile, but I would think it is not since it's an off contract phone. Either way, there are ways to get a phone here that is unlocked for use in Belgium (assuming Belgium carriers run on GSM like most of the rest of the world. - I know nothing about Belgium)
Click to expand...
If you buy it full priced from T-Mobile it is still locked to T-Mobile. T-Mobile makes you wait 40 days and have an active account before they will unlock it for you.

His best bet is buying from Apple retail device only, getting the Verizon version which is GSM unlocked, or ordering the T-Mobile version from Apple's website.
 
Thanks guys! So what is then the difference with a 'SIM unlocked' iphone? And from all these possibilities which one should I pick, or doesn't it matter?
 
Michielfm said:
Thanks guys! So what is then the difference with a 'SIM unlocked' iphone? And from all these possibilities which one should I pick, or doesn't it matter?
Click to expand...
Makes no difference ..... unlocked is unlocked. I just got a Verizon 5S from Apple store today and it's working out of the box on my AT&T account.
 
Michielfm said:
Thanks guys! So what is then the difference with a 'SIM unlocked' iphone? And from all these possibilities which one should I pick, or doesn't it matter?
Click to expand...
If you buy device only from the Apple store they are all "SIM unlocked." That's what I meant by GSM unlocked.
 
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Ok so it is the same thing, great! Now one last question, I'm actually looking for a Gold iPhone 5S 64GB, I'm not sure if the availability of this phone is the same with all providers? Apple sometimes tends to give some providers larger deliveries, no?
 
I couldn't agree more. I went to being half-crazy just to get a Gold 32GB T-Mo Contract Free (Factory Unlock) from Apple.com.
 
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