iPhone return/swap question

[Yoursh]

Just have a quick question regarding returning or swapping a new iphone for those who may have done this with earlier models.

I'm currently near the end of my Sprint contract for my launch day iphone 4s. I plan on getting one of the new iphone models coming out later this month but also looking at changing carriers at the same time. I'm looking to move to a prepaid T-mobile plan since it would be much cheaper than my current Sprint plan and T-mobile's LTE network is live in my area but no ETA on Sprint's roll-out. The only issue is I'm not sure how good T-mobile's coverage is at my place of work. To test, I bought a prepaid T-mobile sim and popped it into my unlocked original iphone. At least for voice/edge, the reception isn't as strong as Sprint's but good enough. I'm unable to test 3G/4G/LTE since I do not have a compatible device and all my coworkers are on ATT/Verizon/Sprint.

So here's my question. If I purchase an unlocked iphone(5s/5c/whatever) and find the reception is too poor to stay with T-mobile, what is the return/exchnage policy at the Apple stores? I know there's the basic return policy, but is there any exchange policy with carrier models? If T-mobile's data service doesn't work well at my place of work, which is my primary concern, I'll most likely stick with Sprint. But that would require a Sprint iphone model. To note, I'll will most likely keep my Sprint account/4s active till I know that T-mobile service will work for me. Not including the chance of certain models/versions selling out during the release, how easy is it to take one carrier model back and exchange it for another carrier? Never ran into this since I went original iphone(ATT)->3Gs(ATT)->4s(Sprint).

Would be interested in hearing from anybody who had a similar experience and what did they do. I'm assuming at this point i would have to just return the unlocked gsm version and then purhcase a Sprint model. If there's another way to do this, I'm all ears.

 

[dictoresno]

carriers have a 14 day return policy for full refund, less restocking fee. if i were you, i would study local carrier maps to determine their coverage. years ago, i decided to give tmobile a try again after years with att. big mistake. i returned the phone and canceled the port within 2 hours of signing the contract. their network still sucked, as did their coverage and building penetration.

http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-1664

 

[Yoursh]

carriers have a 14 day return policy for full refund, less restocking fee. if i were you, i would study local carrier maps to determine their coverage. years ago, i decided to give tmobile a try again after years with att. big mistake. i returned the phone and canceled the port within 2 hours of signing the contract. their network still sucked, as did their coverage and building penetration.

http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-1664

I live and work in decent size metro area that has fairly good coverage from the big 4 carriers. All offer LTE at this point except for Sprint. The main signal issue is with my place of work. That building eats cell signal. All carriers have dead zones in different parts of it. You don't know where, or how bad, till you actually take your phone around. This is also the place I use cellular data the most since I have wifi at home. I was on ATT for years but switched after the last 6-9 months on my 3Gs was horrible at work. It would always show 2-3 bars of 3G signal but there would be cycles of little to no data access for weeks. It was a tower issue because you could drive a couple miles away and the data service would be fine. Sprint's 3G is theoretically slower, but it at least works and is stable on my 4s. Looking at T-mobile primarily since it would be cheaper, fast with LTE, and still have unlimited data.

Primarily I'm curious as to Apple's return/exchange policy. I'm planning on buying an unlocked gsm model from them and dropping the prepaid T-mobile sim I have into it. Just want to avoid as many headaches as possible in case T-mobile doesn't work out for me.

 

[johnparjr]

Straight from apple it's 30 days


You have 14 calendar days to return an item from the date you received it. For an Apple iPhone, you have 30 calendar days.

 

[dictoresno]

Straight from apple it's 30 days


You have 14 calendar days to return an item from the date you received it. For an Apple iPhone, you have 30 calendar days.

Are you sure that is taking a new account activation into consideration and not just an outright purchase? This would circumvent a carriers policy. Their website doesn't specify this to not.

 

[Motherload0211]

Are you sure that is taking a new account activation into consideration and not just an outright purchase? This would circumvent a carriers policy. Their website doesn't specify this to not.

Call Carrier for peace of mind, but if its a new account subsides or an outright full purchase, you get 14 days return period from a carrier. I did this a couple of years ago with a full purchase, than returned it within 14 days (Sprint..Bad move on my part ). 30 days from Apple.

 

[Yoursh]

Ok, it looks from the replies that the best course of action is to buy an unlocked model directly from Apple. If the T-mobile reception doesn't work out, return it to Apple and pick up a Sprint version to use on my current account. Thanks for the input. Now just need to see what Apple is going to release.