If your talking about doing the SIM free through the iPhone upgrade program then lets say for my example. I have straight talk right now currently with my iPhone 5s. I take it in and take out my current SIM card, activate the phone, insert the card into the new phone and BAM. Activated in store.
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iPhone Upgrade Program
- Thread starter Sly13MacRumor
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Funny because the store tells people a lot of things. I would speak to a manager at the store. The SIM free just came out so some of the employees might not know the details yet.
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Buying the SIM Free on the AUP would basically be against what the terms & conditions are for the program. I can't imagine Citizen's Bank breaking their own requirement to allow this.
According to the Terms and Conditions if you read it clearly
- Wireless Service Activation. The Financed iPhone requires activation on a new or existing wireless service plan with an eligible carrier under the carrier’s terms, and may be subject to an additional fee charged by your carrier.
Eligible Carrier
Eligible carrier does not strictly imply Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, or AT&T
You CAN purchase the SIM free with the iPhone upgrade program. Thanks.
That's interesting. According to that, you *can* buy that version on AUP but I think what is being confused is if you can purchase this version w/o activating w/ a national carrier aka one of the big four. I honestly doubt that.
Let us now how it goes then. That's the same wording from launch and those national carriers were the only eligible carriers. I'm curious though. Good luck, report back when you get it.
They don't activate the plan on your device. They activate it on their Point of Sale device. So they scan the numbers on the back (The IMEI, etc.), and then it sends to the carrier that that device is active.
That's my guess.
There's another step. When I went in to get my AUP iPhone, they logged into the carrier portal (TMO for me) to activate the device. The Apple employee called it their activation device, an iPad. I'm not sure how it ties in with the handheld POS tool (the iPhone 5s that's encased), which he also used as part of the process. What I found curious was that he activated the device on my TMO account before I was approved for AUP. Maybe he did the steps backwards?
But in previous years when I've purchased an iPhone direct from Apple, they used only the handheld POS tool to activate the new iPhone.
From what I can remember, mine was completely different.
They scanned the IMEI's on the POS iPhone/iPod Touch whatever it was. They had me get approved for the iUP. Then they put in my AT&T information (SSN, wirelessness number). No need for me to log into anything. Then it said, Phone was activated. They never removed the plastic wrap, and I didn't have to log into my AT&T account at all.
*I* didn't log into my account, they used Apple's carrier portal for activations. Nothing was opened, it was just entering the new IMEI and SIM card number really, which is what they consider an activation it seems. I'm on TMO so perhaps updating account info is different. Previous years, I had AT&T and they only used the handheld POS tool to activate as well.
I don't think that is how that works. If I buy an iPhone through Apple's Upgrade iPhone Program, and I choose AT&T, I get a new iPhone with an AT&T SIM in it but it is unlocked which means I can remove the AT&T SIM and put whatever SIM I want in it. The phone is never tied to the carrier through Apple. The carrier has literally no skin the game so it is the same to them a BYOD. As others have said SIM Free means no SIM, still unlocked. I would imagine this would be useful for smaller carriers that allow iPhone but don'e sell them
Well, I tried my best, but they absolutely refused to sell me a Sim-Free 6s on the iPhone Upgrade Program.
I even had my SIM with me, but they refused to do it unless I either activated new service or had a postpaid account with one of the Big 4.
What a joke. They gave me a long story about how they're worried about people buying phones in bulk and reselling....So what? Why not just require you show up with an active SIM card for each phone you want to buy - That would quell any bulk purchasing. Besides, who's doing bulk purchasing on the Upgrade program that's basically a loan with a hard credit pull per device?
Good god Apple - Do you want people on the program or not. Screw the carriers and stop worrying about faux activation BS.
I even had my SIM with me, but they refused to do it unless I either activated new service or had a postpaid account with one of the Big 4.
What a joke. They gave me a long story about how they're worried about people buying phones in bulk and reselling....So what? Why not just require you show up with an active SIM card for each phone you want to buy - That would quell any bulk purchasing. Besides, who's doing bulk purchasing on the Upgrade program that's basically a loan with a hard credit pull per device?
Good god Apple - Do you want people on the program or not. Screw the carriers and stop worrying about faux activation BS.
Damn, that sucks. And exactly what I thought. I bet this was forced by the carriers somehow.
It must be - It makes absolutely no sense from Apple's perspective. As long as you show up with a SIM card with service and pass a credit check, there's no reason whatsoever they should care about anything carrier related.
Just a joke. Even the Apple employee explaining it was getting caught up in "reasons" (no bulk buying) but had no cogent response when I pointed out that I would be getting a hard credit check & one device - no "bulk buying" happening in that scenario.
We get closer every year, but still have to suck the carrier d*cks. Totally ridiculous.
Rumour has it that the no-sim iPhone is the ATT model.
http://9to5mac.com/2015/10/09/psa-iphone-6s-att-best-worldphone/
BL.
Too bad. I was hoping this would work. Seems weird that you sell something outside the carriers but are still beholden to them.
It's a requirement from the bank giving you the loan. Apple gets paid up front, the bank collects payments. Is it so hard to believe that they would want to make sure they will recover their funds? It's the first year of the program, perhaps they'll loosen restrictions down the line but I think it's a reasonable requirement first year out.