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It's November. Where's the unlocked phone? :(

Zachary9 said:
Was the iPhone purchased as officially unlocked, or was it purchased as carrier locked with a designated carrier and has been hacked to be unlocked?If the latter, the answer is no.
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I'm confused by your answer.

I haven't purchased the unlocked phone yet. I'm waiting for Apple to release it. An unlocked version is due this month.

The point of this thread is to find out if anyone knows when or if they've been successful in getting one as device only in NY. It has been confirmed by many that this is possible from Apple stores but I was wondering if anyone in NYC had been successful in the past week or two getting one.

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Thanks for all helpful posts, all! Hopefully the 14th is good info from the stores.
 
I'll ask the newbie question here.

What can be done with an unlocked phone?
 
gloryunited said:
Every country is getting them unlocked, why not the States?

I'm not from the US and I'm just curious... :confused:
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The carrier locked phones are the result of a volume commitment from each carrier to purchase a specific number of phones in the next year.

Because of this commitment, Apple gives these carriers exclusive, locked SIM card access for some predefined period of time.

This happens outside the US as well. Current iPhone 4Ss in Singapore are carrier locked as well.
 
Will69 said:
For in the USA the idea would be to go to a carrier other than AT&T or Verizon or Sprint? If so, why? To save money?
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Not just in the USA. With the unlocked phone, I can take it to another country and use it there (if there is a GSM network in use in that country). You didn't know this?
 
Will69 said:
For in the USA the idea would be to go to a carrier other than AT&T or Verizon or Sprint? If so, why? To save money?
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^^ you beat me to it.

Idea mainly is to use it with local SIM abroad. Roaming internationally on AT&T is very expensive. $3 / min voice and $20 / MB data. Unlocked gives you an ability to pop in the local SIM and save $$.
 
Will69 said:
For in the USA the idea would be to go to a carrier other than AT&T or Verizon or Sprint? If so, why? To save money?
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Also, it allows people like me who are already on T-Mobile US to use the iPhone without switching carriers.
 
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Virgo said:
Also, it gives people like me who are already on T-Mobile US to use the iPhone without switching carriers.
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It'll all be AT&T soon enough <insert Evil Empire laugh here>.

I'm actually very surprised the FCC is allowing this merger. It leaves people with very very few options and eliminating competitive pricing.
 
SGMD1 said:
They haven't approved the merger yet brah...
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Why do you assume everyone is a dude, brah?

But you're right..it hasn't been approved yet. Should have said "might be allowing this merger." My bad....but doesn't seem like it will fall through.
 
E3BK said:
I know, I know. It'll be out when it's out. I'm just getting anxious for it. The NY stores are sold out every time I try to reserve one to see if I can get one "off contract, device only" as other have done.

Anyone else in NYC have luck doing this in the past week or so?
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Come back on the last day of November and ask again.
 
My guess is that Apple simply didn't want to have millions of people buying unlocked phones and ship them overseas for profit. Thus leaving ATT/Verizon/Sprint subscribers without available phones.

I guess Apple will start selling the factory unlocked only after the market for contract phones is somewhat saturated. This can easily be end of November. I would check the availability of the ATT iPhones. If they go to 2-3 days then the unlocked phones will come out.
 
andiwm2003 said:
My guess is that Apple simply didn't want to have millions of people buying unlocked phones and ship them overseas for profit. Thus leaving ATT/Verizon/Sprint subscribers without available phones.

I guess Apple will start selling the factory unlocked only after the market for contract phones is somewhat saturated. This can easily be end of November. I would check the availability of the ATT iPhones. If they go to 2-3 days then the unlocked phones will come out.
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So your opinion is they are just going to play it by ear?

hmm, I'm not sure I agree. I'd bet they know exactly what day.
 
gloryunited said:
Every country is getting them unlocked, why not the States?

I'm not from the US and I'm just curious... :confused:
Click to expand...

The wireless companies here are monopolies. I believe some of the iPhones sold when ATT was the carrier will never be unlocked by them simply because there is no law saying they have to unlock a phone.
 
I'm so tired of waiting.. I got my first credit card ever so I can buy it.. (I know I will have the money to pay it off without interest) $749 for a phone, geesh. I want to ditch this Blackberry so badly.
 
LapsangSouchong said:
So your opinion is they are just going to play it by ear?

hmm, I'm not sure I agree. I'd bet they know exactly what day.
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I think they have a good estimate but are willing to shift the release of the factory unlocked by 2-3 weeks if the sales/production numbers suggest they might have a serious shortage for contract customers. So yes, in a sense I think they play it by ear.
 
andiwm2003 said:
I think they have a good estimate but are willing to shift the release of the factory unlocked by 2-3 weeks if the sales/production numbers suggest they might have a serious shortage for contract customers. So yes, in a sense I think they play it by ear.
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I agree. However, I do believe that the release date will be the 14th of November. There don't seem to be any glitches in the deliveries, no major glitches in the hardware or software and although demand was enormous, I don't think Apple was unprepared for it.
 
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