"Off Contract" AT&T iPhone 4Ss Already Come Unlocked

[Smileyboy]

This is an interesting thread. I took two of my iPhones on my family plan and sold them to people out of the country for quite a bit of money I'm on AT&T. And one of the people that's in Hong Kong, sent me a email requesting information, so he could use the iPhone in Hong Kong after the phone was activated on AT&T he popped in the sim and it works fine and I'm not off contract....
Did this via Siri.

 

[pkh540]

Why not READ the second set of T&C and see if they concern you???????????????????????????????????????

Or at least read the posts before you. I already answered your question.

@jasonbro - Why not READ my post or pick up a dictionary before responding in a manner that makes you sound like an a$$ hat. (innocuous = safe, benign.)

I'll rephrase - the first transaction only had the Apple T&C. The next day - during my purchase at a different store - there was a second T&C from AT&T. I READ it but it didn't raise any red flags at the time. I had the receipt emailed to me and figured it would be printed there... It was not. Compared receipts from both transactions and they were the same.

My question is, did anyone else see the second set of AT&T T&C's and if so, did it raise any red flags with you?

 

[jasonbro]

@jasonbro - Why not READ my post or pick up a dictionary before responding in a manner that makes you sound like an a$$ hat. (innocuous = safe, benign.)

I'll rephrase - the first transaction only had the Apple T&C. The next day - during my purchase at a different store - there was a second T&C from AT&T. I READ it but it didn't raise any red flags at the time. I had the receipt emailed to me and figured it would be printed there... It was not. Compared receipts from both transactions and they were the same.

My question is, did anyone else see the second set of AT&T T&C's and if so, did it raise any red flags with you?

AT&T￿Account￿Information No￿Wireless￿Service￿Activation￿during￿iPhone￿Sale
(Device￿and￿Service)￿I￿have￿agreed￿to￿the￿terms￿as￿stated￿in￿the￿Wireless￿Customer￿Agreement, which￿was￿made￿available￿for￿review￿prior￿to￿my￿acceptance￿and￿is￿available￿at￿http://att.com/ iphoneterms
Use￿of￿iPhone￿constitutes￿acceptance￿of￿the￿iPhone￿terms￿and￿conditions￿and￿other￿third￿party terms￿and￿conditions￿found￿in￿the￿iPhone￿box,￿or￿at￿http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/￿This￿iPhone model￿is￿configured￿to￿work￿only￿with￿the￿wireless￿services￿of￿AT&T￿Wireless.
The￿sales￿tax￿for￿iPhone￿varies￿by￿state￿and￿may￿be￿based￿on￿the￿unbundled￿purchase￿price￿rather than￿the￿actual￿purchase￿price.
If￿you￿are￿not￿fully￿satisfied￿with￿your￿iPhone￿purchase,￿you￿can￿return￿your￿undamaged￿iPhone within￿30￿days￿of￿purchase￿for￿a￿full￿refund￿with￿no￿restocking￿fee.
If￿you￿disagree￿with￿these￿terms￿and￿conditions￿you￿can￿return￿the￿iPhone￿in￿accordance￿with￿the Apple￿Store's￿return￿policy￿http://www.apple.com/legal/sales_policies/retail.html
For￿information￿on￿Apple's￿privacy￿policy￿see￿www.apple.com/privacy
Sub-Total Tax@6.25% Total Amount￿Paid￿Via￿Master￿Card￿(A) xxxxxxxxxxxx9770 071157
$￿649.00 $￿40.56 $￿689.56 $￿689.56

That's what mine says, but why would you post that without going to the link and reading what it says???? It doesn't say you cant use the phone on other networks. It says you wont modify the phone to do it.

"Devices purchased for use on AT&T's system are designed for use exclusively on AT&T's system ("Equipment"). You agree that you won't make any modifications to the Equipment or programming to enable the Equipment to operate on any other system. AT&T may, at its sole and absolute discretion, modify the programming to enable the operation of the Equipment on other systems."

I have no patience for people that dont care to read the thread, and expect the all the information already posted should be reposted for their convenience.

 

[OceanView]

This is an interesting thread. I took two of my iPhones on my family plan and sold them to people out of the country for quite a bit of money I'm on AT&T. And one of the people that's in Hong Kong, sent me a email requesting information, so he could use the iPhone in Hong Kong after the phone was activated on AT&T he popped in the sim and it works fine and I'm not off contract....
Did this via Siri.

Are you saying that the buyer was able to unlock your subsidized AT&T iphone overseas?

 

[jasonbro]

I'll rephrase- I￿have￿agreed￿to￿the￿terms￿as￿stated￿in￿the￿Wireless￿Customer￿Agreement, which￿was￿made￿available￿for￿review￿prior￿to￿my￿acceptance￿and￿is￿available￿at￿http://att.com/ iphoneterms.

Go read the terms.

Calling people names because they wont hold your hand through the process wont get you very far......

 

[scy]

att iphone 4s/ is contract free sim free?

I went to the ATT store (San Diego) and asked for an off contract/ sim free iphone 4S. The manager said he can sell me a contract free iphone 4S, but that (his words) it is NOT SIM free. So is it or isn't it? This will be for use abroad; do not want, never want an ATT contract. Can anyone clarify?
scy

 

[Jaykob]

I went to the ATT store (San Diego) and asked for an off contract/ sim free iphone 4S. The manager said he can sell me a contract free iphone 4S, but that (his words) it is NOT SIM free. So is it or isn't it? This will be for use abroad; do not want, never want an ATT contract. Can anyone clarify?
scy

Yes, that's what they keep telling you. "It's off-contract but still an AT&T phone" bla bla. As long as he chooses "device only" when selling it to you it will be unlocked.

To the earlier question concerning the AT&T T&C, I also had to sign that screen.

 

[jasonbro]

I went to the ATT store (San Diego) and asked for an off contract/ sim free iphone 4S. The manager said he can sell me a contract free iphone 4S, but that (his words) it is NOT SIM free. So is it or isn't it? This will be for use abroad; do not want, never want an ATT contract. Can anyone clarify?
scy

It's been posted MANY, MANY, MANY, times already, that the contract free phone comes with a ATT sim in the phone.

 

[scy]

It's been posted MANY, MANY, MANY, times already, that the contract free phone comes with a ATT sim in the phone.

ok, so since I'm not special ed, and not a techie either, I obviously don't understand-- do I wait 'til November and buy the nephew the iphone 4s sim free as the apple store promotes, so he can use it abroad, or do I buy the contract free from ATT now and hope it really is sim free and will work abroad witht the appropriate country sim card? Be nice and just explain it to me. The rumor abroad is that I can find this now, but from how I understand it, and how the ATT manager explained to me, I cannot. the nephew will have to wait.

 

[jasonbro]

ok, so since I'm not special ed, and not a techie either, I obviously don't understand-- do I wait 'til November and buy the nephew the iphone 4s sim free as the apple store promotes, so he can use it abroad, or do I buy the contract free from ATT now and hope it really is sim free and will work abroad witht the appropriate country sim card? Be nice and just explain it to me. The rumor abroad is that I can find this now, but from how I understand it, and how the ATT manager explained to me, I cannot. the nephew will have to wait.

All the answers to your questions are in this thread. You're asking me to paraphrase the entire thread so you dont have to bother reading it.

This thread is 20 pages long, and it's not 20 pages of unique, intriguing, thoughtful discussion. It's 20 pages and a lot of it is lazy people asking the same damn questions over and over and over and over and over without bothering to read the thread.

The questions you're asking are thoroughly covered. In fact, the question your asking is the premis this whole thread was started just to cover!

 

[scy]

It's been posted MANY, MANY, MANY, times already, that the contract free phone comes with a ATT sim in the phone.

All the answers to your questions are in this thread. You're asking me to paraphrase the entire thread so you dont have to bother reading it.

This thread is 20 pages long, and it's not 20 pages of unique, intriguing, thoughtful discussion. It's 20 pages and a lot of it is lazy people asking the same damn questions over and over and over and over and over without bothering to read the thread.

The questions you're asking are thoroughly covered. In fact, the question your asking is the premis this whole thread was started just to cover!

there's so much conflicting info on this thread-- chill--I'm only now seeing this new info and I'm certainly not lazy...just old, overworked, and a mac person since 1985 --and used to more humanistic assistance that characterizes us mac devotees from the beginning, -- we always help one another-- and none of us like insults from asswholes like you. I hope you are not a teacher.

 

[benhollberg]

I am so sick of jasonbro.

 

[jasonbro]

there's so much conflicting info on this thread

Thats sort of the point. Read the conflicting info, decide which side you believe based on the thread and the merits of the info and go with it.

I've been sticking to this thread, after following the thread since it started, trying to learn NEW things and have NEW discussion and the thread has turned into people asking the same questions that were asked last week.

scy- noone insulted you, i just pointed out the obvious. That you didn't read ANY of the thread and expect me to use my time to help you read it, when you ddin't find it worth your time to do the reading YOURSELF.

Here you go scy, let me be your pro bono personal assistant.

HERE is the info you were too lazy to look up just a couple pages back:

It doesnt matter what sim card is in the phone when you sync it to itunes. This has been said many times already. I had the att sim in when i synced it and it still said it was unlocked. It doesn't use the sim to sync the phone to the apple servers. It uses the imei. If the apple servers deem the imei was bought off contract, it unlocks the phone.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jasonbro
It doesnt matter what sim card is in the phone when you sync it to itunes. This has been said many times already. I had the att sim in when i synced it and it still said it was unlocked. It doesn't use the sim to sync the phone to the apple servers. It uses the imei. If the apple servers deem the imei was bought off contract, it unlocks the phone.
Confirming for the umpteenth time that this is true. No need to fiddle with sim cards. Just open iTunes and plug in the phone. Wait for a few seconds and you will get the "Congratulations, your iPhone has been unlocked." message.

Confirming for the umpteenth time that this is true. No need to fiddle with sim cards. Just open iTunes and plug in the phone. Wait for a few seconds and you will get the "Congratulations, your iPhone has been unlocked." message.

Please contact me directly if i can waste any more of my time helping lazy people like you.

and if i'm an "asswhole" for not reading the thread for you and answering your questions, then aren't you an "asswhole" too because you wont read the damn thread for yourself???????????????? Just saying.......

 

[vartanarsen]

there's so much conflicting info on this thread-- chill--I'm only now seeing this new info and I'm certainly not lazy...just old, overworked, and a mac person since 1985 --and used to more humanistic assistance that characterizes us mac devotees from the beginning, -- we always help one another-- and none of us like insults from asswholes like you. I hope you are not a teacher.

no.....no conflicting info here.....there was 1 person who said it was not unlocked....and where did he buy his?? AT&T Store.....
No Conflict in the 20 pages..all off contract phones bought in Apple store get IMEIs auto-dumped into the Apple server's unlock data base.

 

[CarlosH]

An Apple Store employee confirmed me that "contract-free" iPhones were unlocked, but that they can't say so until november 14. So there. Stop saying they will get locked later on. You just have to make sure 3 things if you wan't to get one now:

1. Buy it at an Apple Store.

2. Buy it contract free.

3. Don't ask if it is unlocked.

 

[benhollberg]

An Apple Store employee confirmed me that "contract-free" iPhones were unlocked, but that they can't say so until november 14.

They confirmed to you that unlocked phones will be available to November 14?

 

[blunti]

I paid full price for an off contract at&t phone @ the apple store the other day.

However, when I insert my european sim card, I get an invalid sim error if i try to call or call from the european number.

what's going on?

itunes says congratulations your iphone is unlocked but it doesn't seem like it.

If I put the euro sim in my unlocked i4, theres no invalid sim popup

 

[vartanarsen]

I paid full price for an off contract at&t phone @ the apple store the other day.

However, when I insert my european sim card, I get an invalid sim error if i try to call or call from the european number.

what's going on?

itunes says congratulations your iphone is unlocked but it doesn't seem like it.

If I put the euro sim in my unlocked i4, theres no invalid sim popup

Did you initially click update? Or restore?

 

[blunti]

Did you initially click update? Or restore?

I clicked restore.

 

[afroAnt]

In Australia we have always been able to purchase unlocked phones - and it is the only way to do it via the Apple Online Store. Have a look at the Australian prices for the iPhone 4S...

http://store.apple.com/au/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone/iphone4s?mco=MjU1NTYxODM

it is shocking!!

16 GB - $799
32 GB - $899
64 GB - $999

Only reason I am complaining is due to the average currency exchange at the moment!

Exactly, it really pisses me off! why we are over charged?

 

[thewitt]

Contract Free does NOT mean unlocked. It means contract free.

Any of the carriers can lock your carrier specific phone at any time. The fine print on your AT&T agreement, which you agreed to when you purchased the phone, says you will only run it on the AT&T network.

Why in the world would they continue to leave any of these phones unlocked.

I suspect the only reason any of these phones shipped unlocked was because Apple could not keep up with the demand for carrier specific phones, and they shipped inventory - which will eventually lock to the carrier when the IMEI database is finally updated.

Factory unlocked phones will be for sale directly from Apple in November, as advertised.

 

[nkarpovskiy]

I'm trying to buy this no-contract 4S on eBay and I'm going to use it in Russia. Almost all sellers are trying to convince me, that all no-contract iPhones still locked to AT&T and can't be unlocked. Really strange, that there is no info in US (except some forums) about that feature, because no one on eBay kniws about it. Even if I give the link to macrumors article, they are still suspicious.

 

[KPOM]

Contract Free does NOT mean unlocked. It means contract free.

Any of the carriers can lock your carrier specific phone at any time. The fine print on your AT&T agreement, which you agreed to when you purchased the phone, says you will only run it on the AT&T network.

Why in the world would they continue to leave any of these phones unlocked.

I suspect the only reason any of these phones shipped unlocked was because Apple could not keep up with the demand for carrier specific phones, and they shipped inventory - which will eventually lock to the carrier when the IMEI database is finally updated.

Factory unlocked phones will be for sale directly from Apple in November, as advertised.

However, AT&T has never locked the non-contract iPhone 4 models that went on sale earlier this year, even the ones that weren't formally sold as "off contract."

 

[Jaykob]

Contract Free does NOT mean unlocked. It means contract free.

Any of the carriers can lock your carrier specific phone at any time. The fine print on your AT&T agreement, which you agreed to when you purchased the phone, says you will only run it on the AT&T network.

Why in the world would they continue to leave any of these phones unlocked.

I suspect the only reason any of these phones shipped unlocked was because Apple could not keep up with the demand for carrier specific phones, and they shipped inventory - which will eventually lock to the carrier when the IMEI database is finally updated.

Factory unlocked phones will be for sale directly from Apple in November, as advertised.

The thing you seem to forget is that you pay the full price of the phone. It is not subsidized by AT&T so why the hell should they have the right to lock YOUR phone for which you paid full price? There is just no legal ground for this.

 

[chenyichung]

anyone try restoring unlocked off-contract 4S?

just wondering if anyone has tried restoring an unlocked off-contract 4S?

question 1.) is a SIM card need to be in to activate it again?
question 2.) once activated, is it still unlocked?