Has apple given a date? I was just told I could NOT leave the apple store without activating a full price iPhone (and thus locking it).
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Official date from Apple for unlocked 4S
- Thread starter LapsangSouchong
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No specific date as of yet.
Not sure where you are located, but AT&T phones bought at full price come unlocked. Go to the Apple Store, just pay whatever a full price AT&T phone costs (~$650), and upon entering a T-Mobile SIM, you'll get the "Congratulations your iPhone is unlocked" message. They shouldn't make you activate the phone if bought at full price. If they do, just try your luck at a different store or something.
Not sure where you are located, but AT&T phones bought at full price come unlocked. Go to the Apple Store, just pay whatever a full price AT&T phone costs (~$650), and upon entering a T-Mobile SIM, you'll get the "Congratulations your iPhone is unlocked" message. They shouldn't make you activate the phone if bought at full price. If they do, just try your luck at a different store or something.
I've been told by the apple store on 3 different occasions that they CAN NOT sell an iPhone without a contract right now. That they CAN NOT sell at full price right now.
A "different" store is 8 hours away.
I don't know, but I know people have been able to buy an iPhone 4S at full price from the Apple Store without having any affiliations with AT&T. YMMV i guess
Don't count on them staying that way. If AT&T enters your IMEI number into their database your phone WILL be locked to their network.
AT&T would have to ASK Apple to enter your IMEI into Apple's database, not into AT&T's own database. Remember, at the end of they day, Apple has ultimate control over every (non-hacked) iPhone's unlock status.
Now, it's entirely possible that this is exactly what will go down -- I don't know for sure. But it certainly wouldn't be a unilateral move on AT&T's part -- Apple would necessarily be bilaterally involved in any such action.
right. I was hoping for a date.
November 30th
seriously, i hope it is before the thanksgiving to get the sales going...
but looks like iPhone 4S is already selling out so not sure if apple managed the supply and demand by that time.
right. I was hoping for a date.
So am I but that's all that Apple has given us so far. I'm sure that the vagueness has to do with their supply of iPhones along with a wider initial international launch.
The phones currently being offered in the US are all carrier phones, with or without a contract. They are not factory unlocked phones, they are carrier phones.
If you happen to have one that has not yet been locked to the carrier, that does not make it a factory unlocked phone.
I'd you read the fine print on the purchase pages of the AT&T phone, you agree to only operate it on the AT&T network.
Factory unlocked phones will be available in November.
is it ATT or Apple ?
Apple maintains and controls the database. Apple is the only entity in the world that is physically capable of modifying the contents of the database.
Apple has a process in place that allows their partner carriers (in this case, AT&T), and ONLY those authorized partners, to ASK Apple to make changes to the database.
Presumably, as well, Apple could be expected to have checks and balances in place to impose limits upon which individual phones a carrier is permitted to request changes. For example, if a phone is already registered as locked to O2 in the UK, then presumably Apple should not grant AT&T in the USA permission to request that the lock be switched over to AT&T. Similarly, if a phone has already been issued an apparently authorized unlock, then presumably Apple should require a forensic audit to prove that the initial unlock was not obtained by authorized means to accompany any company's request to impose a new lock.
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AT&T does not ask Apple for anything. AT&T controls the database, just as Verizon and Sprint do. It's all tied together through their activation servers. The reason several million phones shipped without being locked up front is these servers over loaded at AT&T in he initial updates. I have inside knowledge of the connection between the two companies, and no one asks Apple anything.
When AT&T decides to update the database with the several million phones that were shipped without being defined, they will all lock the next time you sync or power off/on your phone.
When AT&T decides to update the database with the several million phones that were shipped without being defined, they will all lock the next time you sync or power off/on your phone.
Picture or it didn't happen.
(By that, I mean to say: what possible reason do I have to accept your word on this issue, when there have been mountains of contrary reports on the matter ever since the very first authorized unlocking services started popping up among international carriers several years ago?)
The unlock process originates inside iTunes (and now, with iOS5, it originates inside the phone itself). It "calls home" over the Internet to determine whether or not it has been provisioned an unlock.
If the phone is not initially locked to any particular carrier, then how would it know that needs to pay attention to AT&T's database, as opposed to Sprint's database, or Verizon's database, or O2's database in the UK, or Vodafone's database in Germany, or ... The only practical system is a central repository maintained by Apple, in cooperation with the various network operators.
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I would agree with the above, a lot of people (myself included) got the off- contract phone unlocked and then called ATT to move to the 4s Dataplan. Part of that process involves giving ATT the IMEI so they can update their db and add the 4s Dataplan. Phone still unlocked after this process......
I have been to my local apple store 3 times. Was told no all three times. The next nearest apple store is 8 hours away. Not really an option for me.