Either order the contract free T-mobile one on Friday the 12th or walk into the Apple Store on Friday the 19th or any time afterwards and ask for an ATT, T-mobile, or Verizon one but specify "Device Only". Don't go anywhere near an ATT store or give anyone your ATT account info. Just go home and put your ATT SIM from your current phone in your new phone and turn it on. Then restore your new phone from your backup of your old phone. Just switching the SIM will move the service to your new phone and doing the restore will move all of your apps, music, settings, etc. don't tell ATT anything.....they don't need to know and that way they can't inadvertently trick you into a new contract.
Saying Device Only and paying full retail is the trick to getting an unlocked phone from Apple. (All VZ phones are unlocked anyway).
The T-Mobile and AT&T phones are identical, or at least have been in the past. Just pop in your AT&T SIM and call it a day.
Thank you my friend for clarifying this for me. Just so I understand you my best option if I want to preorder via the apple app is to just go for the t-mobile version which is unlocked then once I get the phone put my att sim in and then restore to get all my settings and stuff and the phone will work 100%?
I know alot of times the tmobile unlocked phone is the first to sellout if that happens and I have no choice but to order the att phone and I pay full price do you think it will extend my contract?
Lastly I forgot to ask do I need to have a tmobile account already configured to order the tmobile phone like when you need to enter all your account info if I was ordering the att version? Or will I just be able to add the phone to cart and pay?
UPDATE: I just got off the phone with two separate apple reps that told me that the tmobile iPhone 6 will NOT work if you put the att sim in They said it's locked to tmobile for 6months what ever that means so now I'm even more confused. But maybe there wrong? Way to many conflicting answers!!
I predict that Apple is bluffing (because T-mobile wants them to). I can't make any 100% Promises, because of course Apple could change their practice from what they did last year. But last year there was tons of debate on here and conflicting stories from different official and unofficial people and in the end all T-mobile pre order phones and all "Device Only" T-mobile, ATT, and VZ phones purchased in Apple Stores were unlocked immediately.
I don't know if you will be able to pre order an ATT phone for full price. Last year you couldn't, but in the past year all of these new Jump, Next, etc plans have happened and all of the carriers seem to have some sort of no contract plan.....so the offering could be different this year. And even if you can get the ATT phone for full price it may be locked to ATT...who knows....but maybe that doesn't matter to you since you are an ATT customer.
All you can do is try at midnight and see what happens. Make sure you read each screen if you want to avoid signing a further 2 year contract. If ATT isn't offering a full price phone online then I would buy the T-mobile one. The worst that can happen is it doesn't work and you return it....you have 2 weeks...I'm guessing a lot of people will be doing the same because of last year. If the phone is really going to be locked, Apple should be clear about this and put a big warning disclaimer on the screen or they are going to have lots of returns.
Do you have to pre-order? If ordering a T-mobile one makes you nervous and you can't order an ATT one at full price, then the next best option is to go to an Apple store next Friday and buy an ATT one "device only." When you say device only they never even ask you for your phone number or any details. Also a VZ one would be guaranteed to work because they are prohibited from locking any phones.
Summary...I would try (in this order):
1. Pre Order ATT at full price and watch out for any contract extension
2. Pre Order T-mobile and call Apple's bluff (return if they aren't bluffing)
3. Get in Line next Friday for an ATT "Device Only"
4. If ATT is sold out then get a VZ "Device Only"
5. If VZ is sold out then get a T-mobile "Device Only"
6. Stay away from any Sprint phones (unless new news comes out that they are unlocked).
Given the new cell phone legislation that was passed, I would be really surprised that any non contract phone sold now would be locked....although I think the law is technically not in effect yet. We won't know what happens for sure until people start getting phones next Friday.
Thank you that for all that info and those options. As I said earlier when I tried to simulate the order for a 5s (assuming it will be the same for the iphone6) at full price for att even though the first screen says no contract renewal required on the next screen when you choose you rate plan rite before you finalize your order it shows you that you are signing up for a new 2 year contract along with paying the 40.00 upgrade fee all with paying full price for the phone. So I have a feeling that if I were to do this for the iphone 6 even though I will pay full price they are going to extend my contract. I know you said worst case I can just return it but I'm wondering if this is something's simple phone call to att can fix after the fact. If I tell them I payed full price for the phone and that I don't want my contract extended maybe it can just be corrected over the phone?
I know all of this may just be easier to sort out by just going to apple on the day of release instead of doing the pre order I just didn't want to deal with all the lines and stuff of I can avoid it. I'm still up in the air as to what I should do if i should maybe take the chance with the tmobile phone or not.
UPDATE: I just got off the phone with two separate apple reps that told me that the tmobile iPhone 6 will NOT work if you put the att sim in They said it's locked to tmobile for 6months what ever that means so now I'm even more confused. But maybe there wrong? Way to many conflicting answers!!
It is totally unclear. I've also spent the last 2 hours talking to multiple reps at Apple and T-Mobile and am getting all kinds of conflicting answers.
Here's another question that no one can answer:
The iPhone 6 specs on the apple website suggest that there are actually two versions of the A1549 model:
1) Model A1549 (GSM)*
2) Model A1549 (CDMA)*
http://www.apple.com/iphone-6/specs/
If I buy the "contract free" T-Mobile model, would I end up with Model A1549 (GSM), and if so would that mean that I could not ever connect to a CDMA service (should I choose to move to Verizon later and perhaps travel to an area without Verizon GSM/LTE coverage)?
If I could just pre-order a contract-free Verizon iPhone 6 I would buy that to be on the safe side (since we know that all Verizon phones that support CDMA and GSM are factory unlocked), but annoyingly the apple website doesn't list this as an option.
Does anyone know how much the unlocked iPhone 6 will be?
So I accidentally ordered two full price Verizon phones during the preorder. Would you guys say I should hang onto the second one and try and make a profit close to release or just refuse delivery of the second so they return it to Verizon? Will full price Verizon 6's be in high demand?
I don't know enough about how ordering from VZ works. To order them did you have to associate each of them with one of your lines? If so, the CDMA portion of the phone may be assigned to your account (or something like that). I don't think I would refuse delivery....it's just a chance for something to get screwed up. I would take delivery and then contact VZ for options. Either return the unneeded one, or at least make sure it is not activated to your account and then sell it.
Personally I would be cautious about buying your phone since it wasn't bought "device only" from Apple. I would want extra assurance that it is free and clear from your account. If VZ has it associated with your account and something goes wrong, it could end up listed as bad ESN/IMEI by them and be effectively bricked.
Sorry, late to this thread.
You CAN order a Verizon phone at full price from Apple as long as you have an existing account with Verizon.
I am under contract with Verizon, and don't have an upgrade available yet, and I didn't want to "early edge." I had been planning to do a full price upgrade through Verizon's site, but couldn't get through. I was able to go through the Apple Store app, select a verizon 64GB iPhone 6 at subsidized price, and go through the verification process with my billing password. It prompted me that I didn't have an upgrade, and that the price was $749. I clicked OK, checked out, and done.
When you select the subsidized carrier phones, they say "FROM $199"
The "from" is the key...
But as you said you must be a current customer and I'll bet VZ requires you to activate it to one of your lines. Do you also get charged a line activation fee?
AFAIK you can't just order a "device only" phone from any carrier but T-mobile where you just get the phone in the mail with no strings attached. But you can walk into the Apple store and get one.