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Pre-ordered full price 6s may not be unlocked

I think it is funny Apple supposedly has the power to force carriers to accept iOS updates as they come out but has no power to keep carriers from locking fully paid new iPhones.
 
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applegeek97 said:
The lady I spoke to this morning from Apple said that if you bought the T-Mobile version, but have AT&T service, place your AT&T Sim card in the phone BEFORE you power it on. She said once you power it on, it locks it to that carrier.
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she doesn't know what's she's taking about. The phone and chat reps are usually clueless.
 
modulusshift said:
Unlocked is the state of the phone. The phone could be handed to anyone out of the box and work with every carrier. If you're still on a contract with a carrier, you can't leave without paying a ETF, but your phone won't be stopping you.

AT&T is kinda an oddball this year, I don't know if their device got CDMA certification. The hardware is capable of working on Verizon, but I don't know if it actually will. Any other carrier's iPhone will work with all carriers, it'll be missing some AT&T optimization, though.

Edit: also note that since you're paying full price, you don't have to buy the AT&T model. You can just buy the T-Mo model and use it on AT&T, and then switch to whatever carrier you want after.
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I am hearing that the AT&T and T-Mobile are different model numbers with different radios. That doesn't mean they won't be 100% interoperable but it is giving me a little doubt/worry. There are a lot of threads on this, so I won't repeat my posts - but check these out:

T-Mobile Contract Free = Unlocked?

iPhone 6s Plus t mobile contract free unlocked???
 
DaPhatty said:
Just a heads up, I spoke with Apple Customer Support today as I wanted confirmation regarding the unlocked status of the iPhone 6s if purchased at full price. The Customer Support Rep specifically stated that they had not received any information from Corporate that would clearly allow them to confirm the unlocked status of iPhone 6s phones that are purchased outright.

If you are like me and want a fully unlocked 6s, you should probably wait. Damn shame since this is the first time you could buy an iPhone at full price without the need for "upgrade" status.
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This is the real deal.

There are "Factory Unlocked" and "Full-Price Unlocked" iPhones.

Factory unlocked phones come without a pre-installed SIM card, with a SIM ejector tool and is systematically provisioned to always be unlocked. These phone are of only one non-exclusive model type. These phones are not typically sold at launch and can only be purchased from an Apple Retail Store or Apple Online Store. They are also known as "SIM-Free".

Full-price unlocked phones are phones that come with a pre-installed SIM card from one of four major carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint), does not include a SIM ejector tool and are purchased without carrier activation. These phones can be of any model type which depends on the carrier SIM pre-installed. These phones can be used with a carrier that is not the same as the one that was originally intended for that phone.
For example: You can purchase an AT&T 16GB iPhone 6 for $649(+tax), replace the AT&T SIM card with a T-Mobile SIM card and it will work.

It's important to note that when you purchase a full-price unlocked iPhone there may be some limitations. You should always refer to www.apple.com/iphone/lte for more information on carrier compatibly and contact the carrier themselves.
 
lovelybai said:
Att will unlock for you if you payed full price even if it is locked(very unlikely)
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Not if you have a contract, they won't. ATT p****d me off last year when I bought my 6+. I bought it full price off contract at Best Buy and they refused to unlock it since I was still under contract for my last phone for a few months. Between that and them throttling my data even though I have *never* gone over 5gb (seriously not kidding here, I really never have) ... I jumped over to Verizon last month.
 
Now that they're out, I can confirm the AT&T iPhone 6 purchased full price from Apple is unlocked. I tested it with a T-Mobile SIM.
 
First off, anything an Apple employee tells you in the store is about reliable as asking a high school kid on the street.

I ordered on Apple site full price for ATT (came with ATT sim) and when I activated the phone it said it was unlocked.
 
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