where i live in south florida sprint is horrible. i tried them out for a little but hated it. but it just depends where you live.
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SE bands confusing the hell outta me...
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where i live in south florida sprint is horrible. i tried them out for a little but hated it. but it just depends where you live.
Not necessarily. I bought an iPhone SE with the main intent of using it on Sprint's network, but I didn't want the Sprint model in case I ever decided to put my Verizon SIM card in it, which I have a few times. I wanted the best coverage overall on both networks, so I bought the AT&T model. The only band I'm missing for Sprint is band 41, which offers faster speeds but not better coverage, but Sprint doesn't even have band 41 in my city. As long as I get decent speeds (which I do) I don't need dozens of Mbps. I care more about having a decent signal on any network I choose than crazy fast speeds.
Still, the only differences between the two phones in the US is one supports faster speeds on Sprint (if it's even offered in your area) and the other supports better coverage on Verizon (everywhere). The non-Sprint model will give you the same coverage on Sprint as the Sprint model, just possibly with slower speeds depending on where you live, so if there's even a chance that you may switch to Verizon in the future, you still might want to get it.
There's also the matter of availability. If the Sprint model is out of stock but the other model isn't, you might just consider getting the other model instead of waiting.
I follow that. Where it gets confusing is when you say a Sprint phone bought anywhere else but Apple, and especially from a Sprint store, may not be unlocked even if you pay full price. But based on this scenario, any Sprint phone bought anywhere will be unlocked if not activated first on the Sprint network and locked. Otherwise, why would Apple's Sprint phones be unlocked when pulled new off the shelf, but Sprint's Sprint phones already be locked when pulled new off the shelf?
This is where I'm getting stuck, the 'even if you pay full price it may still be locked'. How is it locked? And why would Sprint's contract with Apple allow Apple to sell unlocked phones if Sprint only sells them locked? Why aren't they all locked at the factory? This just adds to the band confusion, especially since not everyone has an Apple Store nearby, but Sprint is everywhere.
Apple has a server with a database showing the lock status of every phone. The phone checks with that database to know if it is locked or not. All the phones sold by a carrier are marked as locked in that database, and I beleive it is the same for third party retailers. Apple on the other hand has access to the database and the phone is marked as locked or not depending on how it is paid for.
Ah thank you. So the carrier has no incentive to unlock the phone even if paid in full. I've heard Sprint requires a minimum of 90 days before they will unlock.
But this is still a problem for me. If there is no law compelling Sprint to unlock the phone if paid in full, why would Sprint allow Apple to supersede its policies just because Apple sold it for them? Or is Apple merely selling an un-designated phone model which happens to be compatible with Sprint (as well as other carriers), and not a carrier specific model? I wonder why Apple doesn't sell the Sprint model sim-free then ...
In the latter case, then the only way to guarantee an unlocked phone is to buy it from a brick and mortar Apple Store? Do any other retailers sell iPhones agnostic of carrier like this for areas without an Apple Store in close proximity?
Sprint has no control over the phones Apple sells. I say the Sprint model so you know which one I'm talking about, but it's not exactly a Sprint phone. It's just the one used on Sprint's network. Apple isn't selling it for Sprint. Apple is selling it for Apple, so if you pay full price for it, why would Apple want to restrict you to one network?