Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
So is the Sprint 4S unlocked, or not?
- Thread starter benguild
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Of course he could. What, the Sprint police will follow him to Europe/Asia/Africa?
This is EXACTLY why the Sprint/Verizon phones WILL have a SIM lock. My offer above hasn't been taken up yet, anyone who is "convinced" that the Sprint phone will not be SIM-locked, step right up - put your money where your mouth is - $500 gets you $1,000 if you're right!
----------
Read again, I am the one who says it WILL be locked. And, offering 2:1 odds on a $500 bet about it.
Edit: In case you are terminology-challenged, SIM lock doesn't mean it won't work overseas - it means it only works with Verizon/Sprint partner networks, e.g. you can't just buy your own SIM and plug it in.
Signing a contract requires your SSN. If he doesn't have one he can't get it.
How else would that work?
So verizon is lying when they say they will unlock them for foreign sim cards???
Simple solution - You heard wrong. Or, Jason got it wrong. I leave it as an exercise to the class to determine the odds of which one is the case.
The Sprint phone, out of the box, will not accept a SIM from another carrier other than the Sprint roaming international SIM. I am offering 2:1 odds on a $500 wager to this effect, still no takers???
Exactly if the guy runs off with the phone his credit is TRASHED. Which is exactly why he wouldnt do that. There are protections in place.
Not necessarily, that is certainly a possibility. But, they are not unlocked out of the box from Sprint (which is the original topic of this thread).
Who cares if they wont work out of the box!?!?!? as long as they will unlock them with a phone call as Sprint has done with EVERY OTHER WORLD PHONE, who gives a crap.
No one knows for sure.
All previous sprint world phones have been unlocked. Still a good chance sprint is unlocked. They honestly don't lose anything if it's unlocked for international use not even the roaming fees. How many people honestly would roam and rack up a $1000 bill? Most would either buy a cheap phone or use wifi calling.
Here we go:
Shows up unlocked, but they will send a update to lock, but they will unlock later if you are in good standing when traveling overseas.
http://www.macworld.com/article/163..._iphone_4s_unlocking_policy.html#commentsjump
----------
Just out of curiousity sake if it comes unlocked I wonder if its possible to simply block the update from locking the GSM. HA.
If you think the "good chance" is better than 50/50, take me up on my wager!
Hey Sean nobody is taking up a internet wager. Do you think Sprint is lying here?
On the basis of this article:
http://www.macworld.com/article/163..._iphone_4s_unlocking_policy.html#commentsjump
It looks like Sprint is more foolish than I would have imagined. If the information is correct, someone could have taken me up on the wager offer (which is, obviously, withdrawn) and made a grand.
If the info in that article is correct, I suspect Sprint is going to get RIPPED OFF on early iPhones being sent overseas and never activated on Sprint network.
If they were truly foolish enough to leave the SIM unlocked - then there is nothing to stop you from doing so. It's such a mind-bogglingly stupid business move (they are, after all, "financing" $450 of the phone on the basis of you using their service for 2 years) that I would not have thought it possible - but the article linked above is convincing.
Hmm... in a way it almost seems financially logical to pay the ETF, keep the phone, switch to a prepaid carrier and just run GSM.
You keep forgetting service costs, phone costs, etf fees.
Cancelling after 15 days will set you back $750. $200 for phone. $350 etf. $80 in service. taxes.
Who in their right mind would ruin their credit over $400? You NEED a SSN to open an account. Please explain how people can send over inactivated sprint iphones overseas for $200?
Sprint isn't dumb. They did the same with the Photon and also the HTC Touch Pro 2 and those phones were top of the line when they came out.
The SIM is locked domestically. You can't use it on ATT or any other GSM operators in the US. It's only when you travel abroad where you see the benefits.
Your math is off, the numbers you quote total $630.
However the people I have in mind are not planning to pay the ETF. If the phone is carrier locked to Sprint and someone skips out on the bill, Sprint has recourse - they can refuse to activate the basically "Stolen" phone for someone else. However if it's unlocked, it's just going overseas and there is nothing Sprint can do about it.
I'm thinking in terms of identity theft, buy with a false SSN. They'll still pay for the phone (although could do so with a stolen CC#) but even if they pay cash for the $200 phone, they'll triple/quadruple the money when they sell it overseas.
Once the phone is out the door, the buyer doesn't give a whit what happens at Sprint, they just know they are getting hundreds of dollars of kit for 2 benjies.
You need to ignore EVERYTHING that anyone from Sprint tells you. Ignore the press releases, ignore the customer service agents, EVERYONE. The fact is Sprint is a bunch of amateurs, I bet they don't even know themselves yet how it's going to work, they are making it up as they go along. Some thoughts:
- Unlocked in the US but not locked internationally? There is NO CHANCE of that. How exactly would that work? I'm sure Sprint spent months with Apple implementing and testing a system to lock the phone ONLY within the borders of the United States... NOT.
- Unlocked at ship, then locked by forced OTA update? Again, NO CHANCE. HOW would it work? Do you really think they worked it out with Apple already? There is no mechanism on iPhone to do this.
If you want to know the truth, find someone with a 4S Sprint tomorrow and ask to pop in your AT&T microsim. For best results, try before and after they activate the phone on Sprint, then report back.
- Unlocked in the US but not locked internationally? There is NO CHANCE of that. How exactly would that work? I'm sure Sprint spent months with Apple implementing and testing a system to lock the phone ONLY within the borders of the United States... NOT.
- Unlocked at ship, then locked by forced OTA update? Again, NO CHANCE. HOW would it work? Do you really think they worked it out with Apple already? There is no mechanism on iPhone to do this.
If you want to know the truth, find someone with a 4S Sprint tomorrow and ask to pop in your AT&T microsim. For best results, try before and after they activate the phone on Sprint, then report back.
if they can do the same with iPhone what is stopping them not to do the same to other phones Samsung Galaxy and others?
YOu make it easier to find SSN and fake an SSN, if it easy we are all doomed ( i am not saying there is not identity theft, there is some)
Seriously? Did you even read the thread?
Sprint has mostly unlocked their world phones. Yes they are unlocked internationally but locked in the US. Touch pro 2, Moto Photon, Blackberrys, E400S,etc. These phones also came with Sprint sims but just take it out and pop in a new one when you're overseas. Simple. Sprint knows what they're doing by unlocking it for international use.
Unfortunately the ATT sim will not work with Sprint iPhone. People have tried with the phones mentioned above (HTC Touch Pro 2 could be used on ATT/Tmobile after hacking) but it doesn't work.
Like I said above I'll be surprised if the sim is LOCKED.
http://www.sprint.com/popups/international/devices_advanced_worldmode_popup.html
I have confirmed that local US micro-sim does not work on a iPhone 4S bought from Sprint (like literally I have physically tried). Drown in carrier hatred! The quote from Sprint rep says sim is only unlocked for the international bands.
I think Apple has a database of IMEI number and which bands each IMEI is supposed to work with, so if you put in a SIM that tries to access a band that is not granted to that IMEI number then it won't work.
I think Apple has a database of IMEI number and which bands each IMEI is supposed to work with, so if you put in a SIM that tries to access a band that is not granted to that IMEI number then it won't work.
Agreed on the bump request, anyone overseas have a chance to test the sprint 4s yet? And can anyone offer any insight on whether or not Sprint really has the ability to relock the IMEI's in Apple's system, or is it just a PR attempt to prevent mass international export of their phones?