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Sprint iPhone 5S Unlock
- Thread starter sicdeath
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No.
International unlock only. And only if you meet certain requirements.
You want to use a Sprint iPhone on a different US carrier, find a SIM interposer.
Save yourself a Google search. There are no third party unlocks. See the link in my signature.
I've read that a few folks have actually been able to unlock their Sprint iPhones and were able to use them on T-Mobile, but I haven't confirmed this myself.
But even if this is true, Sprint basically refuses to do it.
That depends, I think on how you define the word "unlock".
A Gevey SIM, or SIM interposer will allow this. Sprint and T-Mobile share the same 3G frequency. But because the LTE bands are different you won't get LTE on T-Mobile.
For some strange reason people seem to consider a SIM interposer as an unlock. I don't get it because if you remove the interposer the phone is still locked. So, this is not an unlock. It's a workaround, but it's not an unlock - even if people want to keep calling it that.
That is also false.
Sprints policy is if they agree to unlock it they unlock for international use only.
Not for any US carrier.
I think you're probably right here. Anywhere I can find info on the Sprint "unlock" they're either talking about international use or using an SIM interposer, but not saying as such.
I could have sworn I read a story at one point about Apple forcing Sprint to unlock a phone, but I'm not finding it.
Anyway, even though it is technically possible, it is against Sprints policy. Which is what I should have said from the beginning.
I know what you're referencing and in a sense you are correct. But it's two extremely narrow anamolies.
The first one is when Sprint came out with the iPhone 4s. Sprint announced that it would be unlocked. About a month later Sprint rescinded it's decision and sent out a carrier update that locked all iPhone 4s' from that point on.
But anyone who had a 4s in that very brief moment of time still has an unlocked Sprint 4s.
The second is during the inital launch of the 5c and the 5s. Apple was short on supply for Sprint iPhones. So, to satisfy the customer, they pulled phones from their unlocked stock and forced Sprint to activate those phones per the iPhone agreement Apple has with Sprint. Apple is the only one that can force Sprint to do this.
I know a couple people who have unlocked Sprint iPhones in both of these case.
But I stress that this was extremely rare. Apple has caught up with it's stock and unless you are incredibly lucky to find one of those old 4s orginal Sprint iPhones unlocking on Sprint is just NOT going to happen.
Oh, I don't know. My Sprint iPhone 5 is doing pretty good on Sprint. Not crippled at all on the Sprint network.
Oh, I don't know. My Sprint iPhone 5 is doing pretty good on Sprint. Not crippled at all on the Sprint network.
By crippled I mean that its useless on other networks, unlike verizon, att and tmobile versions.
Well…if you're a carrier and you want to sell iPhones, Apple pretty much has that power.
A lot of people say Sprint made a bad deal with Apple just when the popularity of the iPhone peaked. Considering, Sprint's position at the time I can't imagine they [Sprint] had any sort of bargaining power.