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Sprint iPhone 6 bought at Full price is Unlocked ?
- Thread starter karan.k
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I can have all the hope I want that my 1997 Honda Accord LX will turn into a 2015 Chevrolet Corvette when I walk out from work to drive home.
Doesn't mean it's going to happen.
Same difference. Hope all you want that you can unlock a Sprint iPhone for domestic carrier use. Not going to happen.
Firstly that's a very bad analogy.
The point you don't understand is that, I just have one shot to buy an unlocked iphone 6 (a1586) as I will be in the US just for 3 days and just was using some help here to see if it is possible. I do understand Sprint iPhones can't be unlocked, however internet rumours did spark some hope and I just wanted to make sure and use this forum for help to confirm if it is indeed unlocked or not.
The point you don't understand is that, I just have one shot to buy an unlocked iphone 6 (a1586) as I will be in the US just for 3 days and just was using some help here to see if it is possible. I do understand Sprint iPhones can't be unlocked, however internet rumours did spark some hope and I just wanted to make sure and use this forum for help to confirm if it is indeed unlocked or not.
You're right. Unless u need the extra bands for sprint spark or u need the extra bands for international service it's the same. And Verizon is domestically gsm unlocked too from the get go.
I have just bought an iP 6 at apple store in pittsburgh. Asked the staff for device only, for using it in europe (my carrier is T-mobile in Czech republic). They only had a Sprint version, so I took it and paid full price. Just a while ago, I took out the sprint sim card before turning it on and put in my t-mobile cz card. I turn it on, and it is working, now connected on T-mobile US network. It is now downloading my icloud back up. So it confirms, that even the sprint version, is unlocked for international sims out of the box.
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Cool. Now 10 more of these and it can be used as proof that sprint is unlocked at full price.
Why do you need the A1586 model? Since you are going through this amount of trouble to get an iPhone during the 3 days you are in the US; when is the iPhone releasing in your home country? If you are in a country where changing the IMEI/ MEID is legal, you could go down that route. But, if the iPhone is being released soon in your home market, I would just wait and not run the gauntlet with the risk of bricking the phone.
Hmmm interesting. I wonder though.
There's another discussion thread where it's possible to get a non-Verizon iPhone activated on Verizon as long as the SIM you insert is already activated. As neither Verizon nor Sprint will directly activate non-Verizon or non-Sprint phones on their networks this seems to be a loophole that hasn't been closed.
Extrapolating from that discussion I'm wondering if the reason you were able to get your Sprint iPhone 6 working on your international SIM is because that SIM was already activated.
I'd be interested to see what would happen if you inserted a non-activated SIM from your carrier and then tried to activate. If the SIM activates then that would indicate that at full price the Sprint iPhone 6/6+ is truly international unlocked out of the box.
An international unlock isn't inplausible. They've already been proven to be domestically locked, right?
T-Mobile in the Czech Republic. Which would make it an international unlock if true.
Nah, SIM activation shouldn't be a problem with GSM carriers outside of US. Really, it's only Verizon and Sprint that make such a big issue of proprietary devices. The fact that it works with a non-Sprint SIM already proves it's unlocked out of the box. Now it would be nice if we can find other such examples.
By the way, Sprint doesn't have the same SIM card loophole that Verizon has. Sprint locks the SIM card to the device it was activated with (at least based on last year's tests on Sprint iPhone 5s and iPad Air). Even if you move the Sprint SIM from a Sprint iPhone 5s to a Sprint iPhone 6/6+, it's not going to work (unless Sprint recently changed their policy).
Well, I guess things may be changing. Maybe Sprint is getting ready for Feb 2015, IDK.Nah, SIM activation shouldn't be a problem with GSM carriers outside of US. Really, it's only Verizon and Sprint that make such a big issue of proprietary devices. The fact that it works with a non-Sprint SIM already proves it's unlocked out of the box. Now it would be nice if we can find other such examples.
By the way, Sprint doesn't have the same SIM card loophole that Verizon has. Sprint locks the SIM card to the device it was activated with (at least based on last year's tests on Sprint iPhone 5s and iPad Air). Even if you move the Sprint SIM from a Sprint iPhone 5s to a Sprint iPhone 6/6+, it's not going to work (unless Sprint recently changed their policy).
I hear you on the locking though (domestically). Sprint pairs the SIM with the phone which is why this wouldn't work. Obviously, Verizon does something different.
Verizon does something different because they're required to do so by the FCC per the 700MHz spectrum auction. You can be sure that if they had a choice, they'd be locking SIM cards to devices, too.
Verizon does something different because they're required to do so by the FCC per the 700MHz spectrum auction. You can be sure that if they had a choice, they'd be locking SIM cards to devices, too.
I actually think Apple stepped up behind the scenes without advertising this. In order to unlock any iPhone it has be to be white-listed in Apple's database that's all. No unlock codes not anything.
What I think they started doing is when ANY iPhone bought directly from Apple store for a full price they white-list it automatically.
Then statement above holds true for Verizon due to their FCC deal so any Verizon phone bought from anywhere is GSM unlocked and other iPhone bought directly from carriers are locked.
I could be completely wrong, but enough evidence around this forum and other forums prove this as others have mentioned phones bought at a full price from Apple are unlocked.
In Sprint's case, if we are speaking of an international unlock only, then I'd be inclined to agree with you.
But if you are meaning a complete unlock (domestic and international) of a Sprint iPhone sold at full price I don't agree. And further, that's already been documented here (a domestic unlock of a Sprint iPhone bought at full price) several times to not be the case.
Sprint pairs the SIM with the phone. The ICCID on the SIM and the MEID on the phone must match. Apple can enter the IMEI/ESN into it's unlock database, but unless Sprint removes the pairing a domestic unlock is not going to happen.
You are most likely correct as I've only read of cases where a Sprint phone bought from the Apple store working with international SIMs.
I am from Canada and not sure how Sprint pairs their phones but i bought a full price 6 plus Verizon from Apple store and regular 6 from Walmart. They were both unlocked which they should be due to Verizon agreement.
Apple has always said that carriers are screwing the consumer maybe they realize that anything bought at a full price should be used however the owner wants and do in fact white-list a phone. Then again it's only a speculation.
As long as Apple enters the IMEI/MEID into its unlock database, then that Sprint iPhone will be usable on any carrier. The ICCID/MEID pairing only applies when trying to use the phone on Sprint's network. As long as the device is fully unlocked by Apple, it can be used with any carrier both domestic and international.
Of course, Apple does have various activation policies and if Sprint asked them, it's possible Apple could use an activation policy that allows international SIM cards but blocks domestic SIM cards from working.
In your first paragraph, my understanding of this is somewhat different. I know the IMEI/database thing is how it works, but I understood that the pairing prevented this even if the IMEI was in the database. You are arguing that isn't the case. I don't know enough about this to support a counter argument and you seem to know of what you speak so I'll defer to you on the matter.
As to the second paragraph, I most assuredly agree with your assessment. From the start I have been saying that Sprint prevents Apple from putting it's IMEIs in the domestic unlock database and your statement tends to support that. So, yes, Sprint most likely has instructed Apple in some manner to prevent their IMEIs from being in the database. That would be just like Sprint.
We need someone who bought a Sprint iPhone at a full price from an Apple store and truly test it. Sprint can ask Apple to do anything, but we all know Apple can do whatever they please and whatever they feel is the right thing to do.
Like I said in my previous post I could be wrong, but I truly think apple is white-listing phones bought at full prices in their unlock database.
If someone buys a phone from Apple at a full price no carrier can tell Apple what to do.
Like I said in my previous post I could be wrong, but I truly think apple is white-listing phones bought at full prices in their unlock database.
If someone buys a phone from Apple at a full price no carrier can tell Apple what to do.
That's already been done and is what I was referring to earlier…
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=19855801
Scroll down to the second to last post.
Also, see post #32 in this very thread…
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/20038876/
As should be the case for any phone the customer bought full price, really. I was quite frustrated with mobile industry practices when I first moved here.
The pairing is on Sprint's end. Their network won't authenticate a device that doesn't have a matching IMEI for its SIM card (though I imagine they have some mechanism for allowing warranty replacement devices).
The only reason the Sprint iPhone reportedly doesn't worth with AT&T, T-mobile, or Verizon is because the activation ticket Apple sends to it disallows those carriers. Apple could easily issue an unlocked ticket, but their policy is not to do so without the carrier's permission.
Presumably, they have some agreement with Sprint to keep even full priced phones locked for domestic use (much like how iPhones used to be locked to AT&T no matter the price in the early days)