Sprint to Make All Devices Launched After February 11, 2015 Unlockable

[scaredpoet]

How much did the legal fee cost you for suing them for $850?

Most likely it was a small claims court case, so not very much. In my state it would've come out to around $22: $15 for the filing fee, and $7 to have the defendant served by certified mail.

It likely would've cost Sprint more than $850 to send a lawyer down to represent the company and have the case heard before a judge. So that's probably why they settled.

 

[wxman2003]

Pretty much a gimmick. Yes, all carriers agreed to sell phones that are unlockable, but that doesn't mean they will actually unlock them. It just means all the new phones will be capable of being unlocked.

 

[avanpelt]

My (limited) understanding is that sprint uses a technology call CDMA. AT&T uses a different technology. Therefore the chipset in an AT&T phone is different than in a Sprint Phone. So unlocking a Sprint phone does not mean you can use it on the AT&T network. Therefore my interpretation is that Sprint is just covering themselves. Sure the will sell you unlocked phones, but they wont promise you it will work on any other carrier.

As I understand the US landscape the CDMA technology is used by Verizon ans Sprint whereas Tmob and AT&T use TDMA. Maybe in the UK the all use the same technology which makes it easier to switch from one carrier to another.

Not fully accurate when it comes to being able to use an unlocked, CDMA-capable iPhone on AT&T and T-Mobile. Verizon's iPhone 5, 5c, and 5s are CDMA phones (they have to be to work on Verizon) and they are also GSM phones.

All Verizon LTE devices are unlocked out of the box even on contract. Therefore, you could take a Verizon iPhone 5, 5c, or 5s, put an AT&T or T-Mobile SIM card in them, and they'd join the networks just fine. The Verizon iPhone 5 will not be able to get LTE on AT&T or T-Mobile; but it gets HSPA+ and standard GSM just fine. The Verizon 5c and 5s will connect to all GSM/HSPA+ bands plus all LTE bands on AT&T and T-Mobile.

I read some posts on here about folks going into the Apple Store here in the U.S. trying to buy a factory unlocked iPhone 5s before they had any in stock. According to one post I recall, the Apple rep advised the customer to just buy a Verizon 5s at full price, walk out of the store, and put his carrier's SIM card in it. He did just that and it worked just fine.

I'm not sure if Sprint's iPhone 5, 5c, and 5s have GSM chipsets inside them; but I don't know why they wouldn't since Verizon's do and Sprint and Verizon are both CDMA carriers.

 

[scaredpoet]

Pretty much a gimmick. Yes, all carriers agreed to sell phones that are unlockable, but that doesn't mean they will actually unlock them. It just means all the new phones will be capable of being unlocked.

The proof will be in what happens come February, I suppose. As I mentioned earlier, quite a few phones Sprint sells today are capable of being unlocked, IF it weren't for the fact that Sprint refuses to unlock them.

 

[LobsterMan]

Locking phones is illegal here

Here in Israel, it's been illegal to lock phones or tie phone sales to phone service for the past 2 years.
You pay in full for your phone (usually with 18 month financing available) and it's not locked to any specific carrier (they're all GSM so there's no technological issues either)
For phone service I pay about $22 for unlimited calls, unlimited text and 6 gb ob data.
Try that in the US...

 

[gjvon]

What a total LOAD! The fact that I'm using my Sprint iPhone 4S on T-Mobile with hardly any problems tells me that Sprint is flat out LYING. In fact, as far as I know, the ONLY iPhone that can not be unlocked from Sprint right now is the iPhone 5. The 4S, 5c and 5s can all be unlocked. (although with a LOT of hassle) Sprint needs to just unlock them. I am NEVER going to Sprint again after my last experience with them.

Luckily, I was able to sue them for $850 for inferior service and devaluation of my devices by their refusal to unlock. I just wish they would have actually came out and defended themselves on the stand instead of settling outside of court less than 24 hours before we were supposed to duke it out. What wussies.

Oh, well. They probably won't be in business much longer. I'm usually getting 7-12mbps on T-Mobile's 3G network and my uncle is seeing over 40 Mbps sometimes on his 5S. I can actually see T-Mobile becoming a huge threat to AT&T and Verizon over the next 3 years as they keep building their infrastructure so aggressively. I'm excited to see that happen. I LOVE COMPETITION!



WakeUpNow

Agreed til then end. Tmobile will never catch up to these companies in reliable data/talk. Just don't have the engineering nor the towers. I agree, they will continue to grow. But what are you basing this off of? Personal matter? No bro. Just no.

 

[objc]

It's a way for the original contract carrier to enforce you make all your payments to them. They believe that if you had an unlocked phone too many people would skip out to another carrier and they couldn't collect on the contracts.

Yes, I think that is rubbish, but that's the idea - it's a cheaper way to enforce the contract than a collection proceeding.

If that's the only reason, they should unlock it once you're out of contract, and they aren't. So clearly there are additional reasons.

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You state it "works great" but I think your experience confirms the comment in the article:

"For eligible devices, Sprint will unlock the SIM slot, to the extent that a device SIM slot is capable of being unlocked. It is important to note that not all devices are capable of being unlocked, often because of the manufacturers' device designs, and that even for those devices capable of being unlocked, not all device functionality may be capable of being unlocked."

The poster is having those problems because it's not an Apple unlock. Some of the third-party unlocks bypass Apple's activation servers, which results in the mentioned problems. If Apple unlocked it, those problems would not exist, and Apple would unlock it if Sprint asked them.

Sprint is just being evil and dishonest per US carrier standard operating procedure.

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The CDMA issue is resolved in that both Sprint and Verizon use LTE as their 4G tech. If you are out in the woods and only have 3G, then you will have the talk/surf issue, but if you are within the LTE network, you're good to go.

Yes, except that S & VZ still use CDMA for voice. They're not doing voice over LTE at this point. So no CDMA == no voice.

 

[discuit]

Verizon told me that my 5s was unlocked as soon as I activated it (they ship locked and when they're added to the V network they are automatically unlocked). I have not tested it though. Also, I bought without a contract, so that might be a factor.

I bought a Verizon 5S in December and used it weeks later in Europe with a rented GSM SIM... worked beautifully! Didn't rent one with LTE though, I guess for that to work it would depend on the bands used. See https://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/

It's my understanding that the Verizon iphone is the only iphone sold right now that fully works on all major US carriers (because it sports GSM, CDMA, and LTE tech).

Close.... the Verizon 5/5C/5S support all major US carriers.... except Sprint! Sprint requires specific device programming to access their CDMA network that can't be overwritten with one of their SIM cards/ giving them your MEID. It's been this way for awhile, Verizon and Sprint phones aren't generally interoperable without hacks.

(The 4S is also GSM-unlockable on Verizon if your account is in good standing, you just have to ask them. No more than one unlock per line per 6 months is the policy I believe)

 

[HyperZboy]

Now I'm wondering how this will affect Virgin Mobile USA customers. Technically, Virgin Mobile in the US is a division of Sprint USA, so the Virgin Mobile iPhone 5s sold at full price should be identical to the Sprint version, but locked to Virgin Mobile. Now the strange part is that while this phone is CDMA, it still has the GSM transmitter and a SIM slot, but both are locked to Virgin Mobile only.

The major gripe here is that I've paid full price for a phone that is completely locked to one carrier forever. Sure, I have no contract requirement, but if I cancel the service, I have a $500 brick on my hands.

 

[tragicfame]

Same old song and dance?

I remember when the iPhone 5 came out and I called both Apple and Sprint to make sure that the device was sold in an unlocked state. I was going to be taking a trip overseas shortly after it's release and wanted to make sure that it was GSM capable (yes) and unlocked (yes). Both Sprint and Apple confirmed that the Sprint labeled models would be unlocked.

...

Until a month later when they pushed an OTA update that locked all iPhone 5's. And after an hour on a phone with Sprint reps and their incessant denials that they did anything unethical or wrong, I promptly sent them a copy of my military orders and terminated my contract with them under the SCRA, sold my now locked iPhone 5 (actually made $50 off the deal!) and bought a technically exact same model for use on Verizon (which was not and still is not locked) iPhone 5.

...

Be wary of Sprint claims of unlocking, they may just pull it off to sucker you into their trap.

 

[HyperZboy]

I remember when the iPhone 5 came out and I called both Apple and Sprint to make sure that the device was sold in an unlocked state. I was going to be taking a trip overseas shortly after it's release and wanted to make sure that it was GSM capable (yes) and unlocked (yes). Both Sprint and Apple confirmed that the Sprint labeled models would be unlocked.

...

Until a month later when they pushed an OTA update that locked all iPhone 5's. And after an hour on a phone with Sprint reps and their incessant denials that they did anything unethical or wrong, I promptly sent them a copy of my military orders and terminated my contract with them under the SCRA, sold my now locked iPhone 5 (actually made $50 off the deal!) and bought a technically exact same model for use on Verizon (which was not and still is not locked) iPhone 5.
...

Be wary of Sprint claims of unlocking, they may just pull it off to sucker you into their trap.

I'm thinking of doing a similar thing with Virgin Mobile on the Sprint Network. There's no technical reason my iPhone 5s has to be locked to not only the Sprint Network but also Virgin Mobile too! Yes, I can't even switch to Sprint from Virgin Mobile which they OWN! At least that's what they said.

There's really no technical reason why a CDMA + GSM iPhone with a SIM card cannot be independent of a carrier for technical reasons. It's just not true.
It just means they don't WANT to do it and fight tooth and nail to stop it.

I might sell my Virgin Mobile iPhone for this very reason. I have no contract, but it's a brick without Virgin Mobile unless someone comes up with a valid hack or the FCC steps in.

 

[aristotle]

I remember when the US used to have unlimited data plans and americans used to laugh at Canadians with how much we paid for metered data.

I now pay 39 CAD per month for unlimited calling, unlimited texting and unlimited data in Canada and the US. Booyah! That's right, unlimited texting, calling and data in both Canada and the US on AT&T or T-Mobile.

 

[ctone]

Sprint says that all current Apple devices on their network are technically unable to be unlocked. http://www.sprint.com/legal/unlocking_policy.html

What are the chances that the upcoming iPhone 6 for Sprint will be unlockable, or will we need to wait until after Feb. 11, 2015, or possibly even until Fall of 2015 for the iPhone 6S to get an unlockable iPhone on Sprint?