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Surprise: CDMA iPhone 4S Comes With An Unlocked SIM Slot

Holy smokes!!! This is the jackpot for me.

I'm a Canadian who is living/working in the US for 6 months. I get an iPhone on my company's corporate plan and there is no early cancellation fee (it's a very nice plan).

Basically... I get it on Sprint or Verizon, then when I go back to Canada in 6 months, I terminate my contract, pay no ECF, and just buy a new micro-sim and use it on the Canadian carrier of my choice? Yes please!!
 
jmpnop said:
So, if I buy one without contract in the US and take it another country, any SIM should work without unlocking the phone?
Click to expand...

Apple says: An unlocked iPhone may be activated on supported GSM carrier networks. You can activate and use it on the supported GSM wireless network of your choice, such as AT&T in the United States.

To me it /sounds/ like "yes" to your question. But we're talking about :apple: here.
 
Applejuiced said:
I highly doubt it will be unlocked to any GSM sim.
It will not accept or recognize foreign sims besides the Sprint or Verizon sim that it comes with.
We will see though.
Click to expand...

Clearly you have never used a CDMA phone because Sprint and Verizon don't use SIM cards.
And yeah as the article said with the Sprint phone you can use any SIM you want right out of the box, I mean what do they care you are already in a 2 year contract with them! And Verizon will let you do it after 60 days.
 
Awesome! My wife and I are switching to Verizon and going on vacation in Mexico in January... just enough time for the 60-days.

Now, where can we get prepaid microSIM cards in Mexico? How much do they normally cost?
 
The Tuck said:
It's such BS that AT&T won't unlock out of contract phones. They do for essentially every other phone the sell... Except for the iPhone. BS, I tell you!

Tuck
Click to expand...
Protest with your wallet. That's what I intend to do. And then go get a Gevey SIM card and say ******* you to AT&T.
 
ferrous said:
So now I will have to jailbreak my new iPhone 4S again to use it abroad .... But one thing to remember, the iPhones use the mini SIM and I have never seen the mini SIM available for the pre-paid SIM cards, anywhere in Europe.... :mad:
Click to expand...

All you need is an exacto knife and moderately steady hands. Here's one way. Here's another.

----------
smash said:
Anyone?
Click to expand...
Even if you activate it, it should still work with an AT&T sim card. I don't think Sprint gives a rat's ass as long as you pay your monthly bill for the next 2 years.
 
Last edited:
I wish i had known about this last week!! AT&T sucks. Now I'm stuck with them for another 2 years. i should be able to travel and use a local sim.
 
Excellent news.
iMrNiceGuy0023 said:
The big unknown, of course, is whether you could actually pop an AT&T micro-SIM into such a device.
Click to expand...
I'm willing to bet this isn't the case. VZW will likely do the same thing they've been doing with other world phones over the past few years and restrict US GSM bands, even if they unlock it for international use. I know that's what they did with the Droid 2 Global, for example.
 
SGMD1 said:
Excellent news.

I'm willing to bet this isn't the case. VZW will likely do the same thing they've been doing with other world phones over the past few years and restrict US GSM bands, even if they unlock it for international use. I know that's what they did with the Droid 2 Global, for example.
Click to expand...
I'll bet it is, for Sprint. They're desperate for customers and it's no skin off their back to let you use whatever SIM card you want.
 
flux73 said:
I'll bet it is, for Sprint. They're desperate for customers and it's no skin off their back to let you use whatever SIM card you want.
Click to expand...

And not locking down hardware is somehow a bad thing?

No matter what they do, you people are ALWAYS bitching about it. well, i'm getting a sprint iPhone 4S. regardless of what you guys say
 
For the people that say the sprint/verizon iPhone 4S are only unlocked for international sim are wrong! Once it's unlocked thru Apple server it's plan unlocked! There is no such a thing to locked ATT/Tmobile in the US, and still be unlocked for other international carrier. :eek:
 
aziatiklover said:
For the people that say the sprint/verizon iPhone 4S are only unlocked for international sim are wrong! Once it's unlocked thru Apple server it's plan unlocked! There is no such a thing to locked ATT/Tmobile in the US, and still be unlocked for other international carrier. :eek:
Click to expand...

I'm not really sure what your saying becuase your wording is confusing, but Yes, the iPhone 4S is unlocked as in "Unlocked" it's not some special half unlocked or anything.
 
Would I be able to walk into a Sprint store and purchase one, or is this for new/returning contracts only?

edit: Never mind answered my own question. :p
 
iPhone is still the property of Apple, you only have the right to use it.

iPhone is still the property of Apple, you only have the right to use it.
You paid for the right to use it, not to own it, because it's locked by the owner, APPLE.
:D:D:D:D
 
aziatiklover said:
Once it's unlocked thru Apple server it's plan unlocked! There is no such a thing to locked ATT/Tmobile in the US, and still be unlocked for other international carrier.
Click to expand...
That's a good point. VZW in the past has kept their US GSM bands locked even once you entered the unlock code, but I can't imagine that would be the case if you were to unlock the phone via the Apple servers.

I'm very curious about this now. Hopefully someone will be able to test it out soon and report back.
 
marcusj0015 said:
And not locking down hardware is somehow a bad thing?

No matter what they do, you people are ALWAYS bitching about it. well, i'm getting a sprint iPhone 4S. regardless of what you guys say
Click to expand...
Huh? Please re-read what I wrote. I just said they probably WON'T lock the SIM card slot b/c they won't care if you use a SIM card or not. And I'm getting a Sprint iPhone 4S as well.
 
how can i use iPhone as a prepaid phone?

I do not want the expensive voice plan. I only have 10-20 minutes phone call every month. Most of the time I am using Skype.
But I still want the ATT $15 per month data plan.
So, will it be possible that I can use an unlocked iPhone 4s as a prepaid phone, and also buy some data service?
 
Will AT&T follow?

Does anyone know if AT&T will do the same now that Verizon and Sprint will allow customers to have GSM unlocked iPhones?
 
flux73 said:
Even if you activate it, it should still work with an AT&T sim card. I don't think Sprint gives a rat's ass as long as you pay your monthly bill for the next 2 years.
Click to expand...

He was talking about contract-free iPhones. It costs about $200 less than the unlocked ones, basically its a locked phone without contract. According to this article, it should be as good as an unlocked phone (atleast oustide US)...
 
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