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archer75

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 26, 2005
3,116
1,746
Oregon
When you lease a phone through the apple program why do you have to choose a carrier when reserving for store pickup online? Since these phones are unlocked why would carrier matter?

I have AT&T, not under contract, and the store has a SIM free iphone that i'd like to lease via the apple program. But no phones show up when selecting AT&T.
 

aziatiklover

macrumors 68030
Jul 12, 2011
2,704
269
8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
When you lease a phone through the apple program why do you have to choose a carrier when reserving for store pickup online? Since these phones are unlocked why would carrier matter?

Because of the sim card. Once you pick it up and set it up at the store your current sim will no longer work.
 

Eileen89

macrumors 65816
Aug 12, 2014
1,145
338
If the AT&T model isn't available just get the SIM Free one. I'm using it with AT&T and it works fine.
 

archer75

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 26, 2005
3,116
1,746
Oregon
I get that. But again, if it's an unlocked phone they can then activate any phone with any carrier. The carrier you have would be irrelevant to the hardware right?
 

gurase

macrumors 6502
Oct 12, 2015
275
167
AFAIK, you can select the sim-free iPhone for the upgrade program, but you must activate it on a postpaid plan with one of the big 4 carriers. Since you plan on activating with AT&T, you should be fine reserving the sim-free model.
 

Shadowbech

macrumors G3
Oct 18, 2011
9,038
5,894
While there is an option to select the sim-free iphone for the iUP under the reservation, I've read some reports of success and some not so success in getting the sim-free phone for iUP. You really have to get a good sales specialist who knows what they are doing.

I think what happens is even though sim-free iphone is eligible for iUP, they can bring out the sim card and do it that way.
 

off_piste

macrumors 6502a
Oct 25, 2015
762
479
The sales guy I worked with claimed the iUP program requires the phone to be activated before it leaves the store. Could be a requirement of the financial company.
 
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