Verizon Leaving iPhone 5 SIM Slots Unlocked as Required by FCC Network Access Regulations

[keviig]

Buying unsubsidized iPhone 5 Verizon in the US

I am currently on holiday in the US and would love to be able to buy the iPhone 5 here seeing as the price is nearly 40% lower than it is in Norway. If i were to buy the unsubsidized ($649) Verizon iPhone, would i be able to put a norwegian sim card in it and use it when i come home?
Thanks in advance for any answers!

 

[foshizzle]

A cautionary note to anyone thinking of buying a Verizon iPhone 5 to use on AT&T

I have AT&T service and had been planning on buying an off-contract iPhone 5 all along. I decided to go for the Verizon model because of it being GSM unlocked. I got lucky and was able to pick one up at my local Apple store last weekend, full price. I went to the AT&T store and got a nano sim, and have been using it ever since on their service.

Here's the problem: AT&T's system maps the IMEI to 'unknown manufacturer'. For this reason I cannot turn on tethering or use facetime over cellular (despite being on their new shared data plan). I called AT&T about this, and they were baffled so they even called Apple engineering and there wasn't anything they could do about it. The phone is registered in Apple's system as a Verizon phone so AT&T won't recognize it.

I personally think it is ridiculous. I pay almost $300 a month for service and because my phone doesn't show up as the correct device it won't allow it to tether. I am still deciding if I want to put this on eBay and get the AT&T model at full price, but I'd really like the flexibility that having this GSM/CDMA phone will give me in the future.

Is anyone else having this same experience?

 

[Tech198]

Just one more reason to get an iPhone on Verizon.

 

[vega07]

Why would Verizon need to lock it when they're CDMA? This question doesn't make sense to me at all.

 

[sojay]

I have AT&T service and had been planning on buying an off-contract iPhone 5 all along. I decided to go for the Verizon model because of it being GSM unlocked. I got lucky and was able to pick one up at my local Apple store last weekend, full price. I went to the AT&T store and got a nano sim, and have been using it ever since on their service.

Here's the problem: AT&T's system maps the IMEI to 'unknown manufacturer'. For this reason I cannot turn on tethering or use facetime over cellular (despite being on their new shared data plan). I called AT&T about this, and they were baffled so they even called Apple engineering and there wasn't anything they could do about it. The phone is registered in Apple's system as a Verizon phone so AT&T won't recognize it.

I personally think it is ridiculous. I pay almost $300 a month for service and because my phone doesn't show up as the correct device it won't allow it to tether. I am still deciding if I want to put this on eBay and get the AT&T model at full price, but I'd really like the flexibility that having this GSM/CDMA phone will give me in the future.

Is anyone else having this same experience?

It was complicated for me too to activate a Verizon phone on AT&T because the imei number is not recognized. I have the unlimited data plan and was worried I wouldn't get the 5g instead of the 3g before throttling. I'm close to using 3g so I guess I'll find out soon. I didn't think about activating tethering being a problem. I dont have it, but might do it in the future if AT&T's coverage improves. But the Verizon phone is not able to reach the higher LTE speeds on AT&T's anyhow. I have several months left on my AT&T contract, that's my reason for doing this. IF AT&T's coverage improves so much by the time my contract expires, I'll possibly pass this phone to someone else in my family and get the AT&T iPhone.

 

[vitormoreira89]

Will it work abroad?

I'm visiting the US next december, and I hope, by that time, that Apple will have released the official factory unlocked version of the iPhone 5. Ok, let's suppose they won't.

What I really want to know is: will Verizon's iPhone 5 GSM work on any network around the globe (that matches the phone frequencies)? Will I need a Verizon nano sim-card to reactivate the phone sometime in future, for example, when releases a new iOS version, or will it be forever unlocked? Does that trick for AT&T works, where you just restore your phone iOS, and then it's unlocked?

Sorry for so many questions, but it's a lot of money that I'm putting on it, I just want to be sure I'm not buying a super-cool iPod for 3 times as much the price!

Thanks.

 

[domwane0007]

That's the way it is. If you fulfill your contract obligations, they will unlock it.

----------



Verizon use 13 (700c MHz)
AT&T use 17 (700b MHz)

FCC requires the C block to be unlocked.

That is not true. I have completed my two agreement and 4 months later that have handed me excuses after excuses. And came up with a policy that states it will only unlock iPhone 5s 5c 6 and 6 plus. I am really upset with sprint and would recommend that no one ever use sprint for any service. All they do is lie

 

[oldhifi]

Think T-Mobile, NO contract

 

[zone23]

That is not true. I have completed my two agreement and 4 months later that have handed me excuses after excuses. And came up with a policy that states it will only unlock iPhone 5s 5c 6 and 6 plus. I am really upset with sprint and would recommend that no one ever use sprint for any service. All they do is lie

You realize this thread is almost 3 years old right?

 

[domwane0007]

Yes I do know the the Post is old but sprint still hasn't changed its stand either I have been looking into other carriers and hoping to come up with a better phone provider, does anyone know where to search for unlocking for the sims slot besides the provider?

 

[bawbac]

This is bunch of garbage...They should unlock it and let people do whatever the hell they want to do once they pay the ETF......I hate the way this all runs.If have paid your dues then let me do whatever the hell I want to do with my stuff.

You mean like when someone buys an Apple product that they should not be constrained to modify it WITHOUT JAILBREAKING!

 

[uid15]

"An unlocked SIM slot"?

AKA, in well understood language, "An unlocked phone" - we're not idiots, this has been VERY well understood terminology for YEARS - you don't need to over-explain it, therefore clouding the clarity of existing terminology.

Who writes this stuff? They obviously have no connection to the REAL WORLD.

PS: The SLOT is a physical recess - THAT is not unlocked, it is the SIM lock in software or firmware, which is unlocked.

Doh.