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Very pissed with Apple about unlocked X

AlphaGuitarist said:
Activating a SIM-free phone is as easy as taking the SIM card out of your old phone and placing it in the new one, as long as you have an existing account. With regards to overseas traveling (I'm somewhat of an expert, as my wife and I travel abroad at least once a year), it's exactly as you described. You stop by a local wireless shop, pick up a preloaded SIM card, place it in your phone and you're good to go. They do, however, require the SIM card to be registered and will ask for your passport or driver license. I was able to get away without doing that in Ireland, by purchasing a Meteor (Irish wireless provider) SIM card on eBay and loading it up on their website with a credit card, and the UK, by purchasing a preloaded SIM card at a wireless stand at the Heathrow Airport. Spain and France, on the other hand, required registration.

Also, the EU recently passed a law that abolished roaming charges. For instance, purchasing a SIM card in Spain will allow you to use the service in any EU country at no additional charge.
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Thank you but unless I missed something, you say a sim free phone is as easy to activate as a sim phone but you go on to describe the sim process. I’m confused. How does it actually work for a sim free phone. I assume it is actually sim free? No slot etc?
 
LarryJoe33 said:
Thank you but unless I missed something, you say a sim free phone is as easy to activate as a sim phone but you go on to describe the sim process. I’m confused. How does it actually work for a sim free phone. I assume it is actually sim free? No slot etc?
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Wrong assumption.
Sim free doesn’t mean no sim slot.
It means unlocked and no SIM card included with tha phone. You have to supply a SIM card.
[doublepost=1512639971][/doublepost]It still has a sim slot.
 
fred98tj said:
Wrong assumption.
Sim free doesn’t mean no sim slot.
It means unlocked and no SIM card included with tha phone. You have to supply a SIM card.
[doublepost=1512639971][/doublepost]It still has a sim slot.
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Aahhh, ok now I get it. So there is no difference between a unlocked Verizon phone that can use both protocols, and I guess since ATT uses the global protocol not much difference either?

So to the OP, what’s the big deal?
 
fred98tj said:
Depends on where you go. Any on the Asian countries that I’ve traveled to (and I’m now retired and moved to the Philippines) don’t require all that. Simply buy a SIM card. Pop it in the phone. Add some load (either eload or a load card) and you’re good to go.
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Correct. Prior to my trip to Ireland, I got a Meteor SIM on eBay and loaded it up online without registration. When visiting England, I purchased preloaded EE SIM cards at Heathrow without registering. I guess it depends on the country/carrier.

LarryJoe33 said:
Thank you but unless I missed something, you say a sim free phone is as easy to activate as a sim phone but you go on to describe the sim process. I’m confused. How does it actually work for a sim free phone. I assume it is actually sim free? No slot etc?
Click to expand...

As fred98tj noted, SIM-free actually means that the phone is factory unlocked and doesn’t come with a carrier SIM card. It does, however, have the same SIM slot as all other variants.
 
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Blondie&Dagwood said:
I just went on to AT&T.com and there is an option to purchase full retail price for the phone.
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I went to AT&T and saw the same.
However when I started the buy process and logged in the option to buy outright went away.
2F5E7F28-E470-4843-84BE-3F081B5D51D0.png

Update:
"You can only buy an unlocked phone from Apple. Apple sells both locked and unlocked phones at full price, so paying full price does not guarantee that the phone is unlocked. AT&T only unlocks phones for their customers so you have to be or become an AT&T customer and then the same unlocking rules apply."
 
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In the UK you get a sim free unlocked phone on launch day from Apple and other retailers like Dixons and Carphone Warehouse. Carphone Warehouse iPhones used to be locked to the first sim inserted into them even if you bought the phone outright, but since July 2017 this is no longer the case. I got mine on launch day from Dixons Travel at Heathrow, no queuing up required 😎
 
kevink2 said:
Selling the 8 and 8+ unlocked from essentially day 1 was a switch from precedence.
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So was releasing a brand new phone, then another one a month after that. Selling the 8 and 8+ unlocked from the beginning was a move to try and increase sales they knew would be slow ahead of the X.
 
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In Canada, all phones sold after December 1 are unlocked, and all unlocks are now free.

Sounds like the US should catch up a bit to first world standards.
 
Suckfest 9001 said:
In Canada, all phones sold after December 1 are unlocked, and all unlocks are now free.

Sounds like the US should catch up a bit to first world standards.
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It sounds like Canada just did by your definition of "first world standards" which made me laugh out loud. First world standards = cell phone retail practices?
 
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LarryJoe33 said:
Thank you but unless I missed something, you say a sim free phone is as easy to activate as a sim phone but you go on to describe the sim process. I’m confused. How does it actually work for a sim free phone. I assume it is actually sim free? No slot etc?
Click to expand...

deleted
 
LarryJoe33 said:
It sounds like Canada just did by your definition of "first world standards" which made me laugh out loud. First world standards = cell phone retail practices?
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First world cell phone retail practices.

Can't say I'm surprised by the amount of salt in your reply - your avatar basically gives it away
 
fitcious said:
But here’s the thing:

1. No one asked you to line up
2. If you are a loyal customer you would know the history of Apple- which is the sim free version comes a few months later
3. You can get your ATT unlocked once it’s paid off- so I don’t see the big issue?
4. The unlocked X and locked X are exactly the same performance wise...so it’s not technically inferior...if anything you should be mad at ATT for not unlocking it...


Just my thoughts.
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You're the perfect consumer sheep. Doing as your corporate supreme leaders want you to.
 
macbook123 said:
You're the perfect consumer sheep. Doing as your corporate supreme leaders want you to.
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🙄 Apple does this every year. The carriers get exclusivity the first month the flagship is out. Then the SIM-free model comes out. And Apple and the rest of the world have been in disputes with Qualcomm for a few years now. Apple has diversified to Intel, just as Samsung uses its own chips in markets that don’t require CDMA.
 
Live and learn.

The people who don't have access to the Qualcomm model will of course downplay the benefits of that model.
 
I have the Sim-Free X, purchased this past Monday 12/4/17. The box says A1865. It works for GSM (ATT and T-Mobile) as well as CDMA (Sprint and Verizon).
 
webbuzz said:
I had planned on waiting for the SIM-free model but decided it didn't really matter to me. My full-price AT&T iPhone X is unlocked.
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I understand about fully paid phones and the ability to request the unlock procedure. I've done that with 3 or 4 of the last IPs in the series. How do you know your ATT X is unlocked? Did you request it? I'm under the impression that the only unlocked phores that are fully paid for ONLY came from ordering directly from Apple.
 
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Suckfest 9001 said:
First world cell phone retail practices.

Can't say I'm surprised by the amount of salt in your reply - your avatar basically gives it away
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Haters gonna hate Batman, it's great to be a sports fan in my area/US. I'm proud of my country and would never refer to it as not being first world in ANY vain.
 
StarShot said:
I understand about fully paid phones and the ability to request the unlock procedure. I've done that with 3 or 4 of the last IPs in the series. How do you know your ATT X is unlocked? Did you request it? I'm under the impression that the only unlocked phores that are fully paid for ONLY came from ordering directly from Apple.
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Oops, missed that. I ordered from Apple. 😳
 
macbook123 said:
So let me get this straight, the iPhone X I waited in line for on launch day is actually inferior to the one they are starting to sell now that is unlocked?

Can't I have my AT&T phone be unlocked so I can port it to other carriers or use it on trips with foreign SIMs if I wish to?

I find this completely unacceptable for a company that prides itself with consumer friendliness, to start selling an upgrade a month later and make folks like me regret their $1200 purchase.

I will see if they accept a return of my carrier locked phone. If not, they've lost a loyal customer.
Click to expand...

Where have you been for the last 20 years? All phones (generally speaking) are locked when purchased on contracts or monthly payments in the US
 
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