Your Opinion, Worth the Unlocked Price?

[theturtle]

Hey guys, wanted to get your opinion on something.

im leaving to go study abroad in the spring. i'll probably be in Seoul for about 3-4 months or so. Other then this trip (if i do decide to go. not sure yet), i rarely travel. or when i do, its not for an extended period of time so having my phone is never that important.

my question is, is it worth going through the hassle of selling my 32gb 4s and then using 100-200 of my own money to get an unlocked phone to use just for 3-4 months? I upgrade my phone every year if that makes any difference.

what would you guys do in this situation?

 

[OneMike]

What carrier are you with? I've read of Sprint users getting their contract phones unlocked by the carrier and heard of AT&T out of contract phones being sold already unlocked. So I'd try my luck with that.

That said though it's a long way till spring. Me personally, I'd wait to see if an unlock comes out from the dev community if the above doesn't work.

If that fails I'd wait until it was closer to my trip time to make a decision.

 

[Obscurelight]

no it is not worth it especially when verizon will unlock your phone as long as you've been a customer in good standing for at least 60 days and that doesn't apply to iPhone customers only. If you had verizon before you got the iPhone the 60 days still count. So since you are using the phone anyways why not just get a subsidized verizon iPhone, unlock it, enjoy it in korea or anywhere else for that matter. You save that $550 unlocking premium. Win-win

 

[theturtle]

What carrier are you with? I've read of Sprint users getting their contract phones unlocked by the carrier and heard of AT&T out of contract phones being sold already unlocked. So I'd try my luck with that.

That said though it's a long way till spring. Me personally, I'd wait to see if an unlock comes out from the dev community if the above doesn't work.

If that fails I'd wait until it was closer to my trip time to make a decision.

Yeah, Im with ATT. Paid 300 for my phone, figured i could roughly get 630 back which would leave me with 150ish that i have to pay out of pocket.

but like you suggested, i guess the smart decision would be to wait closer to the trip before deciding what to do. but the only issue with that is the price of the 4s will probably balance out into the 500's which would make the out of pocket amount greater.

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no it is not worth it especially when verizon will unlock your phone as long as you've been a customer in good standing for at least 60 days and that doesn't apply to iPhone customers only. If you had verizon before you got the iPhone the 60 days still count. So since you are using the phone anyways why not just get a subsidized verizon iPhone, unlock it, enjoy it in korea or anywhere else for that matter. You save that $550 unlocking premium. Win-win

unfortunately im with ATT. wish i was with Sprint (not really) or verizon but i have a clause in my ATT contract that waives any ETF fee no matter when i cancel. saving that trump card for whenever something big comes down the pipeline. but anyways, i was going to ask if you guys thought that ATT would eventually crumble on their unlock policy cause sprint and verzion are offering unlocks but then realized ATT loves shafting you on international roaming fees.

 

[Obscurelight]

I left AT&T and paid my $165 ETF to upgrade to verizon 4S. AT&T was great in NYC for me but just plain terrible when I'm in Long Island, hoping to get better coverage there with Verizon. With that said you're going to be paying an awful lot for the non contract iPhone. Can you return your current 4S? you should be able to. I really doubt AT&T will loosen their unlock policy as they are the nation's biggest and only GSM carrier. It makes AT&T phones a prime target to buy and sell overseas. However if T-mobile starts unlocking on the other hand then that might be a different story.

 

[marktwothousand]

I'd do it, if the price difference is only a couple hundred bucks. I bought a 4s up here in Canada unlocked for $649 and sold my unlocked iPhone 4 16 GB for $450 because of the increased value it had unlocked. So my net cost was only about $300. Don't forget, unlocked phones can sell for more than locked phones.

I have really been enjoying using my unlocked phone when I go to the USA and I can imagine it would be the same overseas. Having cheap local data service isn't something that's CRUCIAL on trips, but when you have access to it, you'll use it - and like it.

 

[scousers]

I hate contracts and have been on a month-to-month basis for all my phones. Bought the iphone 4s from Apple for $849/64gb (they only sell unlocked in Canada.... subsidized has to be thru the carrier)

I do not regret it at all. Not only do i travel a lot, so sim switching will save me the price of the phone many times over, but I can do whatever the hell i like with my plan and phone, and my cellphone company does not have a leash on me.

You must cherish the 'freedom'