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I'm going to go and demand they unlock the first generation iPhone I bought the fist day they were released (for the full $600 price) just on principle. Still a bit annoyed that it was locked since it wasn't subsidized at all, although I knew what I was getting in to.
Wasn't the original iPhone (at release) $600 with contract?
I'm going to go and demand they unlock the first generation iPhone I bought the fist day they were released (for the full $600 price) just on principle. Still a bit annoyed that it was locked since it wasn't subsidized at all, although I knew what I was getting in to.
> Still a bit annoyed that it was locked since it wasn't subsidized at all Wasn't the original iPhone (at release) $600 with contract?
This is great news from AT&T, but kind of exasperating, since I splashed out $702 for an unlocked iPhone 4S exactly so I could didn't have to pay vastly more money to end up with an iPod Touch / paperweight at the end of a 2-year contract.
I imagine that this scenario, plus the fact that other carriers will do an unlock 'for overseas' (nudge-nudge wink-wink) has driven AT&T into recognizing that they will lose many many customers, unless they start unlocking.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I heard there was a difference between factory unlocked phones and phones unlocked some time later (let's call them store unlocked phones). Such that the factory unlocked would retain the unlock if you wiped/reset the phone (for instance, to sell it to someone else), but the store unlocked phone would need to be re-unlocked (because its factory settings are of being locked). If someone could back me up or refute this…
AFAIK the lock( or unlock ) status is stored in a special area of the baseband and should survive updates/restores. The best people to answer this is probably someone from the Dev-Team.
Hence the 'Successfully unlocked' message when you restore an unlocked phone.
Does this apply to iPhones that were bought off contract? (From the Apple Store.)
This is going to lower the price of unlocked phones in ebay and the like. (used ones) Good news.
I heard there was a difference between factory unlocked phones and phones unlocked some time later (let's call them store unlocked phones). Such that the factory unlocked would retain the unlock if you wiped/reset the phone (for instance, to sell it to someone else), but the store unlocked phone would need to be re-unlocked (because its factory settings are of being locked). If someone could back me up or refute this…
Part of that activation process involves getting a token back that instructs the phone how it should be locked, or not at all.
The unlock process that AT&T (and every other iPhone carrier) does is that they instruct Apple to update the record on their activation server to say your phone should be getting a "fully unlocked" response. Next time you tether the phone to iTunes it checks the activation token and unlocks the phone.
However, it's not a real unlock -- it just allows you to use any GSM SIM EXCEPT from US carriers.
I went back and forth between Apple and Verizon about it back in December, trying to get a true unlock but each blames the other. It seems clear at this point that it's the carriers being the jerks.
I hope Verizon will get similarly bad press about this and follow suit.
Does this apply to iPhones that were bought off contract? (From the Apple Store.)
> According to AT&T, the iPhone you want to unlock can't be associated with a current active term commitment, and you must already be out of your contract terms (usually two years from purchase) or you must have paid an early termination fee. Your account must be in good standing, too—no $700 overdue phone bills for you. I don't see anything that seems overly strict here. You finish the contract you signed up for, or…
I wonder if this means they'll also unlock iPads since they were never under contract?
> According to AT&T, the iPhone you want to unlock can't be associated with a current active term commitment, and you must already be out of your contract terms (usually two years from purchase) or you must have paid an early termination fee. Your account must be in good standing, too—no $700 overdue phone bills for you. I don't see anything that seems overly strict here. You finish the contract you signed up for, or…
That part is not clear to me. At first sight, it seems to mean that the phone to be unlocked can't be currently associated with a working AT&T account. Meaning, if I use it right now, they won't unlock it even after my two-year contract is up.
If that's what it means, it sucks for people who want to unlock to use it abroad.