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Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

anderson-net.com

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Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#71

Post by nathana »

lesterbuck wrote: post #64

The interesting thing about "unlocked" iPhones is that there are several definitions of "unlocked", viz: http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcwebertobias/2011/12/22/how-u... Here's the summary, at least as of the date of that article: 1. The only fully unlocked iPhones are the ones you buy directly from Apple, not from any carrier or reseller (BestBuy, etc.). 2. Your phone may be unlocked for European SIMs but not unlocke…

#1 is the model I have, and I wouldn't call it "fully" unlocked with this limitation in place.

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#72

Post by nathana »

ryandvm wrote: post #42

If only people had the option of not buying Apple phones...

Your sarcasm is noted. :) I will switch if Apple does not address this. The phone DID used to work, and I WAS happy with it. In the world of software, things apparently CAN change AFTER you have bought the product and already lived with it for a while.

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#73

Post by nathana »

gutnor wrote: post #65
ryandvm wrote: post #42

If only people had the option of not buying Apple phones...

Or change their network ? At the end, Network X does not support Phone Y for whatever reason, you need to vote with your wallet. End of (non) story.

Except that when it comes time to evaluate which way to vote with your wallet, the "whatever reason" does matter. And since Straight Talk isn't the entity here that is enforcing this restriction, I am much less likely to give them the boot, and much more likely to give Apple the boot.

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#74

Post by nathana »

emmapersky wrote: post #59
nathana wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, possible solution, but not really practical, for the following reason: The iOS downgrade prevention mechanism also forces you to upgrade to the latest version, even if you do not want to do so willingly, if you ever need to restore (reload) the OS on your device. If iOS gets corrupted somehow and you need to reinstall, the only version you are authorized to install is the latest version for your particular devic…

I don't think this is true... Having never upgraded an unused old iDevice,I'm pretty sure I have still been able to restore from backup without upgrading. But this is really old, so maybe they stopped that in a later firmware update?

It is absolutely true. If the OS itself is not corrupted, you can erase your data and restore YOUR DATA from backup, but that doesn't include the OS itself. If you do a "full restore" of the OS (and this isn't the first time I've observed the confusion caused by Apple's overloading of the term "restore"...in this context, "restore" basically means "complete reformat and OS reinstall"), you WILL be forcefully upgraded to the newest iOS.

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#75

Post by nathana »

dunham wrote: post #61
nathana wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That does suck, but if it is an AT&T-branded phone, it is less surprising (although no more acceptable) that you've encountered this problem. If you go into an Apple retail store and buy an off-the-shelf carrier-unlocked no-brand-stickers-anywhere-on-the-device Apple iPhone 4 or 4S at full price ($450/$550), you will still run into this, which is ridiculous .

Would getting the FCC involved help? It wouldn't hurt to file a complaint. I think they've forced phone companies to enable unlocking in the past, and Apple needs their approval to sell the iPhone in this country. So they may be willing to get involved.

That's an interesting avenue I had not thought of; thanks.

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#76

Post by barredo »

runjake wrote: post #45
barredo wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2283

This is for iOS 5. The article is about the changes in iOS 6.

Sorry if I did not understand everything through, but I think I see the same options in iOS6. Still, i'm sorry if I'm wrong

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#77

Post by wlesieutre »

sneak wrote: post #17
wlesieutre wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're better about it than the other phone manufacturers. Before the iPhone, it was more or less impossible to get a smartphone that wasn't loaded with non-removable carrier crapware. Apple's refusal to let AT&T do the same with the iPhone during their initial exclusivity deal was a big step. But now, Apple doesn't have as much leverage. If they walk away from negotiations and say "Sorry, no more AT&T iPhones," the…

Not really. From the top article: > Apple won't help me because they agreed to block on-device APN editing for certain carriers, including AT&T, even though this negatively impacts people who are not direct customers of AT&T, and even though there is not one single other unlocked GSM phone model on the market besides iPhone that imposes this restriction on users or hands over this kind of control to carriers. Unless…

I'm saying that they used to because when the iPhone was new it gave them incredible leverage. If AT&T hadn't agreed, they'd have taken it to Verizon, and still made tons of money.

They no longer get the same leverage that they had while offering an exclusivity agreement on the first iPhone. If Apple were to walk away from AT&T, both companies would lose a bunch of money. It's something of a "nuclear option," and Apple doesn't care enough about unlocked phones to waste their limited bargaining ability on it.

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#78

Post by nathana »

fwny wrote: post #69

Get the official Apple iPhone Configuration utility off of the Mac App Store. It is for enterprise customers to config their iPhone fleet but I use it to set my APN settings for AT&T prepaid which doesn't officially support iPhone.

I'm going to audibly (...well, visually...) emit a sigh and patiently explain, for what I'm hoping will be the final time, that the iPhone Configuration Utility cannot change the MMS APN, only the internet access APN.

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#79

Post by nathana »

moepstar wrote: post #53

What prevents the OP from using an official firmware (one Google search away) in combination with TinyUmbrella and install it then via iTunes? Or did i overlook something?

You overlooked the fact that TinyUmbrella cannot help if you did not happen to use it to collect your iOS 5.0/5.0.1/5.1/5.1.1 SHSH blobs generated uniquely for your device by Apple at the time that iOS 5.x was the latest version available. Once iOS 6 came out, if the blobs for previous version(s) had not already been collected, then it's "tough luck: you're stuck."

Re: Apple Broke My iPhone, and Their Policies Prevent Them from Fixing It

#80

Post by swvist2 »

sneak wrote: post #3

Apple also willingly blocks Facetime over 3G and tethering at the carrier's request (on a per-account basis) so that the carriers can upsell you. It really pisses me off that Apple is actively assisting the carriers in screwing me out of using the data that I'm already paying for. If I've paid the carrier for x GB, I should be able to use that for Facetime, wifi tethering, or whatever the hell else my phone is capabl…

Get an Android.
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