AT&T will unlock your iPhone for free starting tomorrow
arstechnica.com
AT&T will unlock your iPhone for free starting tomorrow
1–10 of 38 posts
Re: AT&T will unlock your iPhone for free starting tomorrow
#2That seems like a fair move on AT&T's part and a nice PR opportunity. The article characterizes AT&Ts requirements as "strict" but I disagree. I think it is completely reasonable that they expect you to finish the contract you signed with them and have no outstanding balance.
Re: AT&T will unlock your iPhone for free starting tomorrow
#3This is going to lower the price of unlocked phones in ebay and the like. (used ones)
Good news.
Re: AT&T will unlock your iPhone for free starting tomorrow
#4> 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 pay the early termination fee and also make sure your bill is paid.
What is overly strict about this? This seems to be more common sense than anything.
Re: AT&T will unlock your iPhone for free starting tomorrow
#5I'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.
Re: AT&T will unlock your iPhone for free starting tomorrow
#6Does this apply to iPhones that were bought off contract? (From the Apple Store.)
Re: AT&T will unlock your iPhone for free starting tomorrow
#7> 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…
It isn't even a new policy. These are the same terms AT&T gave me when I needed an old Motorola RAZR phone unlocked in 2006.
Re: AT&T will unlock your iPhone for free starting tomorrow
#8This 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, go ahead. For me, I just buy the factory-unlocked phone straight from apple.com and don't have to deal with it. (I go out of the country enough that it's worth it to me).
Re: AT&T will unlock your iPhone for free starting tomorrow
#9> 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…
It isn't even a new policy. These are the same terms AT&T gave me when I needed an old Motorola RAZR phone unlocked in 2006.
However they didn't follow the policy for iPhones for a number of years.
Re: AT&T will unlock your iPhone for free starting tomorrow
#10This 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…
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.