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Unlocked iPhone 4S from Sprint/Verizon

Discussion in 'Wireless News' started by viewfly, Oct 14, 2011.

  1. viewfly

    viewfly Mobile RF Advisor
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    I think that ATT will follow suit shortly...

    Sprint clarified its iPhone 4S policy to be in line with Verizon's. After a period of time ( undefined, but likely 60 days), customers in 'good standing' will be allowed to unlocked the GSM SIM card in the iPhone 4S. The 4S is a world CDMA/GSM/WCDMA phone.

    This is in line with pre iPhone policies of ATT. I hope that ATT will follow suit also. It is most likely to happen since the iphone is on all US carriers now, and one can move freely between Verizon-ATT-Sprint with the same phone. Apple will also be selling an unlocked iPhone 4 in 2 months also. Tmobile is out in the cold.

    It makes no sense for ATT to keep the domestic iPhone locked for good standing customers, as has been their previous policy. They have to compete on the service and not the phone anymore.

    So I predict that we, in the USA, will have easy access to SIM unlocked iPhones without jailbreaking.

    Sprint story here

    "Indeed, the Sprint iPhone 4S will ship with its micro-SIM slot unlocked. However, Sprint now says that it will be locking that slot “shortly after launch” via an update pushed to those devices. After the slot has been locked, Sprint says that it will allow customers in good standing to unlock the SIM for international use in the future.

    So far as I can tell, this means that after a short period of the phone shipping completely unlocked, Sprint will revert to a policy more or less in line with Verizon’s. If you are a good customer and pay your bills on time, you can call Sprint and ask the company to unlock your microSIM so you can slip in a foreign, pre-paid SIM.    "

    YAY!!! Finally :highclap::highclap::highclap::highclap:
     
    #1 viewfly, Oct 14, 2011
  2. charlyee

    charlyee Ultimate Insanity
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    AT&T has changed their unlock policy sometime last year. Since then they will not be giving out unlock codes for any device that is exclusive to AT&T, like the X10 and the Atrix prior to it being in use for a year.

    I do hope if it is opened up for iPhones, it will be opened up to every phone.
     
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    #2 charlyee, Oct 14, 2011
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  3. viewfly

    viewfly Mobile RF Advisor
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    That's my point. The iPhone 4S is not exclusive to AT&T. I think it will allow unlocking for some customers.
     
    #3 viewfly, Oct 15, 2011
  4. bobolito

    bobolito Diamond Senior Member
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    The iPhone 4 was not exclusive to AT&T either, but I wonder if their excuse for not unlocking it will be because their version of the 4 is different from Verizon's.
     
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    #4 bobolito, Oct 20, 2011
  5. AnthroMatt

    AnthroMatt Big Meanie
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    That was my first thought, but the VZW iPhone didn't have GSM bands, so AT&T could have argued they still had an exclusive on the GSM model.

    The iPhone 4s is identical for all carriers. Even the AT&T model has a (disabled) CDMA radio, correct? So now AT&T will be hard pressed to claim they have an exclusive on the 4s.
     
    #5 AnthroMatt, Oct 20, 2011
  6. bobolito

    bobolito Diamond Senior Member
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    The cellphone junkie said on his podcast that you could take a Sprint iPhone and put an international SIM and it will connect to T-Mobile which will be basically roaming on it, but you can't put an AT&T SIM on it. So it looks like they figured out a way to block US SIM cards on the Sprint models, and I'm sure the Verizon iPhone will do the same. The AT&T model will most likely won't allow T-mobile SIM cards either and as you said, the CDMA mode is disabled. For international SIMs, they'll probably have it locked down too because they prefer you to pay the hefty roaming fees when you travel rather than having your own prepaid SIM. So for AT&T, it will be just a question of them letting you use international prepaid SIMs or force you to pay roaming fees, but I am surprised that the Sprint iPhone appears to be SIM unlocked for international use, when they could simply lock it so you have to pay roaming charges when you travel.
     
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    #6 bobolito, Oct 21, 2011
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