AT&T To Unlock Out-of-Contract iPhones 146
NicknamesAreStupid writes "Many outlets are reporting that AT&T will allow owners of iPhones whose contracts have expired to unlock their devices. One might think that a call or a quick trip to their local AT&T store would do the trick, and they do provide this service to people who are currently under contract with a newer phone and want to use their older one. However, AT&T has never made anything free to be easy, and this may not bode well for former customers who offer no profitable revenue. For example, when AT&T bought Bell South, they were ordered by the court as part of the acquisition to offer $10/month 'DSL lite' service. The maze in their website which led to this opportunity is now a story of legend. Will the key to this unlocking the iPhone be as byzantine for former customers?"
Seriously? (Score:5, Informative)
I've just called customer service, gave them the IMEI, they submitted a request to the manufacturer, and I got an unlock code about 3 days later. There wasn't anything painful other than taking the time to just call. Mind you - I did this as a former customer and this was maybe a couple months ago.
former customers? (Score:5, Informative)
Some of us are current customers, just we have had our phone for more than 2 years.
Anyway, I find this ridiculous. Why does AT&T have to wait until the contract is up before unlocking? I already am under contract with an ETF penalty if I try to stop using their service.
So unlock it earlier, like Verizon does.
Hell, stop locking the dang things.
Re:former customers? (Score:5, Informative)
T-Mobile does this for IN-CONTRACT phones (Score:4, Informative)
Re:What about older devices? (Score:5, Informative)
Jailbreak != Unlocking
Jailbreaking is gaining root-level permissions on your phone.
Unlocking is removing the carrier restriction on the phone, e.g. allowing your ATT branded phone to be used on Verison's network.
Re:Seriously? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:What about older devices? (Score:4, Informative)
Except that you can't use a pre-4S AT&T iPhone on Verizon, because Verizon's network is CDMA and all iPhones before the 4S (besides the Verizon 4) were GSM-only. And Verizon won't activate a phone that they didn't sell. The only option for an unlocked GSM iPhone in the US is T-Mobile, and even then you're limited to EDGE speeds because of their weird-ass frequencies.
Re:My experience (Score:4, Informative)
You are a SEVERE minority. I envy you.
Maybe you are very young. Or have been lucky enough NOT to need to deal with at&t often.
Or you might be one of the lucky few who got what they paid for and never had a problem where you needed to talk to at&t.
The rest of us however... Despise at&t for how confusing, incompetent and evil they can be.
It's an old hate tho. And after this many decades the fury has changed to depressed resignation when we have to deal with them.
But just because we're all not still frothing with red hot rage at at&t... Don't believe they've gotten any better.
We've just gotten tired and worn out with their special brand of incompetent clueless.
New laws.. (Score:4, Informative)
In some countries there are laws prohibiting the provider from maintaining a perpetual lock.
The idea in Denmark for instance is that they can at most maintain a sim lock for the initial minimum contract period, which can not exceed 6 months for regular cell phones, and I think 1 year for the more expensive smart phones, and then only if you buy them at the providers' discount, after this they have to provide the unlock codes and assist the user in performing the unlock, free of charge.
Some providers here don't even lock the phones any longer, you are after all still legally obligated to maintain and pay for your initial contract period.
Re:Seriously? (Score:4, Informative)
All other brand phones are apparently easily unlockable, but officially unlocking an iPhone isn't done with a code.
It requires a full firmware restore, during which Apple servers are contacted, and confirms that the carrier has updated their records with Apple that your IMEI is now unlocked. If all went well, the Apple server sends the unlock commands to the phone, and when it's done iTunes shows a message confirming you're unlocked.
I went through this about 12 hours ago when unlocking my old iPhone 3GS. Other than taking a godawful long time, it was pretty seamless--all the previous settings, apps and music were restored automatically.
Re:My experience (Score:4, Informative)
Re:What about older devices? (Score:4, Informative)
You lose GPS if you unlock, search: iphone unlock gps baseband 06.15.00
I'm pretty sure AT&T's official unlocking method won't involve replacing the firmware to trick your iPhone into thinking it's an iPad.
Re:Data Plan (Score:4, Informative)
No, AT&T will still detect that you have a "smartphone" (whatever their definition of that happens to be) and force you to buy a data plan.
Re:Seriously? (Score:4, Informative)
It doesn't need a firmware restore on the iPhone. All it needs is the Operator to update Apple's records.
Once that has been done and you put another SIM-card into the iPhone for a different operator, it will contact Apple's servers and check if the phone is unlocked before allowing that SIM to be used.
I've done the exact same thing with my 3GS and 4 (with O2 in the UK, but its the same principle)