OK, will try that. Thank you so much for your help.
Unlocked No-Contract iPhone 5?
- Thread starter elias
- Start date
The iPhone 5 from Verizon is unlocked in the box. For the other carriers, if you get a no-contract iPhone 5, you'll need to do a simple reset using iTunes to unlock it. That's assuming that the iPhone isn't tied to the carrier. I know for a fact that it works on AT&T 5's that aren't contracted.
So when they tell me at the store that they need to assign numbers to the phones that won't affect whether it's locked or not right?
Great. Thanks again.
An upadate. I bought the phone this morning, but not without a lot of back and forth with the salesperson. Between looks of "You want to do what?" and him insisting the phones aren't unlocked, I managed to buy one. The manager was able to clarify it for him a bit so that saved me from a bunch of further explanations. But I hope I'm not in for some buyer's remorse. I ended up having to pay activation fees I wasn't expecting on top of the 40$ month-to-month that I'll cancel later. Please tell me the "activation" doesn't somehow lock the phone and prevent it's use in China.
As a side not of sorts, as we were checking out the supervisor told us that we were lucky because just as we were finishing Verizon corporate sent down a memo saying that iPhone 5s bought at full retail with the month-to-month would now have to be ordered and the in-store stock is to be saved for contract sales and Black Friday. So we just got in under the wire.
Assuming all's good I'll report back once it makes it's way to China and is actually put to use. Thanks to all for the help.
As a side not of sorts, as we were checking out the supervisor told us that we were lucky because just as we were finishing Verizon corporate sent down a memo saying that iPhone 5s bought at full retail with the month-to-month would now have to be ordered and the in-store stock is to be saved for contract sales and Black Friday. So we just got in under the wire.
Assuming all's good I'll report back once it makes it's way to China and is actually put to use. Thanks to all for the help.
No. Activating it won't lock up your iPhone. If anything, a soft restore just like I said with the AT&T and other GSM carriers should have your device "unlocked". But the 5 is not locked on Verizon, that I'm 100% positive. I actually just went to 2 of the closest VZW stores as well as the Apple Store where I work, and all 3 places have confirmed that. The 5 on Verizon and Sprint are not locked. If you were to bring it abroad, you should not receive any problems other than APN settings issues that you can easily solve with a foreign carrier.
Let me add a slight clarification. The 3G radio on the iPhone 5 sold by Apple, Verizon and Spring (Model A1429) is unlocked. The LTE radio has not been confirmed, as far as I know, as unlocked because no other provider operates in the VZW LTE Bands at this time.
Great! Thanks again.
Yes, that's what I understood as well. No LTE or 4G in China.
If Dave is talking about the fee for getting a new phone every time you upgrade or renew your plan, then it's the $30 activation fee. Not sure about elsewhere, but in NYC, that goes for all smart, dumb and media phones :/ Just another way to swindle a bit more money out of us ._.'
