Assistance about cellular frequencies (iPhone 5, only)

You will need the GSM model.

This might clarify it for you:

http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/09/12/apple_to_sell_3_variants_of_iphone_5_f or_international_lte_coverage

The appleinsider article does not answer the question if you intend to travel internationally (and I don't mean Canada). None of the GSM iPhone 5 will work in 4G LTE outside its region of purchase because the frequencies will just not be there. Additionally the iPhone 5 purchased in the US will be locked so as tempting as it is to get the subsidized Sprint or Verizon iPhone 5, it will not work outside the US. But you're telling me, about buying an unlocked iPhone 5 in the US. I bet it will not be possible to buy an unlocked CDMA iPhone 5, just the GSM phone... which will not work in LTE mode outside the US. We'll see on Friday when the unlocked options are available... maybe 🙂

The unlocked iPhone 5 for the US has not been announced(either price or availability). I confirmed this with two apple reps on the telephone. It seems that for the US that the unlocked versions "may be offered when the contract phones saturate the market". In the past this has been at least two weeks before they offer no contract phones with a 3 week wait for the item to ship. (anybody that has a good friend in Canada ((preferably Alberta)) get back to me;)

The unlocked iPhone 4s in US has been reduced from $649 to $549, In Canada it's $599... leading one to believe that the US unlocked will come in at $649 (as it did last year).

This being said...both Canada and the UK are saying that the iPhone 5 have increased in price...Canada +$50, and the UK +£30 Will the US also see an increase for the unlocked version?

Cheers!

And to correct my own statement, "In the past this has been at least a two week before they offered no contract phones..."

It was actually 6 weeks after they offered the 4s that the no contract phones became available:(

(Last year the no contract 4s became available at the end of November...)

bluemanLA wrote:

And to correct my own statement, "In the past this has been at least a two week before they offered no contract phones..."

It was actually 6 weeks after they offered the 4s that the no contract phones became available:(

(Last year the no contract 4s became available at the end of November...)

As far as I remember, you could always buy no-contract phones as soon as the new models became available. A no-contract phone is not necessarily an carrier unlocked phone. You've always been able to go into an AT&T corporate store, for example, and buy an iPhone at full retail price with no contract commitment, even as soon as a new model has gone on sale. But that phone was still carrier locked to AT&T.

Just pointing out people need to be clear that you can pay full retail price and get a no-contract phone that is still locked to a particular carrier. The terms "no-contract" and "unlocked" are not synonomous. In the USA, only Apple sells unlocked phones (many past posters here have been caught by that fact - buying a carrier locked, contract free phone which they misunderstood to be an unlocked phone). So if anyone is pre-ordering take extra care to be aboslutely sure you are actually ordering what you think you are ordering.

MIchael,

Very good point!

I used the wording 'no contract' in my last post without thinking about it.

In the post prior to that I was speaking of 'unlocked' iPhone 5 models for the USA :

A1428 GSM model

A1429 CDMA model

And it truly is important that the buyer beware that the AT&T 'no contract' phone will not have user accessible APN settings.

The point of having an unlocked phone so that you can use service from your provider of choice, I.E.: Straight Talk.

In order to use your provider of choice you will have to access to your APN settings:

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

Cheers!

I'm in ALberta.. how can I help ya?

I wish Canadians had the guts, and the willpower to take a stand for once.. against "foriegn corporations" who figure they should rip us off, "just cause they can"!

Our dollar is now HIGHER, than the US dollar.. PLUS, if anything, we show more loyalty by agreeing to take 3YEAR contracts to "get the deal".

C'mon Canada!!.. boycot the rollout of the "5"... you wont 'die' if you aren't "the first to own a 5"!!!

You have to sign a 3 year contract with Apple to get an iPhone?

oh.. sorry.. I meant, with a carrier, to get the full subsidized price.

Then your problem is with the carrier in your country, not Apple.

oh.. I have no problem with 4 years, and my carrier, telus, allows "anytime upgrades", if you pay out the remaining "device balance".. but my carrier, does NOT set the price of the phone. just as ATT doesn't set the price in the US.

Message was edited by: David from Red Deer oops... *3 years*

oops.. typo.. *3 years*