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Can Apple unlock an AT&T iPhone 4 after the 2 year contact expires?
AT&T will not unlock it after the contract expires, but I should be able to switch carriers after the contact expires!
iPhone 4, iOS 5.0.1
Apple will not intiate and unlock on any iphones.
ONLY the carrier to which it is lokced can do that and AT&T does not do this at all for any reason.
Sorry.
Apple will not intiate and unlock on any iphones.
ONLY the carrier to which it is lokced can do that and AT&T does not do this at all for any reason.
Sorry.
They sell unlocked iphones now. Also, it's known that Apple store will unlock an AT&T iphone if they don't have any unlocked phones in stock.
I understand if a customer is bounded by contract they are not able to unlock the phone, but once the commitment is over, APPLE should allow them to unlock it.
What does Apple get out of it? What do they get out of a customer being locked to a carrier after the 2-year committment is over?
What Apple gets out of it is honoring the contract they have with the carrier.
xMetalDetectorx wrote:
What does Apple get out of it?
Nothing. Apple was paid by the cellular provider for the cost of the phone.
xMetalDetectorx
What do they get out of a customer being locked to a carrier after the 2-year committment is over?
Same answer as previous. It is the cellular provider's choice to unlock or not. Their only interest is to keep you as a customer as long as possible. One way of doing that is to make it increasingly difficult for you to take your Phone elsewhere.
Stedman
stedman1 wrote:
xMetalDetectorx wrote:
What does Apple get out of it?
Nothing. Apple was paid by the cellular provider for the cost of the phone.
xMetalDetectorx
What do they get out of a customer being locked to a carrier after the 2-year committment is over?
Same answer as previous. It is the cellular provider's choice to unlock or not. Their only interest is to keep you as a customer as long as possible. One way of doing that is to make it increasingly difficult for you to take your Phone elsewhere.
Stedman
So Apple will not unlock my phone, even if it is their product and there's no contracts involved. Why do they sell unlocked phones now?
xMetalDetectorx
So Apple will not unlock my phone, even if it is their product and there's no contracts involved. Why do they sell unlocked phones now?
Sorry, I have no inside information as to why Apple would now be selling unlocked iPhones, but it doesn't change the fact that it is the cellular provider that authorizes an unlock, not Apple.
Stedman
stedman1 wrote:
xMetalDetectorx
So Apple will not unlock my phone, even if it is their product and there's no contracts involved. Why do they sell unlocked phones now?
Sorry, I have no inside information as to why Apple would now be selling unlocked iPhones, but it doesn't change the fact that it is the cellular provider that authorizes an unlock, not Apple.
Stedman
Ah i c. Because AT&T paid Apple for the iphone that I use. I guess I get it. Does that mean AT&T owns my phone? Is it really even mine?
It's not Apple's product. The carrier buys the phone from Apple and resells it. They may also let Apple sell the phone for them, but they pay Apple the full unsubsidized wholesale price of each phone that Apple (or Best Buy or whomever) sells at the subsidized price. So if you buy a subsidized phone you are ultimately buying it from the carrier. For ANY cell phone only the carrier can unlock a locked phone legally. And, as with any other cell phone, you can buy it unlocked by paying the unsubsidized price.
Apple manufactures the phone.
Locking is at the sole discfretion of the carrier as with any other phone by any other manufacturer.
ONLY the carrier can unlock an unlokced iphone. No one else at all.
This is not an Apple issure at all. It is a carrier issue. Apple is simply the manufacturer.
unlocking iPhone after carrier's contract expires
