How to tell if an iphone is carrier unlocked from factory.

No way to tell just from examining the phone. You can try a SIM in it and see if it works? Find out what model of iPhone and when it was purchased. Prior to iPhone 4 there was no such thing as an unlocked iPhone sold in the USA, and even unlocked iPhone 4 only became available reletively recently. Also, where was it originally purchased? Again, in the USA, you can only get unlocked phones direct from Apple, not from any carrier's stores.

Also, how much did the original owner pay? Unlocked phones cost considerably more than any carrier-locked subsidized phone. Was the phone originally sold with a plan? If so it will be locked.

Far more often then not, if you cannot get simple answers to such simple direct questions of the seller, they are selling a hacked phone, NOT an officially unlocked one.

Unfortunately, there is no way to tell. Your best assurance is to always purchase from an official source that sells officially unlocked iPhones. Otherwise, you roll the dice.

The answer is simply. Factory Unlocked means that who produce the phone has not locked the phone so the only one that knows that is Apple. iPhones are unlocked because their IMEI in Apple's Activation database results as unlocked. So If you call Apple they will be able to tell you if an iPhone is unlocked or which carrier it is locked to.

You can't go by that stuff anymore. At one time such was a good indicator, not anymore. iPhone distribution is just too widespread.

Hardy worker wrote:

Don't know if this helps. But I posted a model number online and up pops a number of seller sites indicating that another seller is posting the phone as unlocked. May not be a garantee but it may help. Tried it on a couple of phones that people were advertizing and received a number of hits from alternative sources.

I would not trust that. The ONLY sellers of officially unlocked iPhones are Apple themselves, or in some countries, Apple Authorized resellers do sell offically unlocked devices (none in the USA do though, only Apple sells unlocked phones here). ANYbody else claiming they sell unlocked phones is almost certainly referring to hacked phones, not truly carrier unlocked phones. There are many posts on here that can attest to the fact that it is impossible to identify an officially unlocked iPhone merely from the model number or serial number range.

Seriously, if you did not get it as unlocked directly from Apple, the odds are highly likely that whomever is selling it is outright lying - they are selling hacked, not unlocked phones, and the first time you try to update it it is going to lock right back to the original carrier. Buy an iPhone claimed to be unlocked from anyone else at your own risk. And again, you can find many posts on these very forums of people who have done so, and come to regret that choice later (often left with a bricked or relocked phone and no way to use it at all).