iPhone 5 bought in the USA does not send text messages in Russian networks

This is the web page: http://dev.mk/2012/08/dev-mk-iphone-imei-checker-with-simlock-status-what-happen ed/

I bought the iPhone 5 at the Apple Store in miami. The seller told me about international unloked iPhone and i payed $ 649+tax for the iPhone 5. There is not CDMA carriers in Argentina but the iPhone is olso prepared for GSM networks.

im an apple fan when it comes to computers and laptops, i even bought in bulk for reselling. when it comes to cellular phone i'm an android guy cause it's the ease of use which i love, when iphone 5 came out i said to myself maybe it's time to switch to apple for my phone, i bought a 64 gb and 32 gb in hongkong for an outrageous price of 1400 US for the 64gb alone. I was so excited to use it in the philippines only to be very disappointed, mad and furios to know that all my outgoing text message are not delivered. This is a rip off, imagine im going back to hong kong nextweek just to bring it back and have my money refunded. i called apple support many times regarding this issue and they told me to contact my carrier and i did that they themselves say must be the phone call apple. i cant believe it apple dont know what is wrong with their phone.

"From the point of view of a regular user, all this problems with the iPhone 5/sprint and outside US are very contradictory to the simplicity Apple tries to accomplish for their users.

I didn't know about any difference of the iPhones sold in US. I asked to salesmen in Apple Store in Miami and they told me that if I bought at full price it would work outside US. My cousin could get one iPhone/sprint at Apple Store but I arrived later and could not find.

I found an available iPhone at radioshack and ask for one. And paid the full price. People there told me it would work in Brazil. But when I arrived home I tried to activate it and it would not activate. Neither with sprint chip nor with my local carrier (Vivo). I tried to restore and nothing worked.

I called Apple Brazil and they told me it was not their responsibility. I called Sprint and the answer was a very direct "we won't help you". I called Radioshack and they told me they can't do nothing, they only sell iPhones and don't know anything about carriers, etc.

I listened to Apple employes and bought an iPhone the way they suggested but ended with nothing but a "new ipod touch" 5. My cousin bought the iPhone at Apple Store, trusting the vendors and ended with an iPhone that cannot send SMS and cannot activate facetime.

This was a very unpleasant experience with an Apple product and now I have nobody to help me. Radioshack, Sprint and even APPLE don't even care about my problem and there is no official way to solve it! Nobody wants to be responsible for that!

As I live in Brazil, I can't return my iPhone to Radioshack or Apple.

Any suggestion????"

i have the same problem, i bought one from radioshack and i bought one more from Apple store, the iPhone coming from the Apple store can activate, and use it all, except the SMS, and one i bought from Radioshack isnt working at all, and have the same model number, same capacity. both iPhones were bought at full price.

i dont know which are the differences to made it work the iPhone from the apple store

the only solution i can find is buying a unlock service from ebay, but im still waiting the unlock for my iPhone

Mauro,

I believe you need to resolve your case with Radio Shack with... Radio Shack. Don't get me wrong - people on this thread were specifically told by Apple employees that the Sprint phones would work worldwide - so, despite of the fact they are Sprint-ready phones, the information was given by Apple employees, so that's the reason we're here at the Apple Community asking Apple to be sensitive to this issue caused by its employees.

The problem you have with the locked unit sold by Radio Shack wasn't caused by Apple. Maybe this won't be the best place to resolve that. Your cousin case, however, is one more example of the problem reported in this thread...

I CANT BELIEVE APPLE STILL DOESNT REPLY TO US!!!!!!! F*****!!!! HOLY S*****, WHAT THEY R WAITING FOR?????

Well, you will be waiting for a long time if you are expecting Apple to respond to you here - this is a user to user forum and is not monitored by Apple so you won't get a response here.

Give Apple feedback directly at http://www.apple.com/feedback.

Hey Ethmoid,

Thank you for feedback URL, I've just reported a bug there 😉

I suggest others do the same too, report the bug in that form, may be we can get attention to it.

Hi AppleStar,

Apple Store salesmen told me that any sprint full-price would work even if bought outside Apple Store.

In fact, after my last post, I called Apple and in less then 24h they solved my problem.

They are aware of the problem with Sprint iPhone and told me they are not sure about the reasons SMS is not working.

Now my sprint iPhone is working perfectly in Brazil with sms/imessage/facetime!

Probably the solution is related with unlocking the phone.

I suggest people to check if their IMEI is unlocked (there are some websites to freely check your IMEI). Then call Apple! I think they are the only possible to solve this!

Hi Mauro can you give the number that you use to call Apple ?, i have the same problem with one iPhone from radioshack, i alrady tried to contact Apple by email and send it the receipt but isnt working, and with Sprint is the same problem.

Thanks you

You can also explain that you said? and which number did you called ? . i Just call them and they told me that only Sprint can unlock the iPhone 5. and when i called sprint, told me only Apple can unlock the iPhone.

Thanks you

Hi Mauro,

I am also taking to Brazil a Iphone 5 from Sprint and im very insecure about it . Please let us know how you where able to solve the problem . Was it Apple Brasil or USA?Did you unlock your phone? Please post the contact info.

Thanks ,

Obrigado !

Frederico

Mauro, if I read well your post : do you mean that you are able to send SMS from your sprint device with your gsm sim just after 1 call to Apple when hundreds of people are trying since 1 month to make at least Apple aware about the bug?

In fact I tried contacting Apple Brasil several times and they kept saying nothing could be done. I had no other possibility and were really really upset. I researched the net and information is very confusing. People don't really know who is responsible and who they should call. The only alternative suggested option in my country`was to unlock, by unofficial ways. I didn't want to to that. But people told me it would work.

I tried one last shot. The way Apple called me is a long story, a mix of luck and great service relationship. Try sending the big guys an email. This was the only thing that helped me.

http://onyoursi.de/wiki/personal-computers/apple/

Then they solved the problem in less then 24h. They were completely aware of the SMS situation but it seems they are not sure what is the real problem. In fact they told me to try but were not sure if SMS would work. I think they haven't run all tests in countries they don't sell the iPhone 5.

I think that it might be related to some locking of the iphone 5 sprint. Don't waste time trying to call Sprint. They don't care about non American users! Forget Radioshack too. I called then and they were terrible. They told me: "we only sell phones, we don't know anything about carriers." Unbelievable costumer service.

I think (not sure) that as soon they have the real and definitive solution, they will help all users worldwide. The main problem Apple is that Apple Stores employees are telling people that sprint iPhone is working fine outside USA.

Ok thanks for your feedback, I was contacted by Apple the sameway as you but they didn't provide any sokution, just said they investigate on the pb ... so you are saying that now you can send SMS right ?... What did they ask you to try ? Did you do a restore or something ?