Verizon iPhone 5s: Is it SIM-unlocked for use with GSM carriers (outside the U.S.)?

Yes I am not from the US but I know someone in the US where I can have it address for delivery. When I tried buying in the Apple store it is asking me if I am a current subscriber or not

Separate topic: do you realize that if your friend receives the iPhone in the US and sends it to you overseas, you will have to return it to the US for any warranty service?

Yes I know all about the warranty and stuff and not so concern about that. What I am after is to purchase a cheaper iPhone. Can I purchase an iPhone from Verizon at a cheaper price (available at the Apple Store)? Or do my friend need to sign up for verizon plan? Isn't that you can get a Verizon lock iPhones even without getting a line first? Or do i really need to get a line? By the way my friend is also in Verizon, can she add the phone to her account and i will pay for a fee without her monthly bills being affected?

Send your friend a gift card or cash and have them go buy it at the Apple store or Verizon Wireless. You can't purchase online without signing up for a contract. You may be able to call Verizon/Apple and purchase from them as well.

okay so let me clear this up. I will send cash to my friend (of course i will) then she just walks in to an apple store and buy an iPhone from Verizon, at a cheaper cost. Insert her simcard and activate it for first time, then send it to me. I can use it because we all know it's unlock, is that right?

Hope is ok to jump in here, but I spend more and more time working in Costa Rica, and have an Iphone5 bought from Apple in USA with AT&T account. Have used with no issues in the U.S. I have a cheap Costa Rica phone/account, but would really love to use my Iphone in both places. Will unlocking it and switching SIM cards in USA vs. Costa Rica cause problems later with my phone or account in the U.S.?

ONLY AT&T can authorize unlocking it. As long as you go through them to unlock it, you'll be fine. Anything else is a hack that will completely void any warranty and forfeit all rights to support.

Perfect, thank you. So I simply go to AT&T and they will unlock it? Then I can start switching SIM cards? Or is unlocking it something they will be difficult about at AT&T? I work entirely on Wifi while overseas, so I only need a SIM card in Costa Rica to use the telephone, nothing else...

Thanks again,

You can submit a request to have it unlocked online: http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB414532&cv=820#fbid=8yTguG2ePN-

If you meet their conditions and they approve the unlock, you then complete it by restoring the phone using iTunes: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5014

It usually takes a few days after approval for the unlock to be ready for you to restore the phone.

If you do NOT meet their requirements, there is no way to legitimately unlock the phone.

Can I purchase an iPhone from Verizon at a cheaper price (available at the Apple Store)? Or do my friend need to sign up for verizon plan?

Someone will need to signup for a 2 year contract. Leaving the contract early will cause an early termination fee to be assessed. That phone is NOT cheaper through Verizon when you factor in a 2 year contract or the termination fee.

You can buy the phone full price from the Apple store and the phone will work on Verizon. The SIM slot will work overseas but you will not have 3G data. I use my Verizon phone overseas and I just replace the SIM with a local SIM. I have phone, text and data but the data is much slower.

Also you will have no warranty overseas.

With all the hassles I think your best bet is buy the phone in the country in which you are living. Avoids a lot of problems.

Hello everyone. I would like to relate my experience with my Verizon iPhone 5s in my travels to Australia and New Zealand. So after doing a lot of research I on line I determined that I could take my Verizon iPhone to Aussie with me and NZ and should not have any problems with the GSM carriers since the phone is GSM unlocked. So I took it and it was wonderful. I was in Oz for 1 week and in NZ for one week. When I got to Sydney I was in the domestic terminal (Since I connected through Brisbane) and looked for anything that would sell SIMs and could not find any place so I jumped on the train and went downtown and checked into my hotel and then asked the front desk where to buy a SIM and they said just to go to the Seven Eleven. So I did. I bought a nano SIM and a pre-paid package of data and voice and text at the Seven Eleven and I chose Optus as the carrier. I then went back to the hotel and got WIFI and tried to activate it on line but did not have success on the iphone browser so I just called the Optus support number and got a live person and was able to get the phone activated and also registered it for 4G access. It took a hour of rebooting and taking the SIM out but I did get 4G data in the city. One thing they asked was for a physical address for activating the SIM. I just gave my Hotel's address and that worked. So in Oz my phone never said "LTE" but it did say 4G a lot and I was getting 25Mbit down on 4G and outside of Sydney I was getting 3G and it was 7Mbit down. Not bad. Again it took a little bit to get the data flowing but I called support and they were helpful and got it going. Once I was on I was on. So then I flew out of SYD a week later and in the International Terminal I saw that there were cell phone carriers in the International Terminal just waiting for people to buy SIMs there. So had I have flown into the International terminal in SYD I would have been able to buy a SIM at the airport. So I went to NZ and in the Auckland airport in the international terminal there were cell phone carriers at the airport. I bought a nano SIM at a little convenience store in the airport for the carrier "2Degrees". I had read that they were the best deal. So I went with them. So having learned that activating on line was a little difficult in Oz I just went ahead and popped the SIM in and call the number and get a person to talk to and activate the SIM and the account and I had it up and running before I got my rental car. I was not getting 4G though and I called and I guess that 2Degrees does not have 4G yet. Oh well my 3G speeds again were 7Mb or higher so I was fine. So to make a long story short the VZ iPhone 5s is unlocked for sure for international carriers. Make sure you take a pin or something that can pop out the SIM and something to store your VZ sim in while traveling so that when you get back to the US you can put it back in the phone and call the person who is picking you up from the airport. When I got back to the US I just put the VZ sim in and it was like I never left. Anyways I hope this helps someone.

Two things puzzle me about iPhones:

1) why people who live outside the US want to buy a phone in the US, instead of their home country. They'll have no support service and no warranty. Just to save a few dollars? Seems penny-wise and pound-foolish. Apple's phone is the most expensive to start with. If you want to save money, buy a cheaper phone, not an Apple.

2) why anyone who wants an unlocked iPhone 5s for international use buys one from a carrier, rather than directly from Apple. Decide whether you need CDMA or GSM (almost certainly GSM for international use). Then pay full price and get an unlocked phone from Apple. Buying through a carrier just guarantees there's going to be a third party involved, which complicates matters of compatibility, service, and warranty. If you need to finance the cost over two years, look for alternatives (a bank loan, a loan from a friend or relative, save your money until you have enough, etc.)

Thanks...I feel much better now!

Ok so if I purchase and iPhone 5s completely unlocked from Apple can I use it on any carrier in the US or not? I hear both yes and no. So Im confused.

You can use it on any compatible GSM carrier. You can not use an unlocked iPhone on CDMA carriers like Sprint or Verizon.

Nino305,

Buy the Verizon version from Apple. It works on Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile out of the box and in my opinion is the best version since its LTE bands are compatiable with 3 out of the 4 major US carriers. If something goes wrong, which I doubt based on your question, you can always return the device to Apple within 14 days.