Breaking contract and using with another network

I may be wrong but (assuming the device is locked) I believe you can ask the carrier for the unlock code after paying off the device, early termination penalty etc. I have no info whether or not the iPads financed through carrier are SIM locked.

iPads sold in the US are not locked to a cell carrier unless you have a Verizon-model iPad which cannot be used with any other carrier. If you purchased the AT&T (GSM) model iPad, it's not locked.

Regards.

Additionally iPads generally do not require a contract to be engaged when purchased unless you buy a subsidized one from one of the carriers.

If you buy a full price Cellular iPad (AT&T) from an Apple Store you should be able to insert a sim from your compatible carrier without any issue.

No contract, and a such no termination fees or anything like that.

The US carriers have to my knowledge never subsidized the purchase of an iPad.

Regards.

varjak paw wrote:

The US carriers have to my knowledge never subsidized the purchase of an iPad.

Regards.

Yeah, I haven't heard or known about a subsidiozed iPad in the US either. However, since I do know some carriers in other countries have begun to do this now, I did not want to state that outright as a fact. Maybe somebody is doing it I was not aware of.

Understood. I don't recall any of the US carriers offering multi-month contracts except as part of a family or data sharing plan with a phone, so this all seems a bit odd. But I could easily have missed something along the way. Carriers are constantly tinkering with the plans they offer.

Cheers.

😉

Actually, carriers do offer deals with restrictions for the new iPads. T-Mobile started it with their zero-down program, and AT&T at least is following suite. So AT&T now offer two options, a zero-down, 0% APR 20 month contractual installment plan, or a subsidized price with a two year service contract commitment.

You can of course still go to Apple and pay full retail and get a GSM iPad for AT&T with no strings attached, but AT&T online does not offer that option any longer (although it may be possible in person at an AT&T store).

It's all their attempts to pull customers in by demanding minimal payment up front. So zero-down with either T-Mobile or AT&T lets you "upgrade at no fee", since you are going to be paying the full retail for every device eventually anyway (how nice of them 😉), either over a service contract, or an contractual installment payment plan.

Michael Black wrote:

Actually, carriers do offer deals with restrictions for the new iPads. T-Mobile started it with their zero-down program, and AT&T at least is following suite. So AT&T now offer two options, a zero-down, 0% APR 20 month contractual installment plan, or a subsidized price with a two year service contract commitment.

You can of course still go to Apple and pay full retail and get a GSM iPad for AT&T with no strings attached, but AT&T online does not offer that option any longer (although it may be possible in person at an At&T store).

Ahh, good to know.

Michael Black wrote:

Actually, carriers do offer deals with restrictions for the new iPads. T-Mobile started it with their zero-down program, and AT&T at least is following suite. So AT&T now offer two options, a zero-down, 0% APR 20 month contractual installment plan, or a subsidized price with a two year service contract commitment.

You can of course still go to Apple and pay full retail and get a GSM iPad for AT&T with no strings attached, but AT&T online does not offer that option any longer (although it may be possible in person at an AT&T store).

It's all their attempts to pull customers in by demanding minimal payment up front. So zero-down with either T-Mobile or AT&T lets you "upgrade at no fee", since you are going to be paying the full retail for every device eventually anyway (how nice of them 😉), either over a service contract, or an contractual installment payment plan.

Does AT&T SIM lock the iPad to their network if we buy it thru one of the 2 options (2-year contract or installment plan)?

I just checked. AT&T online still offers no commitment option to purchase at full retail. However, I can't figure out how to purchase an iPad through AT&T online without adding monthly data plan. If we buy it in full, they should allow us to checkout without adding data plan.

I was just looking at this - http://www.att.com/ipad/#fbid=vHR6ydjkOHw

The details are not clear to me, so you would want to contact AT&T or whichever carrier you go with. It seems to me you are committing to a contract with AT&T no matter what - an installment agreement or a service agreement but the fine print indicates a service contract is required regardless (but I'd ask them for clarification). They also run a credit check (at least for the installment plan option), so nobody without a USA address and USA credit record or history will be approved anyway.

I'm assuming they use a SIM lock, as that is every carrier's standard method of safe-guarding their contract hold over you, but again, you'd need to hear that from AT&T to be sure.

I do see what you mean - if you go back into the "wireless" shopping options, and choose the "month by month" devices, you get the normal full retail price options.

All of these zero-down, upgrade whenever you want deals are fairly new with all the carriers, so chech them very carefully for all the details. And remember that you always could always upgrade with any carrier whenever you wanted if you were willing to pay full retail for your devices anyway - this is just a bit of flim-flam as far as I am concerned to make you think you are getting a great deal by putting little down initially, but you are on the hook for the full retail price in the long run anyway, just maybe with a service contract and restrictions on travel and use to go along with the deal.

Michael Black wrote:

I was just looking at this - http://www.att.com/ipad/#fbid=vHR6ydjkOHw

Ah, I see they don't mention no commitment option there but if you proceed to Buy Now, you'll get no commitment option (full retail price). I think it is ridiculous to force customers to add monthly data when they pay full price. May as well buy it directly from Apple.

ShagCA wrote:

Michael Black wrote:

I was just looking at this - http://www.att.com/ipad/#fbid=vHR6ydjkOHw

I think it is ridiculous to force customers to add monthly data when they pay full price.

I agree, but you have to admit, it is a GREAT deal for the carriers if they can sucker you into it 😉 (just the cynic in me speaking).