How to pre order carrier free/unlocked iphone 7 plus, on pre order page its not giving an option for that.

ahmedinam77 wrote:

Hi thanks for replying but I just wanted to know what if I select t mobile and order it. It means I will be activating it on T mobile right? so when I go out of states, will my cellphone work on other gsm carrier there?

You can buy it with any carrier, it will arrive unlocked if you pay in full. You just have to pay attention to the different models https://www.apple.com/iphone-7/specs/. The A1660 and A1661 support ALL US carriers (CDMA and GSM) while A1778 and A1784 will not work in Verizon and Sprint network.

I'll narrow it down for you. I see you're asking about 7 Plus. That's A1661 or A1784.

A1661 supports CDMA and GSM + whole variety of data network

A1784 is almost the same as above except CDMA network

If you buy A1784 model, you will never be able to use it with Verizon or Sprint.

mai1122 wrote:

when I ordered the iphone 7 plus, i choose the T mobile for carrier and paid off! But when I pick up my phone, apple store said that my phone is not a sim free phone and It only use for tmobile sim!!

It is not SIM free. It comes with t-mobile SIM card in it but you can remove that and use AT&T SIM card. Have you tried that? Don't just believe what Apple employees said.

If you've tried AT&T SIM card and it does not work because it is locked to T-Mobile, return the device and ask for your money back, all of it.

Sorry - my mistake. If you select a carrier (like T-mobile) you can then select the option to pay full price for an unlocked phone:

http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-7/5.5-inch-display-128gb-black-veriz on#01,13,31,41

I went through the steps with the Verizon version, but they all lead to the same options.

And in fact, I just went through the T-mobile steps, and it appears that the T-mobile one is only offered as an unlocked device.

Cheers,

GB

Start here: http://www.apple.com/iphone-7/specs/

Tap pre order blue button on the top righht corner. Choose your carrier (Verizon or Sprint), choose color, storage capacity. On the next screen, scroll down to Pay in full section. Tap that. Don't worry about model number. You'll get the right one.

That doesn't appear to be the case anymore, unless I'm misunderstanding something:

http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-7/5.5-inch-display-128gb-black-sprin t#01,11,31,41

http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-7/5.5-inch-display-128gb-black-att#0 1,10,31,41

GB

If you pre-order, you select iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus. Then you select a carrier.

If you choose Sprint or Verizon, you will be able to use the phone for CDMA or GSM (meaning it will also work on AT&T and T-Mobile

If you choose AT&T or T-Mobile, you will NOT be able to use it for CDMA (meaning it will not work on Sprint or Verizon)

Once you choose the carrier, you will then have the option to select the full priced unlocked version.

Cheers,

GB

I didn't find anything to the contrary in what you posted. If they purchase under the Apple Upgrade program then it will not be locked, that started last year. If they pay full price they are not part of the Apple Upgrade program and the exception does not apply. Apple is required to show the full price as the program is a loan. I believe the OP wanted to pay full price.

You got a valid point. Although unlocked (if you choose 1 time payment), it looks like both Sprint and Verizon versions are for existing customers only. New customers can't pre-order Sprint and Verizon versions. The T-Mobile version is available for new customers. It's a good thing I never care about CDMA phones.

I double checked once more. It appears that they're all for existing customers except T-Mobile version (available for everyone).

when I ordered the iphone 7 plus, i choose the T mobile for carrier and paid off! But when I pick up my phone, apple store said that my phone is not a sim free phone and It only use for tmobile sim!! I dont understand because I think when I paid off, I can use my phone as sim free phone!!! so I want to ask you which way is best for me if I want to buy a new phone as sim free phone? Thank you fof helping me!!!

Haven't bought the phone yet. Went to Apple Store and because stream is not one of the big four carriers, you can only buy it in the store. I would have to show up in the morning when they open and hope they have sold out of their pre-orders for that day. It's all luck.

Here is what the FAQ's say regarding the T-Mobile full pay phone:

The last sentence in this answer discusses SIM-free iPhones which explains the primary difference between those and the T-Mobile ones - you have to activate the T-Mobile ones through T-Mobile. With SIM-free, you can put any SIM card you want into the device and activate it through your selected carrier.

GB

This is the part I meant (the last box of pricing info):

Pay in full

You won't have that option until Apple offers it. It should happen fairly soon, but no definite timeframe.

Best of luck,

GB