iphone 3GS usage outside USA after completing the contract.

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@0Metalhead0 wrote:

Technically, you own the phone and you should be able to use it the way you want.Iphone is not dumb to wrk only with AT&T.If unlocked ,it can work with every carrier :).

 

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Sorry, but this is just completely inaccurate.

The iPhone, even when unlocked, can not work with every carrier. There are 4 major wireless carriers in the US; AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint. 

The iPhone is only fully functional on AT&T.

It can work on T-Mobile, but without 3G service as TMO utilizes 1700Mhz spectrum for 3G which the iPhone does not support.

Verizon and Sprint utilize CDMA.  There is no CDMA radio in the iPhone and therefore it cannot work on their network.

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@0Metalhead0 wrote:

If you know, there are regulations set by the Government for every service  sector.e.g In India if you want to change your service provider, you can retain the same phone number with the new service provider. Thus making the consumer powerful to easily switch carriers in case of unsatisfied service .Before such mandate came from the governemt ,earlier consumers were reserved with their options of change in number might impact their business and contacts.It just feels that here in USA, nobody cares about consumers . One more thing, even Laws gets amended by the constitution , so what's so grt about Apple and AT&T contract??? 

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Yeah, the same thing exists here in the US.   But compairing what is possible in other countries to what is possible in the US because of other countries laws is just silly.

There are no laws in the US that require the iPhone to be unlocked.

When the iPhone was first introduced it was made abundantly clear that it was locked to AT&T.

You chose to purchase a locked device, deal with it.

You could just as easily purchase an unlocked device (i.e. another phone or an iPhone from another country).

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@dwill05 wrote:

I'm pretty sure that a federal law requiring cell phone companies to unlock phones on request after the contract is over would outweigh AT&T and Apple's exclusitively agreement as well as the contract.

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I agree and that is why I emailed complaints to the DOJ, FCC and Sen. Herb Kohl,  chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee.

Dear Senator Kohl,

 

Thank you for your concern about a lack of competition in the wireless industry.  I ask that your review also include wireless carrier handset locking policies at the largest U.S. telecommunications carriers.  As part of your actions, I hope that you can work to require all wireless carriers to unlock customer handsets (specifically the iPhone) after 2 years.  My reason for this request is that the phone, and all of its functionality, should belong to the customer after completing his/her initial two-year wireless contract.  The customer has more than repaid the initial carrier subsidy so he/she should be free to then use the phone without carrier restriction.

 

Specifically, I am writing about AT&T and Apple and the iPhone.  They should be required to treat it as a cell phone and should be required to provide an unlock code or software to convert the phone to an open device.  In my personal case, it is not that I want to quit AT&T and take my iPhone to another carrier.  Rather, I would like the flexibility to use my iPhone overseas by inserting a local carrier SIM.  Once I’ve completed my contract and “repaid” AT&T’s subsidy, I should be able to use the phone as I see fit, not as AT&T and Apple see fit.

 

Another important reason to require iPhone unlocking is that it would be green.  Unlocking would allow previous-generation iPhones to be recycled and repurposed to other users and carriers.  This would provide a longer useful life and keep old iPhones out of landfills.  It would also increase the value of the “used” iPhone to consumer.  That’s a win-win.

Unlocking any phone is not going to make the planet any more "green".  People buy new phones because they want the latest and greatest and that's not going to change.  After a couple of years, old iPhones are going to be dumped or just put away in an a drawer, unlocked or not.  Besides, the cell phone manufacturers and service providers WANT you to buy new phones.  That's how they make money on new hardware and lock you into new contracts.  They have almost no interest in everyone keeping their old phones.  Before anyone mentions being good corporate citizens, the companies are businesses.  They exist to make money by providing something people want, not by being saints.  That's capitalism.

Also, how exactly would an old iPhone be "recycled"?  Unlocked or not, it simply isn't usable on Sprint or Verzion because they use CDMA and an iPhone just won't work.  For T-mobile, the 3G won't work because their frequency is different, so how many T-mobile users are going to want an old used iPhone without 3G?

It's been 4 years now, and it's well known that US iPhones are locked to AT&T and won't be unlocked.  It constantly amazes me that people buy them already knowing this, and then constantly complain about the fact that they are locked.  There's a simple answer here.  Don't buy an iPhone.  Get something else that can be unlocked.  There are plenty of good phones out there.  Or unlock it yourself.  By the time your contract is over, the warranty is also gone, so worrying about messing up the warranty is a non-issue.

Seriously, this horse has been beaten all the way to the glue factory.  Most of the complaints we seem to see here now involve people who are from outside the US who may not realize that neither Apple nor AT&T is compelled to unlock the phone.  

I wish the sticky regarding Unauthorized iPhone Unlocking would be modified to read "Want to unlock your iPhone? Read here first!"

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0Metalhead0 wrote: The very purpose of locking the phone to a carrier is because you get the phone at a "subsidized rate" . Buying unlock phones cost's 2ice or thrice the carrier lock price.

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I do not agree with this assertion. Getting a phone at a subsidized rate is due to committing to a 2 year contract, not because the phone is locked.

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@sandblaster wrote:

 

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0Metalhead0 wrote: The very purpose of locking the phone to a carrier is because you get the phone at a "subsidized rate" . Buying unlock phones cost's 2ice or thrice the carrier lock price.

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I do not agree with this assertion. Getting a phone at a subsidized rate is due to committing to a 2 year contract, not because the phone is locked.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

I think you are correct.

 

The fear that AT&T has is people buying the subsidized AT&T phone and taking it to another carrier, like T-Mobile in the USA. Carrier locking prevents this for 90+% of iPhone owners.

 

However, the number of people unlocking their iPhone by the use of commonly available software is skyrocketing as determined by the usage of sites such as Cydia.

 

Unlocking the iPhone may, or may not, void the warranty, just depends on how the event is handled (viewed) by the Apple rep.

 

I unlocked my AT&T iPhones for use outside the USA, with in-country SIMs.  AT&T International data and voice roaming charges are exorbitant. I also use an iPhone that was sourced in a country where Apple openly sells factory unlocked" iPhones. When wer're outside the USA the family each has an iPhone and they can call, text, and use data without regard to AT&T's high prices.  In-country SIMs and iPhone plans are "very" competitve in the countries in which I travel.

 

Opinions are like noses, most everyone has one.  But the reality is neither Apple or AT&T will unlock an iPhone (at least today) in the USA,  even if you pay full retail price at the Apple store, with no AT&T contract.  That is the nasty part that many foreign visitors to the USA do not understand when they buy an iPhone in the USA.

 

In my humble opinion, if Apple sells me a phone at full retail,  it should be unlocked.

 

 

 

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Wireless-user wrote :Opinions are like noses, most everyone has one.  But the reality is neither Apple or AT&T will unlock an iPhone (at least today) in the USA,  even if you pay full retail price at the Apple store, with no AT&T contract.  That is the nasty part that many foreign visitors to the USA do not understand when they buy an iPhone in the USA.

In my humble opinion, if Apple sells me a phone at full retail,  it should be unlocked.

Yeah, the same thing exists here in the US.   But compairing what is possible in other countries to what is possible in the US because of other countries laws is just silly.

There are no laws in the US that require the iPhone to be unlocked.

When the iPhone was first introduced it was made abundantly clear that it was locked to AT&T.

You chose to purchase a locked device, deal with it.

You could just as easily purchase an unlocked device (i.e. another phone or an iPhone from another country).

+1

It was more then abundantly clear. rofl