Hello Terri, First, the guy is wrong in his assertion that only Android phones need to be unlocked.
Second, while you ask a simple question, the answer can be somewhat complicated, depending upon various factors. Generally speaking, and I do mean generally, when you purchase a phone from a carrier in the US, it is locked to that carrier until it is unlocked. However, one can purchase a carrier based phone completely unlocked. For example, my iPhone 6 Plus was shipped with a T-Mobile SIM yet I purchased it as an unlocked device by paying full price. In fact, upon opening the box, before I powered on the phone for the first time, I removed the T-Mobile SIM and inserted my A T & T Wireless SIM and the phone has been working perfectly, ever since. The same was true for my Samsung Galaxy S 6 phone. Further complicating matters, depending upon the type of modem shipped with the phone, CDMA phones which are reputed to be locked to a carrier such as Verizon Wireless, can work perfectly fine on A T & T Wireless and T-Mobile without having to be unlocked. Again, it all depends on the type of MODEM inside the phone. Add to this the fact that there are world/global versions of almost every phone, including iPhone models. These types of models are not usually sold in the US until at least 3 to 4 months have passed since the initial launch of the phone. The best way to determine if a new phone is unlocked at the time of purchase is to simply ask the sales person and to make certain that the printed purchase receipt reflects the device's status. For example, when I recently purchased an iPhone 7 Plus, I made certain that the receipt stated that the phone was unlocked. Terri, we live in interesting times during which virtually everything is changing in both form and factor, so to speak. (smile) Mark -----Original Message----- From: Terri Stimmel [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2017 8:43 PM To: Subject: Re: Questions about rather phones are locked, or unlocked Hello Mark, Yes I am very happy that I am not being charged with any sort of crime. But if this phone was stolen, why wasn't this noticed in September, when it was added to my account? How could that have been missed, then? Also, I go back to my main question, because I am curious. Would that phone have to be unlocked, say if I wanted to use it on AT&T, and not T-mobile? Or is the guy right, only Androids have to be unlocked? I am not as smart as say you, or Sieghard, or a few other people, when it comes to any of this stuff. However, I thought unless you bought an unlocked phone, if it was on the T-Mobile carrier, then it had to be unlocked. Am I wrong in my thinking? You know, I have sold stuff from Craig's List, and bought stuff. This is the first problem I've ever had. Very sad that we have to be so careful. But no, I won't buy a cell phone from there, again. I doubt I'll buy much, actually. Terri On 11/1/2017 7:42 PM, M. Taylor wrote: > Terri, > > This is an interesting story but the long and short of it is that, generally > speaking, don't buy phones from people on Craigslist. > > Just be grateful that you are not being charged with a crime for, depending > upon the circumstances, in the U.S., being in possession of stolen property > is actionable, unto itself. > > Mark > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Terri Stimmel > Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2017 3:01 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Questions about rather phones are locked, or unlocked > > Hello everyone, > > > I have had a rather odd situation come up, and I do not know at all what to > think. > > > Back in the beginning of September, I bought an iPhone SE, from a > gentleman on Craig's List, who purchases phones, then sales them. > According to him, whenever he gets an iPhone, he holds on to it for a > few weeks, before listing it, to make sure there aren't any issues. > > > Well I asked him last week, if he might have an SE with more space, > around December, or so. He told me he would see what he could do. And > he asked me in the mean time to get the phone I have on the T-Mobile > network, unlocked. He said this would make it easier for him to sell. > He was going to take this phone back, as a partial trade. > > > Well, I called yesterday to see what I needed to do. I was told by > T-Mobile, that this phone had tried to be unlocked on the 19th. But > that's not possible! But they said they could do it again. I told them > that I never received unlocking instructions, or any emails from them, > regarding such a thing. > > > Well, I was told by the gentleman on the phone, that within 24 hours, > I should receive an email with instructions on how to unlock my phone, > and a code. This never happened. But here is where things get really weird! > > > At about 9:15 this morning, which would have been about 24 hours from > my call to T-mobile, yesterday, my phone lost service. So when my > friend arrived, I asked her if she had service. I thought maybe there > was an odd outage. But she had service. So we went to the T-Mobile store. > > I explained everything to the woman that was there, and I could tell > she wanted to try and help me. But the guy that was working there, had > her go do something else, and I got the feeling he was trying to blow > me off. So did my friend. I had tried to explain everything to him, > and he just kept saying that I should go to the Apple store. > > > Well we left, and as we sat in the parking lot, I called T-Mobile on > my friend's phone. I explained what went on yesterday when I called to > get it unlocked. I explained what happened this morning, and how > quickly it happened. And I told them I had gone to the local store to try and > get help. > > > Well somehow, this phone was blocked. It was reported stolen. > > Now how could that happen so suddenly? > > > So I contacted the man I bought the phone from, to begin with, and he > told me that the phone didn't need to be unlocked, that only Android > phones had to be unlocked. > > This does not sound correct to me. But I know very little about this stuff. > > Also, if it didn't need to be unlocked, why would he have asked me > about doing it the other day? > > > So needless to say, I had to go back in to the T-Mobile store. I went > with the LG K20 Plus, like I had tried once before. I only went with > that 1 again, because I didn't have to put anything down, and > everything else was so high, anyway. > > > I called T-mobile again, once I got home. They kept asking me if I > could get hold of the original owner of the phone. I think I told them > 3 times at least, that I didn't know who the original owner was. > > So supposedly, this is being looked in to, and I should here back from > T-Mobile by Friday, at the latest. Yes, lets just see what really > happens there. Insane! > > > Thank you to all who may have read this. I do appreciate it. > > > Terri > -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. 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