To my knowledge, all IPhones are now unlocked. I recently sold an IPhone
which I used with Verizon to a person who is using AT&T and all they had to
do was switch the simm card.
-----Original Message-----
From: M. Taylor
Sent: Wednesday, November 1, 2017 9:33 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Questions about rather phones are locked, or unlocked
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
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