T-Mobile making a bid for iPhone users

[MacFrog]

T-Mobile can't work "legitimately" with Apple to unlock another carrier's subsidized phone. You're saying that Apple unlocks competing carriers' iPhones? Show me the documentation. AT&T could ask Apple (that's all they need to do) to unlock their phones which have completed their payback of subsidy. The unlock goes through iTunes and all that's necessary is for Apple to enable the unlock. They wouldn't unlock handsets that were subsidized by another company.

As others have pointed out - all unlocks are handled through Apple. In Europe - if you have a phone from a competing carrier you can still have another carrier unlock it (provided you pay a fee / on a contract with them etc - depends on the carrier).

The unlock request is still handled though Apple though as Apple just provides carriers with a interface to add IMEI's to the whitelist (or removing them from the locked list - however Apple handles this). For instance - when I bought my iPhone from the Apple Store, it was actually a factory locked AT&T model but they "turned it into" a factory unlock when I paid the full price for it.

The same thing could happen with T-Mobile - Apple could provide them the same interface to unlock phones that they give European carriers. AT&T would fight - but they would have little course for action if the phone was taken off contract in a legal way (IE end of contract or the ETF was paid).

[jet1000]

I simply pointed out a company that said they will.

No you didn't point a company that said they will. You said they will. Big difference.

Here's your exact quote. Nothing mentioned about what the company said:

"For example, here's one company that will jailbreak and unlock your iPhone for a fee http://www.unlock-apple-iphone.com/"

If you say a company will do something, do you think you should actually know that they really will? Then to make matters worse you stated:

"I simply pointed out just one of thousands of places one can go to for a factory unauthorized jailbreak and unlock."

You didn't say one of thousands that claim to do it. You stated a person could go to these places for a jailbreak and unlock. Again, big difference.

Now after I called you out on your incorrect statements you backpedal from the quotes above. But nonetheless, your statements still stand.

I know of thousands of sites who claim iPhone unlocks, and recommend none of them except http://blog.iphone-dev.org/

Really, and how would you yourself personally know of thousands that claim this? Or is that number just one that you made up?

The bottom line is, since you are now recommending the dev team's website and you have clarified your statements as to what the sites claim versus what you say they will do, I can end my work here correcting the misinformation.

Or do they love us so much they shackle their devices to their network, even after the original subsidy has been repaid?

If you want an unlocked device, buy an unlocked device. You can buy an unlocked iPhone straight from Apple in the U.S. Or you can buy all sorts of other unlocked devices from everywhere.

AT&T customers don't have to take AT&T's subsidy. Nobody puts a gun to their head. If you take a subsidy, you play by their rules. If you don't take a subsidy, you play your rules. It's the customer's choice. This is completely unlike Verizon where you have to use the phones that they dictate.

[Telekom]

As others have pointed out - all unlocks are handled through Apple. In Europe - if you have a phone from a competing carrier you can still have another carrier unlock it (provided you pay a fee / on a contract with them etc - depends on the carrier).

The unlock request is still handled though Apple though as Apple just provides carriers with a interface to add IMEI's to the whitelist (or removing them from the locked list - however Apple handles this). For instance - when I bought my iPhone from the Apple Store, it was actually a factory locked AT&T model but they "turned it into" a factory unlock when I paid the full price for it.

The same thing could happen with T-Mobile - Apple could provide them the same interface to unlock phones that they give European carriers. AT&T would fight - but they would have little course for action if the phone was taken off contract in a legal way (IE end of contract or the ETF was paid).

Ultimately, it comes down to what the original carrier permits. AT&T has stated on many occasions that they'll unlock phones except for the Apple iPhone. They could do it but they choose not to. Sort of what you expect from AT&T. Back before they were cingular they wouldn't unlock any handsets and when cingular became AT&T they refused to give unlock codes for Cingular handsets. It's all at their caprice.

[spdickey]

No you didn't point a company that said they will. You said they will. Big difference.

Here's your exact quote. Nothing mentioned about what the company said:


If you say a company will do something, do you think you should actually know that they really will? Then to make matters worse you stated:

You didn't say one of thousands that claim to do it. You stated a person could go to these places for a jailbreak and unlock. Again, big difference.

Now after I called you out on your incorrect statements you backpedal from the quotes above. But nonetheless, your statements still stand.

Really, and how would you yourself personally know of thousands that claim this? Or is that number just one that you made up?

The bottom line is, since you are now recommending the dev team's website and you have clarified your statements as to what the sites claim versus what you say they will do, I can end my work here correcting the misinformation.

If you want an unlocked device, buy an unlocked device. You can buy an unlocked iPhone straight from Apple in the U.S. Or you can buy all sorts of other unlocked devices from everywhere.

AT&T customers don't have to take AT&T's subsidy. Nobody puts a gun to their head. If you take a subsidy, you play by their rules. If you don't take a subsidy, you play your rules. It's the customer's choice. This is completely unlike Verizon where you have to use the phones that they dictate.

You're trying to bait me by twisting my words into meanings I did not intend. Stop it. These tactics are boring and unproductive while you try to prove your superiority. If you have a problem with paid unlocking services, take your argument elsewhere.

But to answer one of your taunting questions, how do I know there are thousands of sites that advertise unlocking services. Its Google. And I admit, I under reported the results, there are 70,100,000 links to "unlock iPhone."

What we are discussing here, and what your rant fails to address is the unlocking of iPhones that are now out of contract. Sure consumers have choices, and they should have a choice of leaving their carrier with the phone they own. But AT&T truly continues to have a gun pointed at the head of iPhone owners who can't get an authorized unlock from their carrier.

Once the contract has been fulfilled why does AT&T continue to shakle iPhones to their network? If a customer wants to unlock their previously purchased AT&T iPhone, AT&T must give permission. Apparently they do not as you and others have pointed out. Shame on AT&T for not releasing consumer's phones as they do in other countries.

[jet1000]

You're trying to bait me by twisting my words into meanings I did not intend.

I am replying to exactly what you said. If you do not have the capability to write what you mean, then perhaps a writing class would be helpful to assist you in expressing yourself more clearly. But there's no need to get upset at others if you meant something other than what you wrote.

But to answer one of your taunting questions, how do I know there are thousands of sites that advertise unlocking services. Its Google. And I admit, I under reported the results, there are 70,100,000 links to "unlock iPhone."

There's 70.1 million pages that has the phrase "unlock iPhone". Nowhere from that can you assume there are thousands of sites "that advertise unlocking services". Earlier you claimed to "know" that these sites exist, but I question how that can be and you haven't answered that. And I question that there are this many sites actively advertising something that can be had for free at the dev team website.

But AT&T truly continues to have a gun pointed at the head of iPhone owners who can't get an authorized unlock from their carrier.

Why single out AT&T? Do Verizon and Sprint unlock their iphones for use on other American carriers? Why not shame on them too? The facts are that if people buy an iPhone they know the rules going in. If unlocking is that important to you, buy an unlocked iphone or buy some other device that can be unlocked.

I'll remind you that this is the T-Mobile forum. If you just want to bash AT&T, perhaps you should start a thread there saying "shame on them" for not unlocking the iphone so that you can air your sufferings there.

[spdickey]

I am replying to exactly what you said. If you do not have the capability to write what you mean, then perhaps a writing class would be helpful to assist you in expressing yourself more clearly. But there's no need to get upset at others if you meant something other than what you wrote.

There's 70.1 million pages that has the phrase "unlock iPhone". Nowhere from that can you assume there are thousands of sites "that advertise unlocking services". Earlier you claimed to "know" that these sites exist, but I question how that can be and you haven't answered that. And I question that there are this many sites actively advertising something that can be had for free at the dev team website.

Why single out AT&T? Do Verizon and Sprint unlock their iphones for use on other American carriers? Why not shame on them too? The facts are that if people buy an iPhone they know the rules going in. If unlocking is that important to you, buy an unlocked iphone or buy some other device that can be unlocked.

I'll remind you that this is the T-Mobile forum. If you just want to bash AT&T, perhaps you should start a thread there saying "shame on them" for not unlocking the iphone so that you can air your sufferings there.

I have stated several times that I do not recommend those unlock providers, but you refuse to understand and continue to twist my words for your own perverted reasons. I write exactly what I mean, and have explained it to you if you cannot comprehend. But you have continued to put words in my mouth on more than one occasion and that is what I am upset about. Stop it.

I will leave it to you to count all the sites that say they will unlock iPhones.

I single out AT&T since they are the only carrier that sells GSM iPhones. Verizon and Sprint do not, since their systems use CDMA. I cannot shame them at all since they do not offer GSM phones that can be used on T-Mobile. Something you perhaps fail to differentiate. so I'll put that shame on you for failing to consider.

Again, we are discussing unlocking existing locked iPhones, you again fail to recognize the difference between unlocking an existing phone, or throwing it away and buying an unlocked device. GSM iPhones locked and sold by the AT&T will not be unlocked by AT&T.

And I remind you that we are discussing the difficulties AT&T poses on unlocking iPhones for use on T-Mobile. Perhaps I could start a thread there, or you can to revel in AT&T's unwillingness to provide iPhone unlocks. But this thread was started by someone else, so take your complaint to the OP.

Let's all hope that T-Mobile will be able to provide a safe and secure method of unlocking AT&T locked iPhones via iTunes when their network allows them to service these devices.

[MasonDoctorJT]

@spdickey.... The one to whom you are taking to, will never get it. He does not have the capacity for reasoning, so you might as well stop now before you have a heart attack.

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using HowardForums

[Scottish Skyedance]

Wirelessly posted (HTC Nexus One: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_5_7; en-us) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Safari/530.17)

I am replying to exactly what you said. If you do not have the capability to write what you mean, then perhaps a writing class would be helpful to assist you in expressing yourself more clearly. But there's no need to get upset at others if you meant something other than what you wrote.

There's 70.1 million pages that has the phrase "unlock iPhone". Nowhere from that can you assume there are thousands of sites "that advertise unlocking services". Earlier you claimed to "know" that these sites exist, but I question how that can be and you haven't answered that. And I question that there are this many sites actively advertising something that can be had for free at the dev team website.

Why single out AT&T? Do Verizon and Sprint unlock their iphones for use on other American carriers? Why not shame on them too? The facts are that if people buy an iPhone they know the rules going in. If unlocking is that important to you, buy an unlocked iphone or buy some other device that can be unlocked.

I'll remind you that this is the T-Mobile forum. If you just want to bash AT&T, perhaps you should start a thread there saying "shame on them" for not unlocking the iphone so that you can air your sufferings there.

I have stated several times that I do not recommend those unlock providers, but you refuse to understand and continue to twist my words for your own perverted reasons. I write exactly what I mean, and have explained it to you if you cannot comprehend. But you have continued to put words in my mouth on more than one occasion and that is what I am upset about. Stop it.

I will leave it to you to count all the sites that say they will unlock iPhones.

I single out AT&T since they are the only carrier that sells GSM iPhones. Verizon and Sprint do not, since their systems use CDMA. I cannot shame them at all since they do not offer GSM phones that can be used on T-Mobile. Something you perhaps fail to differentiate. so I'll put that shame on you for failing to consider.

Again, we are discussing unlocking existing locked iPhones, you again fail to recognize the difference between unlocking an existing phone, or throwing it away and buying an unlocked device. GSM iPhones locked and sold by the AT&T will not be unlocked by AT&T.

And I remind you that we are discussing the difficulties AT&T poses on unlocking iPhones for use on T-Mobile. Perhaps I could start a thread there, or you can to revel in AT&T's unwillingness to provide iPhone unlocks. But this thread was started by someone else, so take your complaint to the OP.

Let's all hope that T-Mobile will be able to provide a safe and secure method of unlocking AT&T locked iPhones via iTunes when their network allows them to service these devices.

You don't have to talk with "T-Mobile parasite".

[jet1000]

I single out AT&T since they are the only carrier that sells GSM iPhones. Verizon and Sprint do not, since their systems use CDMA. I cannot shame them at all since they do not offer GSM phones that can be used on T-Mobile.

This is more blatant false information. All iPhones 4S contain BOTH GSM & CDMA. Verizon and Sprint do offer phones that could be used on T-Mobile if they were unlocked contrary to your claim. See article here:

"The iPhone 4S is the first device produced by Apple that is a dual-mode phone. This means the iPhone can theoretically be used on any CDMA or GSM network, in any country. "

http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcwebe...s-is-unlocked/

In addition as the article describes on page 2, Verizon will unlock the phone to use GSM SIM's in the device out of the country. But the phone will be blocked from using American SIM's like T-Mobile or AT&T.

"I contacted Verizon global support to confirm my suspicions. They advised that indeed their phones were locked as against any other carrier in the United States, and that the term “unlock” only applied to overseas carriers."

http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcwebe...is-unlocked/2/

So the question remains, why do you remain so silent when American carriers like Verizon and Sprint refuse to unlock their iPhones for use on other American GSM networks?? You only mention AT&T.

GSM iPhones locked and sold by the AT&T will not be unlocked by AT&T.

Nor will GSM iPhones locked and sold by Verizon and Sprint be permitted to be used on other carriers in the United States. That's how all of the carriers in America do it.

But this thread was started by someone else, so take your complaint to the OP.

This thread was started by you!! See the forum screen it says:
Started by spdickey, 02-24-2012 08:56 AM

That's you right?

If you want to talk about the use of the iPhone on T-Mobile, that's fine. If you want to just bash AT&T for not unlocking an iPhone, then that would be better done in the AT&T forum. Especially since you're totally silent on Verizon and Sprint for doing the exact same thing.

[ThaKizzle]

Not trying to start ****, but with all the nice android phones out and coming in the future for tmobile i say **** the iphone! If tmobile was better in my area then i would be a customer this very moment! I never figure out why sprint wanted that phone on their slow 3g data. Just go the sprint forum and hear everybody whining about it. I know thats was off topic but i dont think the iphone on tmobile would help as much as they think it will.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using HowardForums

[spdickey]

This is more blatant false information. All iPhones 4S contain BOTH GSM & CDMA. Verizon and Sprint do offer phones that could be used on T-Mobile if they were unlocked contrary to your claim. See article here:

"The iPhone 4S is the first device produced by Apple that is a dual-mode phone. This means the iPhone can theoretically be used on any CDMA or GSM network, in any country. "

http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcwebe...s-is-unlocked/

In addition as the article describes on page 2, Verizon will unlock the phone to use GSM SIM's in the device out of the country. But the phone will be blocked from using American SIM's like T-Mobile or AT&T.

"I contacted Verizon global support to confirm my suspicions. They advised that indeed their phones were locked as against any other carrier in the United States, and that the term “unlock” only applied to overseas carriers."

http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcwebe...is-unlocked/2/

So the question remains, why do you remain so silent when American carriers like Verizon and Sprint refuse to unlock their iPhones for use on other American GSM networks?? You only mention AT&T.



Nor will GSM iPhones locked and sold by Verizon and Sprint be permitted to be used on other carriers in the United States. That's how all of the carriers in America do it.



This thread was started by you!! See the forum screen it says:
Started by spdickey, 02-24-2012 08:56 AM

That's you right?

If you want to talk about the use of the iPhone on T-Mobile, that's fine. If you want to just bash AT&T for not unlocking an iPhone, then that would be better done in the AT&T forum. Especially since you're totally silent on Verizon and Sprint for doing the exact same thing.

Again you are getting confused, and to avoid others from getting confused with your rants lets try again. I know you won't "get it" but I want to correct for others your misleading posts.

The thread was started by MacFrog, He is the OP in this thread, either you are mistaken or you lied. Double check your "facts" before you post since it makes the rest of your words suspect by me and others.

The information is not FALSE as you claim, you simply are not looking at the whole story. We are discussing AT&T and iPhones in general not just the newest one. Most iPhones out there are GSM only, most are locked by AT&T. That is what we are discussing, so pay closer attention. Remember kids, over 80% of the smartphones AT&T sold in Q4 2011 were iPhones.

Since Verizon is unlocking the GSM portion of their phone, great. I have no problem with Verizon. Why do you suggest I shame them, perhaps you should if you want. Verizon and Sprint are late to the game, I would suspect that all phones they've sold so far are still under contract and they won't unlock them for AT&T or T-Mobile in the USA, I have no problem with that. Its not something I'm dealing with here. We are discussing AT&T's non-unlock policy.

Perhaps you should haunt the AT&T boards, since you seem to insist that that is where discussions of AT&T should be.

[gunterm]

Sigh no AWS in the new iPad, so I'll bet no aws in the new iPhone either, which means tmobile rolling out 1900 is our only hope...

[Antenna]

Again you are getting confused, and to avoid others from getting confused with your rants lets try again. I know you won't "get it" but I want to correct for others your misleading posts.

The thread was started by MacFrog, He is the OP in this thread, either you are mistaken or you lied. Double check your "facts" before you post since it makes the rest of your words suspect by me and others.

The information is not FALSE as you claim, you simply are not looking at the whole story. We are discussing AT&T and iPhones in general not just the newest one. Most iPhones out there are GSM only, most are locked by AT&T. That is what we are discussing, so pay closer attention. Remember kids, over 80% of the smartphones AT&T sold in Q4 2011 were iPhones.

Since Verizon is unlocking the GSM portion of their phone, great. I have no problem with Verizon. Why do you suggest I shame them, perhaps you should if you want. Verizon and Sprint are late to the game, I would suspect that all phones they've sold so far are still under contract and they won't unlock them for AT&T or T-Mobile in the USA, I have no problem with that. Its not something I'm dealing with here. We are discussing AT&T's non-unlock policy.

Perhaps you should haunt the AT&T boards, since you seem to insist that that is where discussions of AT&T should be.

I have tried many times to reason with that person. He fails to see other's viewpoints and keep the thread going in a contributing manner. Best to add that person to the ignore list, and move on.

[spdickey]

Where did you see that? I thought the new ipad specs where not confirmed.....yet

From the Apple site
http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

Wireless and Cellular
Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n)
Bluetooth 4.0 technology
Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n)
Bluetooth 4.0 technology
Wi-Fi + 4G for AT&T model: LTE (700, 2100 MHz)3; UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
Wi-Fi + 4G for Verizon model: LTE (700 MHz)3; CDMA EV-DO Rev. A (800, 1900 MHz); UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
Data only4

[Antenna]

From the Apple site
http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

my bad, didnt see that it was up yet.

Interesting Apple left out LTE AWS. That means it also won't operate on VZWs Brighthouse/time warner spectrum they are trying to eat up. Same for AT&T's remaining AWS LTE spectrum.

So Apple slapped AT&T, T-Mo and VZW in the face by omitting LTE AWS