

Buying an iPhone in the US? Pay full price - jonny_eh
https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/b8c4a2164434

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Terretta
This article says to buy T-Mobile. You don't have to. Just pay retail, use
whatever you want.

Walk into a USA Apple store, ask for a "device only" phone. They'll give you
one of the AT&T stock, but when you get back to the office or home and connect
to iTunes, you'll get the message:

“Congratulations, your iPhone has been unlocked.”

Tada, use any plan you like, anywhere you like. This worked on the iPhone 4S
before Apple even announced no-contract phones.

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jonny_eh
Seriously? I was in line this morning and was told they were out of unlocked
phones. They gave me a card for an AT&T phone, but when I looked up AT&T's
unlock policy it said that I needed to be a current or former customer to get
a phone unlocked. Damn.

~~~
Terretta
Apple's system records the sale with the hardware serial number of the phone
and unlocks it when iTunes sees it and checks w/ Apple.

~~~
jonny_eh
I'll give that a shot since the local Apple Store was out of T-Mobile models.

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eugeneross
Nice incisive article. You recognize a really good point. While T-Mobile is at
the pit of the phone carriers, they seem to listen (and react) to what their
costumers want. I just wish that maybe one day one of the hot-shot carriers
will come to their senses and follow in T-Mobile's footsteps.

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icodestuff
If you're on a family plan, the marginal cost could still be cheaper. For my
share of it, it's $10/mo plus however much data I choose (I'll stick with the
grandfathered unlimited plan for $30).

