The unlocked iPhone includes all the features of iPhone but without a contract commitment. You can activate and use it on the supported GSM wireless network of your choice, such as AT&T in the United States. When you travel internationally, you can also use a micro-SIM card from a local GSM carrier.
The unlocked iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S will not work with CDMA-based carriers such as Verizon Wireless or Sprint.
If you don’t want a multiyear service contract or if you prefer to use a local carrier when traveling abroad, the unlocked iPhone is the best choice. It arrives without a micro-SIM card, so you’ll need an active micro-SIM card from any supported GSM carrier worldwide. To start using it, simply insert the micro-SIM card into the slot on your iPhone and turn it on by pressing and holding the On/Off button for a few seconds. Then follow the onscreen instructions to set up your iPhone.
Unlocked iPhone 4S prices:
• 16GB (black or white) – US$649
• 32GB (black or white) – US$749
• 64GB (black or white) – US$849
More info here.
Got my pre orders in, store didn’t open till around 12:30AM and of course the AT&T verification servers we jammed. Got one order through, but had to wait until around 5:30AM to complete the second. Can’t wait until next Friday!
I was jammed up at 1:30AM PST so I went to AT&T’s site and upgraded mine there. Lookin forward to using Siri on an everyday basis… And that camera…
Very strange: what is the point of releasing universal phone if CDMA support is blocked?
Travel use with any local pay as you go rather than pay ATT extotive roaming fees.
Because I don’t think CDMA works with the sim card model. Am I wrong? Is there such a thing as a CDMA phone you can take from one carrier to the next?
——RM
It isn’t blocked. It simply can’t be done with CDMA carriers. Practically none of the CDMA carriers out there will ever let you activate a phone that they didn’t sell you. Even if the device is sold through some third-party resellers (Best Buy, Amazon, LetsTalk.com, etc.), it will still be a carrier-branded device, (or, in the case of the iPhone, carrier-supported, with an agreement between Apple and the carrier). If you get some CDMA phone and try to activate that IMEI number on, say Sprint, they won’t let you unless the phone was specifically meant for Sprint.
With GSM, if the phone is unlocked, you can take a SIM card of ANY mobile operator in the world and stick it in. The phone will work, provided that the radio supports frequency(es) of the network it is trying to connect with.
Geez. Verizon can’t do such basic tasks as simultaneous voice and data, you can’t use their phones internationally, and their network is slow.
Happier every day about my decision to dump them
Because CDMA is virtually non-existant in other countries.
Except for China. I wonder what the offerings will be there.
That is cheaper than the iPhone 3GS I bought contract free in the UK (still going!). Product keeps getting better, price keeps going down…
Which way would be less expensive for a two year period, going on a two year subsidized contract or buying the unlocked phone?
The only correct answer to your question is: it depends.
AT&T has the $50 per month unlimited all (voice/text/data) plan. If you are single (i.e. can’t take advantage of a family plan), and want the freedom of unlimited text and data, then $50 per month is a great deal. AT&T doesn’t even offer unlimited everything plans with two-year contracts. For comparison, there is that $59 voice plan (900 minutes), plus $20 unlimited text, plus $25 for 2GB of data (total= $104.99).
If you are heavy texter / YouTube surfer / Pandora streamer, the $50 unlimited prepaid is a better deal than anything comparable on a two-year subsidised plan. Otherwise, AT&T doesn’t have a decent cheap limited voice, limited text, limited data pre-paid plan (like T-Mobile’s $30, with 1500 minutes or texts, plus 30MB of data).
One additional thing needs to be said: prepaid customers always tend to be treated like second-class citizens, regardless of their monthly plan. An example: contract-based people get the luxury of having their name show up on caller ID if they wish (not that the feature works consistently across carriers, though), while for prepaid they simply won’t bother with it, no matter what you try. The caller ID will always display “Wireless Number”.
“AT&T has the $50 per month unlimited all (voice/text/data) plan.” You meant T-Mobile, correct?
No, he means AT&T’s prepaid, unlimited plan:
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-plans/pyg-cell-phone-plans.jsp?_requestid=32943
$50/month, unlimited talking, text, data, etc.
Having just looked at the pre-paid and paid plans for these two companies, its clear that they are raising prices and making it harder for people to get unlimited data, and that there are a lot of gotchas there, which makes discussing them difficult.
For instance, Verizon also has an unlimited “voice and data” plan like AT&T for $50, but their “tablet plans” are all limited, with the best one being $8/gigabyte.
You really have to know how much data you usually use in order to figure out what’s a decent deal.
Why would an unlocked world phone not work on Verizon’s network? It wouldn’t be as simple as inserting SIM, but it should still work.
I am disappointed that it doesn’t support AWS frequencies, which is what T-Mobile and my local carrier, Cincinnati Bell, use. Cincy Bell has some great plans, and by far the best coverage in the area. And, they actually have a good “4G” network, with speeds averaging 10Mbps down and 1.5Mbps up.
10Mbps, and they call it 4G??? If this were any country other than the United States, I’m sure some consumer watchdog group would have successfully sued them for false advertising (AT&T’s 3G tops out at 14.4Mbps; 4G can only be called that if it tops out at 100Mbps; NOT 10Mbps).
Oh I completely agree, that’s the reasons for the quotes.
Cincinnati Bell’s theoretical limit is 21Mbps, 10 is the average in real-world use. In actuality it’s 3.5G, but since all the major carriers started using 4G in their advertising, Cincinnati Bell is forced to as well, lest they look old and outdated. It’s a ridiculous system. I’m a staunch conservative, and I support the government being all over this. To me, this is definitely one of their duties. It’s just common sense to protect consumers from false advertising, but both parties here seem to be wrapped up in dogma, neither refusing to budge from the party line, so nothing gets done and the regular folks are left out in the cold.
Answer to my own question, straight from Apple’s site:
“CDMA available only if iPhone 4S is sold and activated for use on a CDMA network.”
I am frustrated that they are TAKING Siri away from the iPhone 4 … use it daily for the hands free operation of all aspects of the phone … A great tool.
They’re not going to reach into your phone and delete the app. Or does the app require some kind of server backside that is going to be shut off?
Won’t Siri’s big brother show up in iOS 5?
Only on iPhone 4S.
From Apple website:
iOS 5 is compatible with:
iPhone 3GSiPhone 4iPhone 4S
iPod touch 3rd generationiPod touch 4th generation
iPad 1 and 2
Right, but Siri is only available on the iPhone 4S. It’s processor-intensive.
Ok, thanks.
I’m still curious why it’s not on the iPad 2.
I suspect they have a voice-recognition co-processor in the A5 on the iPhone 4Steve that doesn’t exist in the A5 on the iPad 2.
I would like to know why can’t they also offer iPhone 4 unlocked? If the subsidy on both is the same, they should be able to sell it for $550 unlocked (and 3GS for $450 unlocked).
Is it possible that there is so little interest for these two??
They do offer it unlocked, for $550. I can see it available in the online store.
And they offer the 3GS unlocked as well:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC637?mco=MjU5MjAxMjg
IPhone 4 is offered as unlocked – I have one.
Thanks everyone and sorry for not checking myself. I had assumed, from the announcement, that only the top model will be offered unlocked (the way iPhone 4 used to be offered unlocked for the same $650 until last Tuesday).
A 3GS for $450 is an unbeatable deal for those who can’t afford much. Much, much better than those prepaid Samsungs on Boost Mobile or MetroPCS that go for $300 or so.
Predrag:
Uh, no – the 3GS is $375. not $450.
Apple is apparently putting their pricing power to work.
MrMcLargeHuge’s link is correct
Glenn
I still have a $20 unlimited data plan for an original iphone(2?) and was told by AT&T that it was not grandfathered to the $30 unlimited data plan like my other iphone 3GS. They said I would have to convert to a current plan if I replaced it with a iphone 4s. Can I just buy an unlocked iphone 4s and switch the sim card?
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