Unlock your iPhone?

[kelly0523]

Hi, sorry if this is not the correct place to ask this, but I was on AT&T website to check my phone upgrade options to see if I was eligible to upgrade my iPhone 4S and there was an option there today, that I have never seen before.

It said that my phone was eligible to be unlocked if I wanted. I would need to submit an unlock request.

Can anyone tell me what this would do to my phone? Is it desirable or would it cause more headaches then it is worth?

 

[Raz0rEdge]

In the US, when you buy a phone on a regular 2 year contract, you are stuck with that contract for 2 years and also stuck with a phone that only works with that carrier.

If you wanted to opt-out of that contact, you're imposed a early termination free (ETF). Back in the day, this used to be a hard and high number like $375 or whatever. Over time, the carriers have come up with creative ways of dealing with this. A lot of them now start with a particular number and for every month that you stay with them, the ETF drops by a certain amount.

Anyway, as part of this contract, once you stay with your contact for a certain time, might be the full 2 years, you are eligible for the upgrade and also to unlock the phone to use on any carrier or sell if you wish.

If you were to try to sell your phone and it was locked, it won't get you as much money as an unlocked phone that can be taken from AT&T to T-Mobile and so on..

From your day to day use of the phone, unlocking it does absolutely nothing.

 

[kelly0523]

In the US, when you buy a phone on a regular 2 year contract, you are stuck with that contract for 2 years and also stuck with a phone that only works with that carrier.

If you wanted to opt-out of that contact, you're imposed a early termination free (ETF). Back in the day, this used to be a hard and high number like $375 or whatever. Over time, the carriers have come up with creative ways of dealing with this. A lot of them now start with a particular number and for every month that you stay with them, the ETF drops by a certain amount.

Anyway, as part of this contract, once you stay with your contact for a certain time, might be the full 2 years, you are eligible for the upgrade and also to unlock the phone to use on any carrier or sell if you wish.

If you were to try to sell your phone and it was locked, it won't get you as much money as an unlocked phone that can be taken from AT&T to T-Mobile and so on..

From your day to day use of the phone, unlocking it does absolutely nothing.

OK, that makes sense. Thank you. I will go ahead and submit a request to have it unlocked then.