So, I'm going iPhone

[A.Nonymous]

Yeah, I'm switching to the iPhone. At least for a couple of days. My brother (who is on T-Mobile) desperately wants a 4S for graduation. I've been told I can get a VZW 4S, have VZW unlock it and it'll work on TMobile. So I burned an upgrade and bought one for him. It should come in within the next couple of days. Then I'll have to play with getting it unlocked and confirm it'll actually run on T-Mobile.

I do plan on actually using the thing for a couple of days. I've had an iTouch many moons ago, but I've never had an actual iPhone of my own to play with. I'm interested in how different the experience is over Android. I've gotten used to how integrated Android is with all the Google stuff I use and how my DInc 2 just works. I'm sure with it being a new phone, there will be stuff I'll have to screw with.

Any general advice for getting VZW to unlock the phone or just for making this (temporary) transition? I will admit that if I find the iPhone to be far superior of an experience to Android, I'm just going to keep the dang thing. I want something that works well at the end o the day and I couldn't care less what OS it has. Android has served me very well up to this point though. I'm already thinking of how much I'll miss widgets.

 

[MSUgEEk]

I may be 100% completely wrong here, but there's no way you can get a Verizon iPhone and unlock it to work on T-Mobile. Verizon is CDMA and T-mobile is GSM. The two versions are not compatible. Unless there's some trick I'm unaware of, you cannot do what you are talking about. So take a step back and change those plans. If you burn an upgrade on an iPhone, then you are stuck with it for 2 years and with Apple unveiling a new one soon, I would hang on for a little while if you are considering one for yourself.

 

[A.Nonymous]

The 4S is a world phone. At least that's what I've been told.

 

[MSUgEEk]

I was thinking iPhone 4. My apologies. However, you might want to read this:

How U.S. Carriers Fool You Into Thinking Your iPhone 4S Is Unlocked - Forbes

Strict policies in place for iPhone 4s from Verizon.

Quote from article

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.

What consumers need to understand is that there are actually four different versions of the iPhone 4S: Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and Apple. Only the Apple phone, available from their stores or on-line, is fully unlocked and can be used on any carrier outside the United States. The other phones are permanently locked and cannot ever be used on another carrier in the U.S. Even if you spend $800 for an unlocked phone as I did and dedicate it to a single U.S. carrier, you are locked into that carrier forever if you want to keep using the iPhone. Neither Apple or the other carriers will fully unlock your carrier phone.

 

[A.Nonymous]

I've seen stories like that as well. I've also seen people online who claim that isn't the fact. If you google "Use verizon iphone on tmobile" and I see people who claim they have done it or are doing it after getting VZW to unlock the phone for international use. Whether that is true or not I don't know. I definitely plan on testing it out before I give it as a gift.

 

[MSUgEEk]

I've seen stories like that as well. I've also seen people online who claim that isn't the fact. If you google "Use verizon iphone on tmobile" and I see people who claim they have done it or are doing it after getting VZW to unlock the phone for international use. Whether that is true or not I don't know. I definitely plan on testing it out before I give it as a gift.

Good luck!

 

[netlinkz]

It seems his mind was already made up. He just needed someone to say yes.....

 

[A.Nonymous]

Good luck!

I may need it!

If it doesn't work, I'll return it.

 

[Hrethgir]

Did you ask Verizon if they can even do that before buying? I would have gone straight to them before the internet!

 

[A.Nonymous]

I have a feeling if I call VZW and say, "Hey, can I buy an iPhone from you and put it on T-Mobile?" They'll tell me no whether that's true or not.

 

[Stuntman]

My wife recently got an iPhone 4S. I helped her move her contacts and ring tone over from her old Galaxy Q. I found this process to be rather painful, convoluted and unintuitive. To move contacts, you have to use your GMail account to export to a .vcf file that Apple products can read. There is an option in GMail to do this. If your contacts are on your SD card, you have to export it to a .vcf file that Apple cannot read, import it into GMail and then via GMail export to an Apple readable format.

Don't bother with your ring tone if you are only using it for a few days. It's not worth the trouble for just a few days.

 

[Yeahha]

All I can find about this is where people are using foriegn SIM cards while in the US and they connect to T-mo/AT&T as part of global roaming agreements. I fear that it will still be carrier locked for you if you try to use a domestic SIM, it just wouldn't work but with a foreign SIM it would show as connected to a domestic network obviously.

Lucky for you iPhones keep their value more or less so if it doesn't work you can always sell it for little loss.

Good luck getting it to work.

 

[A.Nonymous]

All I can find about this is where people are using foriegn SIM cards while in the US and they connect to T-mo/AT&T as part of global roaming agreements. I fear that it will still be carrier locked for you if you try to use a domestic SIM, it just wouldn't work but with a foreign SIM it would show as connected to a domestic network obviously.

Lucky for you iPhones keep their value more or less so if it doesn't work you can always sell it for little loss.

Good luck getting it to work.

The more I look that's kind of what I'm finding too. Everyone agrees that the four iPHones (VZW, ATT, Sprint and unlocked) all have identical hardware. However, it looks like TMobile cards don't work in carrier unlocked phones most of the time. I've found some people who claim they work for voice, but data is on Edge which is fine and other people who say it doesn't work period. Why must carriers all be evil?? Why?

 

[Yeahha]

They don't want to help you pay for a phone then take it somewhere else would be nice if they could just all have phones that worked on any network I agree.

 

[A.Nonymous]

They don't want to help you pay for a phone then take it somewhere else would be nice if they could just all have phones that worked on any network I agree.

By buying the phone I signed a two year deal w/an ETF. They could also put in a clause that if you leave in 6 mos (or whatever) you add the cost of the phone on top of that. They can keep you locked in without locking your phone to their network. Apparently even if you get a VZW phone unlocked for overseas use a foreign sim doesn't work unless the phone can access the VZW network over wifi to "get permission" to work. I feel like someone is in the back room plotting something involving sharks with laser beams.

 

[Yeahha]

It goes back to being able to use the phone you "own" as you want as long as you don't want to use it in a way you want that conflicts with how they want you to use the phone...I think I said that right.

I often side for carrier rights for network use but gimping any phone to prevent it from being used on a network it has the capability to work on is going too far IMO and I can kinda see their reasoning yet don't agree with it.

Realistically you could use your upgrade to buy a brand new phone then keep your old phone activated and sell the other one at full price or close to it if you wanted to. As long as you keep the contract active for the rest of the contract period there shouldn't be any issue with that phone...

 

[A.Nonymous]

It goes back to being able to use the phone you "own" as you want as long as you don't want to use it in a way you want that conflicts with how they want you to use the phone...I think I said that right.

I often side for carrier rights for network use but gimping any phone to prevent it from being used on a network it has the capability to work on is going too far IMO and I can kinda see their reasoning yet don't agree with it.

Realistically you could use your upgrade to buy a brand new phone then keep your old phone activated and sell the other one at full price or close to it if you wanted to. As long as you keep the contract active for the rest of the contract period there shouldn't be any issue with that phone...

As I said, carriers can easily lock you in with ETFs and other fees if that's what they want. They can say that if you break your contract, you pay the ETF PLUS the pro-rated cost of the phone if they want and really stick it to people. Locking someone's phone down goes too far IMO.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that carriers should lock customers in by doing crazy things like offering great prices, great service, great plans, great coverage, great handsets and making customers not want to leave. I know that's crazy though.

 

[Yeahha]

As I said, carriers can easily lock you in with ETFs and other fees if that's what they want. They can say that if you break your contract, you pay the ETF PLUS the pro-rated cost of the phone if they want and really stick it to people. Locking someone's phone down goes too far IMO.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that carriers should lock customers in by doing crazy things like offering great prices, great service, great plans, great coverage, great handsets and making customers not want to leave. I know that's crazy though.

A carrier keeping customers by offering service that is exceptional in all ways. pure madness I say where is the us vs them big carrier vs average Joe mentality there? You should know in the cell phone world things like logic, reason, and just general niceness is not only frowned upon but also shunned.:rofl:

I look forward to someone like you becoming CEO for a large cell carrier just to watch the FCC become so confused at the radical changes that would be proposed

 

[A.Nonymous]

I would be a horrible carrier CEO.

"First order of business. We're not going to be evil any more."
"Umm, ok. So we're not working with Apple any more?
"Guess not."
"Or Microsoft"
"Nope."
"Probably rules out Motorola, Samsung and HTC too."
"Yep."
"So our only phone is going to be the Galaxy Nexus sold unlocked from Google?"
"I fail to see the problem with that."

 

[ashykat]

My wife recently got an iPhone 4S. I helped her move her contacts and ring tone over from her old Galaxy Q. I found this process to be rather painful, convoluted and unintuitive. To move contacts, you have to use your GMail account to export to a .vcf file that Apple products can read. There is an option in GMail to do this. If your contacts are on your SD card, you have to export it to a .vcf file that Apple cannot read, import it into GMail and then via GMail export to an Apple readable format.

Don't bother with your ring tone if you are only using it for a few days. It's not worth the trouble for just a few days.

If all of your contacts are in gmail already there's no reason to do everything you did above. When setting up your gmail account on the iPhone, instead of choosing "Gmail" from the list, select Microsoft Exchange. Put your gmail address in as the username and put in your password, leave "domain" blank. Tap next, the server field will pop up, put "m.google.com" in there, tap next. You'll now have the option to sync your gmail contacts with the iPhone. Super easy.

 

[Yeahha]

You could likely work out some carrier OEM agreements to keep boot loaders unlocked or unlockable and not allow bloatware. OEM UI would be difficult to get rid of but you might be able to get it to be easy to be removed or disabled.

 

[A.Nonymous]

Honestly, it would be subtler to just release phones that didn't have the competitors basebands in them. That would be more expensive to manufacture though. I can't think of any logical reason why four phones with the exact same hardware shouldn't be able to be used on every carrier though. That's just pure evil and it's not coming from Apple this time either.

 

[Yeahha]

I think it has to do with branding at least when it comes to Android. Vzw doesn't want their "Droid" to be seen on another network...just as Sprint doesn't want their "EVO" to be used elsewhere. Then from an OEM standpoint they can make more money releasing many variants of the same phone because the consumer may choose to get Phone Y over Phone X because it was released more recently. Given the only difference between Phone Y and Phone W that was released 6 months ago is a slightly upgraded camera Phone Y is still "newer" in the eyes of the average consumer.

 

[A.Nonymous]

I can see where carriers are going with the branding thing, but personally I still see it as anti-consumer. If the phone has the hardware to run on X network, it should be able to run on that network and not be firmware locked. I see that as anti-consumer myself, but every network does it. If I buy your phone, you get my money. Why do you care what I do with the phone beyond that? Now, I know some people make the contract argument, but the fact is if I buy an iPhone from ATT, VZW or Sprint and I pay full price without a contract, it's STILL locked to the network I bought it from and Android phones are no different.

 

[Yeahha]

I'm in agreement that it is anti consumer. They want you locked into the contract since they will make more for the contract than you buying the phone. There are countries where you buy phones from the OEM and the OEM services them. It is up to the consumer what SIM card is used. J like that model but in the US we have network fragmentation and large corporations get "rights" to do as they please. I was trying to present the carriers side and why they would treat the situation as they do even tho I don't agree with it.