I have an iPhone 4 and will soon be getting a new 5. Since I travel internationally a good bit, it is nice to have an unlocked phone so I can buy a prepaid SIM when I land somewhere. I’ve read that AT&T will unlock iPhones for free once the two-year contact period has expired, but I want to make sure I’m not jumping into something I don’t understand.
If I ask AT&T to unlock my phone, that doesn’t affect my AT&T service in any way, does it? Can I do this any time, or should I wait until I buy my new iPhone 5? Any other warnings that you might pass along, or am I just overthinking this?
It won’t affect your service as far as I know, but when you buy your new iPhone 5, it will likely be price subsidized and come with a shiny new 2 year contract and you won’t be able to unlock it (the new phone) until the new contract is up.
I unlocked my old phone before selling it after I purchased my new one. It makes them more desirable on the used market. AT&T will do it for free with no hassles whatsoever. You need some kind of number that’s in the settings, but it’s easy to find. You don’t need to wait until you purchase your new one as long as the contract on your old one is up.
No.
You call AT&T, tell them you want to unlock it, give them the MSID, and they send a message to Apple. Then, you reset your phone in iTunes, and it becomes magically unlocked.
There is a link in this ATT support article that allows you to request the unlock online. It can take a week or two, but then as noted, you simply connect to iTunes and restore the phone.
I don’t think you need service, but no harm is done while you have service and request the unlock.
No, I had already transferred service to my new phone. I sent the request in online from AT&T’s site, they sent me an email when it was ready, and as noted above, you finish the process via iTunes.