Sieghard, I appreciate this explanation very much.
Can you explain how the CDMA and GSM chips issue affect this? In the States, I am on Verizon (which I understand is CDMA), but I don't believe I can use A T &T or Sprint or T-Mobile (which I believe are GSM). So, even if I have Verizon unlock my phone, I'm still limited to Verizon (as I understand it), which would only benefit me by getting out from under a 2-ear contract when that expires. Am I way off here? I'd appreciate any clarification. Thanks. Keith -----Original Message----- From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Sieghard Weitzel Sent: Friday, March 29, 2013 2:27 PM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: RE: rumor or not? Hi Pablo, There is absolutely no advantage to buying an unlocked phone unless you plan to travel to other countries where you might want to temporarily remove your carrier's SIM card and insert one from a carrier in the country you are visiting. There may also be an advantage to buying an unlocked phone at full price from Apple direct if you don't want to commit to a 2-year contract or if you plan to maybe use your phone for a year or so with one carrier and then to switch to a different carrier. If you have bought an unlocked phone at full price from Apple you can walk into any carrier's store, buy a SIM Card and activate the phone on whichever service they offer without any commitment. I have an unlocked 4S and when I bought it I was with Telus here in Canada which is one of the big 3 carriers. About a year later I decided to switch to Koodo which works on the Telus network and the company is even owned by Telus, but operates like an MVNO. I was able to do this simply by going to a Koodo booth which exist in most major malls in the larger cities and I just picked a plan, they offered me a free SIM card and after I signed the paperwork for my new month-to-month plan with no long term contract I was done. Inside of 20 minutes I had service from my new provider. As another example, I am going to Thailand in 2 weeks on holidays. I already found out online that most of the major providers there have 24-hour stores right at the airport because tourism is such a big industry there. I will go to one of these providers, buy a SIM card for $2 or $3 and a package which will give me unlimited data and some SMS and talk time and once again all I have to do is take my Koodo SIM Card out and put in the SIM from the Thai carrier. When I get back home I reverse the process and I'm back on my normal carrier's network. However, at least here in Canada most carriers will even unlock your subsidized phone nowadays after as little as 30 days so that makes buying a phone at full price even less attractive. As long as I don't have to put in a different SIM a week after I buy it, I could buy a phone on contract for a reduced price, then after 30 days I call my carrier and tell them that I am going to travel for a few weeks and want my phone unlocked. They do so and I can put in a SIM in another country, then put in my carrier's SIM when I get back. The only thing I can't do with this scenario unless I am willing to pay the cancellation penalty is to cancel my contract and go to another carrier. Regards, Sieghard -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. To search the VIPhone public archive, visit http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. To search the VIPhone public archive, visit http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
