That is correct, once your contract is up your carrier is as far as I know obligated to unlock your phone if you request it. Once it is unlocked you could put in any SIM Card and it would work.
Actually, here in Canada you can request an unlock 90 days after you sign up for a contract. Of course this does not mean you can then take the phone to another carrier and get out of your contract, but if for example you travel to another country where you might want to buy a SIM from a local provider than youcan do that. You can also buy an unlocked phone which is what I am doing. Of course you have to pay the full price for the phone, but in North America this can work out to your advantage if you can find an MVNO which offers you a really good deal. I get my service from a company called Koodo here in Canada. They are actually owned by Telus who is one of the 3 major carriers, but their prices are much lower. I pay $50 for unlimited calling, texting, voice mail, call display and 2 Gb of data. I would pay approx. $35 a month more for the same from Telus which means over a 24 months contract I would pay $840 more. Add to that the $439 Canadian I would pay for a subsidized 64 Gb iPhone 5S and my total cost for the phone on contract is $1,279. Buying the phone unlocked directly from Apple with no contract cost me $919 Canadian, so $360 less. I also have an unlocked phone without contract so if 6 months down the road another MVNO offered a better deal I could just switch to them. I pay more upfront, but less overall and I can do as I please with my phone. Regards, Sieghard From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Billy Maynard Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2013 8:18 AM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: AT&T hi, I thought iPhones were configured for specific carriers? is that what unlocking a phone means? removing said configuration? Sorry, this is my first iPhone and contract phone. My 2 years are not up yet. Billy Maynard ----- Original Message ----- From: Cristóbal <mailto:crismuno...@gmail.com> To: viphone@googlegroups.com Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2013 10:02 AM Subject: RE: AT&T No. You can save some money by taking your off contract phone to an MVNO. Ting, Boost, Cricket, etc. From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Crystal French Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2013 7:27 AM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: AT&T Hi, I had the iPhone 4 and AT&T. I had been out of contract for a long time before upgrading to the 5s a few weeks ago. After my contract had ended my bill remained the same. When I decided to upgrade to the 5s, I asked if my plan would change. I was told no. However, I decided to review my plan, and made some changes. The main change was to the number of minutes I was using. Everything else still remained the same. So, from the time I got my iPhone 4 until a few weeks ago, my monthly bill had remained exactly the same. Hope that helps. If you have been on the same plan like I had been for several years, it might be worth your time to at least, review it. Crystal From: Brent Harding <mailto:br...@hostany.net> Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2013 8:58 AM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: AT&T I don't think the bill really goes down after the contract ends. It probably stays the same. I think every carrier is like this. Even if you bought a phone out right, I think you still pay the same price per month for service as if it was a subsidized phone, but I could be wrong on that one. ----- Original Message ----- From: Tom Rash <mailto:dadinthed...@verizon.net> To: viphone@googlegroups.com Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2013 8:46 AM Subject: AT&T I've been with AT&T Wireless since 2010. I bought under contract my 3GS, two years later 4s, and my contract is up in Feb, 2014. If I keep my 4S, will my monthly bill go down? Thinking of waiting until the end of next year to upgrade with a possible newer iPhone and lower my bill for a bit. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. Post a new message to VIPhone by emailing viphone@googlegroups.com. Search and view the VIPhone archives by visiting http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. Reach the VIPhone owner and moderators by emailing viphone+ow...@googlegroups.com. Unsubscribe and leave VIPhone by emailing viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. More VIPhone group options can be found by visiting 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. 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