Carrier Wide Unlocking policy

[derrph]

With the FCC and Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon have agreed to this new unlocking policy. How does this effect sprint phones such as the IPhone. I have heard that Sprint can unlock your phone but you can not take it to other carriers such as Verizon and the IPhone can only be used overseas.  (Correct me if I am wrong). I am glad that this has finally happened. But when it comes to Sprint how would this work?

[Dfarley]

With the FCC and Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon have agreed to this new unlocking policy. How does this effect sprint phones such as the IPhone. I have heard that Sprint can unlock your phone but you can not take it to other carriers such as Verizon and the IPhone can only be used overseas. (Correct me if I am wrong). I am glad that this has finally happened. But when it comes to Sprint how would this work?

I'm not sure if anybody really knows yet - as soon as I saw the Story come out from Reuters today I contacted Dan@Sprint to revisit an issue I opened back in May about unlocking my old iPhone 4S for domestic use. They couldn't fix it then and they couldn't do anything for me today, but the lady did acknowledge the new agreement and said to continue to check back regularly to see when Sprint updates their unlocking policies to comply with today's agreement. Here's the article I'm referencing: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9BB05320131212?irpc=932

[ufergus]

It seems like the intent of the new policy would enable Sprint world phones to be unlocked and used domestically, but i guess we need to wait and see...  My wife has a new Moto X that was paid in full.  There should be nothing stopping her from using a domestic GSM SIM if desired.  

[Conan Kudo]

Unfortunately, Sprint requests manufacturers to do evil things like this:

 

 

Note: The GSM/EDGE/WCDMA network functions have been disabled by firmware and are SIM locked for all US operators.

SIM unlocking will do you no good if you can't access the functionality anyway. This "commitment" doesn't address that at all. It's worthless.

[WiWavelength]

Unfortunately, Sprint requests manufacturers to do evil things like this:

 

 

SIM unlocking will do you no good if you can't access the functionality anyway. This "commitment" doesn't address that at all. It's worthless.

 

Give me a break, Neal.  Doing so on subsidized handsets is not at all "evil."  It is a countermeasure against fraud and bad debt.

 

And basically all Sprint handsets are subsidized.  So, Sprint has no reason to enable people to move their partially compatible handsets over to domestic "GSM" operators.

 

If this is such a stick up your ass, then start drafting a law that would forbid wireless operators from subsidizing, financing, or selling devices.  I would love to see that.  They all need to get out of the consumer electronics business.

 

AJ

[Conan Kudo]

Give me a break, Neal.  Doing so on subsidized handsets is not at all "evil."  It is a countermeasure against fraud and bad debt.

 

And basically all Sprint handsets are subsidized.  So, Sprint has no reason to enable people to move their partially compatible handsets over to domestic "GSM" operators.

 

If this is such a stick up your ass, then start drafting a law that would forbid wireless operators from subsidizing, financing, or selling devices.  I would love to see that.  They all need to get out of the consumer electronics business.

 

AJ

Well, Verizon doesn't do it anymore, and you don't see truckloads of fraud from it. AT&T and T-Mobile never did that. I never said that SIM locking is evil. I said disabling the functionality built into the hardware is. A normal SIM lock works well enough to prevent people from switching operators before the subsidy is paid off. I'm not disputing that at all. Sprint (and previously Verizon) went above and beyond that.

[Fraydog]

Sprint is going to move to unsubsidized models that separate device financing from monthly plan cost over time eventually, the problem is unlocked Sprint phones, with notable exceptions, have is that they don't have a lot of different other carriers they work on. I anticipate this will change over time, however. Sprint's new owners are far more open to unlocking than Sprint was independent of other companies.

[Thomas L.]

Give me a break, Neal.  Doing so on subsidized handsets is not at all "evil."  It is a countermeasure against fraud and bad debt.

 

And basically all Sprint handsets are subsidized.  So, Sprint has no reason to enable people to move their partially compatible handsets over to domestic "GSM" operators.

 

If this is such a stick up your ass, then start drafting a law that would forbid wireless operators from subsidizing, financing, or selling devices.  I would love to see that.  They all need to get out of the consumer electronics business.

 

AJ

 

But Sprint gains back that subsidy over time in service fees, that's why they require a contract. After that contract is up they really have no excuse to keep the device locked.

[Thomas L.]

Well, Verizon doesn't do it anymore, and you don't see truckloads of fraud from it. AT&T and T-Mobile never did that. I never said that SIM locking is evil. I said disabling the functionality built into the hardware is. A normal SIM lock works well enough to prevent people from switching operators before the subsidy is paid off. I'm not disputing that at all. Sprint (and previously Verizon) went above and beyond that.

 

Remember that Verizon only changed it because they were legally obligated to by the FCC as a condition of the digital dividend spectrum they won.

[Conan Kudo]

Remember that Verizon only changed it because they were legally obligated to by the FCC as a condition of the digital dividend spectrum they won.

That is true. But I expect better from Sprint. I shouldn't need a federal mandate to force that practice to go away...

[haris163]

Long story short, my friend's iPhone 4s (out of contract) should be fully (domestic and internationally) unlockable according to Apple, but Sprint is choosing not to fully unlock it. We wish that Sprint will start implementing the new policy they agreed to soon. In the meantime, we are looking for a third party service to do the unlock without jailbreaking or sim modifications. Any suggestions?

[MacinJosh]

Long story short, my friend's iPhone 4s (out of contract) should be fully (domestic and internationally) unlockable according to Apple, but Sprint is choosing not to fully unlock it. We wish that Sprint will start implementing the new policy they agreed to soon. In the meantime, we are looking for a third party service to do the unlock without jailbreaking or sim modifications. Any suggestions?

I have never been able to find any service for a complete unlock of Sprint phones online.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[acadiel]

Any updates on this policy yet? Would be nice to get a Sprint iPhone 4S unlocked formally by the carrier :-)

[Conan Kudo]

Sprint still tells me that they have no ability to unlock devices it sells. 

[acadiel]

Sprint still tells me that they have no ability to unlock devices it sells. 

 

If anyone hears about the implementation about the CTIA order, please post it.  

 

There are six principles:

1) Disclosure - Must post requirements for unlocking for both prepaid and postpaid on their website

2) Postpaid unlocking policy

3) Prepaid unlocking policy

4) Notice - notifying customers when their device is eligible for unlocking, and automatically unlock the device when it becomes eligible for unlocking (!?).  

5) Response time - two day turnaround

6) Deployed personnel unlocking policy

 

They are supposed to implement three of the above principles within 3 months of the CTIA document (December 12th, so that means by March 12th).  The rest need to be implemented within 12 months of the CTIA document (December 12th).

[Rawvega]

Personally, I think Sprint should make all of their handsets with the requisite GSM/UMTS bands capable of domestic unlocking (once contracts or whatnot have been fulfilled). It's not something that they'd advertise or that all of the casual users would really appreciate or care about. However, they'd be able to tell the tech media that Verizon was forced to do it because of the rules of their band 13 spectrum purchase, while they're choosing to do it of their own volition. That might resonate with them and perhaps get some of the naysayer writers to soften their stance about the company.

 

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

 

 

[acadiel]

Well, they just updated their unlocking policy again...

 

http://www.sprint.com/legal/unlocking_policy.html

 

I love this... who's writing this crap (in bold)?  Really?  No technological process available?  It's called "Ask Apple to unlock it."  Apple themselves has admitted the carriers control the process for asking Apple to unlock the device.  Wow.

 

I've been told by another carrier that Sprint needs to unlock my SIM slot in order to use my phone on the other carrier's network.
For eligible devices, Sprint will unlock the SIM slot, to the extent that a device SIM slot is capable of being unlocked. It is important to note that not all devices are capable of being unlocked, often because of the manufacturers' device designs, and that even for those devices capable of being unlocked, not all device functionality may be capable of being unlocked. Specifically, devices manufactured with a SIM slot within the past three years (including, but not limited to, all Apple iPhone devices), cannot be unlocked to accept a different domestic carrier's SIM for use on another domestic carrier's network. Sprint has no technological process available to do this. In accordance with Sprint's voluntary commitment contained within CTIA's Consumer Code for Wireless Service (“Unlocking Commitment”), Sprint is working to ensure that all devices developed and launched on or after February 11, 2015 are capable of being unlocked domestically.

[burnout8488]

I was able to use a Chinese GPP Sim interposer to get my Sprint 4S to work on ATT last year. Is Sprint's limitation only the fact that they can't perform this unlock via a software push?

[Terrell352]

This is what happens when you have the only iphone that wont unlock domestically.

http://www.channelpartnersonline.com/news/2014/04/verizon-tops-rival-carriers-for-most-activations.aspx

[Conan Kudo]

Well, they just updated their unlocking policy again...

 

http://www.sprint.com/legal/unlocking_policy.html

 

I love this... who's writing this crap (in bold)?  Really?  No technological process available?  It's called "Ask Apple to unlock it."  Apple themselves has admitted the carriers control the process for asking Apple to unlock the device.  Wow.

 

I've been told by another carrier that Sprint needs to unlock my SIM slot in order to use my phone on the other carrier's network.

For eligible devices, Sprint will unlock the SIM slot, to the extent that a device SIM slot is capable of being unlocked. It is important to note that not all devices are capable of being unlocked, often because of the manufacturers' device designs, and that even for those devices capable of being unlocked, not all device functionality may be capable of being unlocked. Specifically, devices manufactured with a SIM slot within the past three years (including, but not limited to, all Apple iPhone devices), cannot be unlocked to accept a different domestic carrier's SIM for use on another domestic carrier's network. Sprint has no technological process available to do this. In accordance with Sprint's voluntary commitment contained within CTIA's Consumer Code for Wireless Service (“Unlocking Commitment”), Sprint is working to ensure that all devices developed and launched on or after February 11, 2015 are capable of being unlocked domestically.

This is total bull crap. Not only is there no such inability by Sprint to unlock devices for domestic GSM/UMTS/LTE carriers, they are outright lying to everyone saying it'll take two years to implement.

[Paynefanbro]

This is the article from AndroidPolice

 

http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/04/21/psa-sprint-is-planning-to-make-all-its-devices-from-february-11-2015-onward-domestically-unlockable/

[joshnys8913]

Fevruary?

[JimBob]

Fevruary?

Yes.

[COZisBack]

Fixed that Fevruary for ya. Thought there was a Subway Commercial going on or something....

 

Queue my inner AJ in 5....4.....3....2....1....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkQgGhrZ_Zo

[UserDemos]

Great news! With all the new bands from the Roaming Hub that should be getting added and now this, I can finally have a phone to use on my GSM carrier and Sprint all with the swap of a SIM.