Phone Unlocking Policy Discussion

[acadiel]

It's a new process for Sprint.  I just spoke with someone inside (whom I got from tweeting to VP Marci @ Sprint about something completely different), and they're still having issues with the tool today (Friday).  My contact is going to check back with me on Monday, and that's perfectly fine with me.  

 

So, give them a little leeway.  I know they said yesterday was the day, but unless you are going to die unless Sprint unlocks your phone right now, just wait until they work out the kinks.  I'll make sure I report back when my 5S is unlocked.  Bear with them...

[plato2876]

Never under-estimate the complexities of enterprise systems and integrations, especially those between companies. I work for a living on a ton of enterprise wide architecture projects for companies, and it never ceases to amaze me how much baggage/oddities crop up in several of them. I'm guessing when Apple and Sprint integrated to begin with, unlocking was not something that was planned for at all, so this is them working together to scramble and put something in, along with modifying a host of systems to match. Much like any enterprise projects, seldom do things go fully to schedule or plan, so I'm sure they'll get there - just takes time, to reiterate the "patience" call in the thread.

[Johnner1999]

Never under-estimate the complexities of enterprise systems and integrations, especially those between companies. I work for a living on a ton of enterprise wide architecture projects for companies, and it never ceases to amaze me how much baggage/oddities crop up in several of them. I'm guessing when Apple and Sprint integrated to begin with, unlocking was not something that was planned for at all, so this is them working together to scramble and put something in, along with modifying a host of systems to match. Much like any enterprise projects, seldom do things go fully to schedule or plan, so I'm sure they'll get there - just takes time, to reiterate the "patience" call in the thread.

 

i totally relate and agree with it... 

 

just set the tone - rather than giving out mis information.  

[Dfarley]

I went through the international unlock department and was able to get my iPhone 5 unlocked for domestic carrier use. All told it was a frustrating experience and I had to go through a few reps, but in the end I'm super excited to finally get my old phone unlocked. For what it's worth the reps that I spoke with said it would only be for international use, but I popped in both a TMobile & Verizon SIM and both worked flawlessly:

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Vince]

Yeah. The international unlock is fully unlocking DSU devices. My ISU is pending right now because their system is jacked today, so the rep claims.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[nahum365]

I went through the international unlock department and was able to get my iPhone 5 unlocked for domestic carrier use. All told it was a frustrating experience and I had to go through a few reps, but in the end I'm super excited to finally get my old phone unlocked. For what it's worth the reps that I spoke with said it would only be for international use, but I popped in both a TMobile & Verizon SIM and both worked flawlessly:

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did you have to restore your iPhone? My 6+ is supposedly ISU'd but I can't use any other SIMs in it. I'd rather not restore because I value my jailbreak haha

 

 

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[Dfarley]

Did you have to restore your iPhone? My 6+ is supposedly ISU'd but I can't use any other SIMs in it. I'd rather not restore because I value my jailbreak haha

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No, I got an email from the Sprint international unlock department saying that in the next 4 hours my phone should be unlocked. I then plugged in the TMobile SIM, turned the phone off and back on and it worked.

 

 

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[Vince]

No, I got an email from the Sprint international unlock department saying that in the next 4 hours my phone should be unlocked. I then plugged in the TMobile SIM, turned the phone off and back on and it worked.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Everyone says the unlock requires iTunes and a restore. So that's not the case?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[Dfarley]

Everyone says the unlock requires iTunes and a restore. So that's not the case?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

I was ready to go through the restore process, but I figure is just give the SIM a shot before going down that long and lonely road...and it worked! It's an inactive device and I'd reset and restored the phone previously - I don't know if that has anything to do with it.

 

This is the link that was in the email from Sprint: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5014

And even though the instructions say to back up and restore, I didn't have to for some reason.

[acadiel]

I also asked for my 4S (now with a MVNO, but used to be on my Sprint account) to be internationally unlocked on 2/16.  They said it would take approximately a week.  So, assuming they submitted it on 2/17 (the next day), it should be unlocked by 2/14 (Tuesday).  We will see

[acadiel]

Never under-estimate the complexities of enterprise systems and integrations, especially those between companies. I work for a living on a ton of enterprise wide architecture projects for companies, and it never ceases to amaze me how much baggage/oddities crop up in several of them. I'm guessing when Apple and Sprint integrated to begin with, unlocking was not something that was planned for at all, so this is them working together to scramble and put something in, along with modifying a host of systems to match. Much like any enterprise projects, seldom do things go fully to schedule or plan, so I'm sure they'll get there - just takes time, to reiterate the "patience" call in the thread.

 

+1 - especially if they never designed the functionality with this in mind.  Keep in mind, you have the development of a multi-tiered application.  You can easily have the following:

• The front end part, which needs to be easy for the reps to use
• The mid tier, which checks device status (blacklisted, paid off, etc), account status, and all the other requirements by tying into other Sprint back end systems.
• The B2B tier, which interfaces with Apple and changes the activation policy for the phone
• And all the back end Sprint databases, which house MEID/Account history, and all the stuff that the mid tier relies on to work properly.

You get a hiccup in any of that, and yeah, all the front end CS rep sees is an error.  And they can't really do anything about it.

 

Could Sprint have planned better and done better system and integration testing before this deadline?  Yeah, they probably could have.  Did they?  Who knows.  It might just be a single line of code screwing stuff up once they promoted their dev code to prod that they didn't anticipate.

 

For us IT geeks, it's easy to see all the moving parts that go into these processes... for Joe Blow consumer, though, all they see is that "Sprint won't unlock my phone and keeps stalling because they say their systems are busted."

[derrph]

No, I got an email from the Sprint international unlock department saying that in the next 4 hours my phone should be unlocked. I then plugged in the TMobile SIM, turned the phone off and back on and it worked.

 

 

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I spoke to them last night about unlocking my inactive 6 and they said the domestic takes effect immediately but when I go though the steps I still get the sim not valid message.

 

Oh well I won't worry about it right now.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[thematch]

I called in February 19 and asked for the unlock code for an iPhone 6+.  It was fully paid off from an inactive account.  They said the system was not ready but they could request the international unlock code.  

 

I received the international unlock code.  I put in a T-Mobile SIM and did a full erase content and setting.  Voila... T-Mobile works perfectly fine.  I also tried a Verizon SIM and it also worked flawlessly.  

[Vince]

I called in February 19 and asked for the unlock code for an iPhone 6+. It was fully paid off from an inactive account. They said the system was not ready but they could request the international unlock code.

 

I received the international unlock code. I put in a T-Mobile SIM and did a full erase content and setting. Voila... T-Mobile works perfectly fine. I also tried a Verizon SIM and it also worked flawlessly.

They claim my phone is unlocked, but I can't get any other sims to work to verify. I've done ##update# and even sacrificed my phone with a full restore. Nothing. I'm on the phone with Apple. They're saying many of Sprint's unlock requests aren't reaching Apple. Hmm.

 

 

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[thematch]

They claim my phone is unlocked, but I can't get any other sims to work to verify. I've done ##update# and even sacrificed my phone with a full restore. Nothing. I'm on the phone with Apple. They're saying many of Sprint's unlock requests aren't reaching Apple. Hmm.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Did you get an email from Sprint "intlunlockesc@sprint.com" confirming that they have received the unlock request from Apple? 

 

I should also specify that there was no code.  I did a full restore and had the T-Mobile SIM in went it started the activation process.

[bucdenny]

They claim my phone is unlocked, but I can't get any other sims to work to verify. I've done ##update# and even sacrificed my phone with a full restore. Nothing. I'm on the phone with Apple. They're saying many of Sprint's unlock requests aren't reaching Apple. Hmm.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I received email confirmation of unlock, reset and restored. Worked flawlessly.

[Vince]

Did you get an email from Sprint "intlunlockesc@sprint.com" confirming that they have received the unlock request from Apple?

 

I should also specify that there was no code. I did a full restore and had the T-Mobile SIM in went it started the activation process.

The email was from sww@Sprint.com

 

I'm giving up on these people for a day or two. My blood pressure has been up all weekend over this stupid unlock.

 

 

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[JustinRP37]

Big question, now that unlocking is finally here.  The iPhone 6 and 6+ unlocked version that can be purchased from Apple directly (SIM-FREE) is the Sprint variant.  This is great and will definitely help as it looks like it is also the most versatile worldwide.  However, if you purchase it outright and SIM free from Apple, how do you obtain the Sprint SIM to use on Sprint?  Right now Sprint is the only national carrier to not have a page offering SIM cards for bring your own devices.  Or if they do, it is hard to find.  This is currently a big miss, and needs to change.  One reason I took my Sprint iPad over to T-Mobile service was how easy it was to get a great promotional rate.  Now that the rate has expired, I am back on Sprint with better coverage I might add.

[ingenium]

Big question, now that unlocking is finally here. The iPhone 6 and 6+ unlocked version that can be purchased from Apple directly (SIM-FREE) is the Sprint variant. This is great and will definitely help as it looks like it is also the most versatile worldwide. However, if you purchase it outright and SIM free from Apple, how do you obtain the Sprint SIM to use on Sprint? Right now Sprint is the only national carrier to not have a page offering SIM cards for bring your own devices. Or if they do, it is hard to find. This is currently a big miss, and needs to change. One reason I took my Sprint iPad over to T-Mobile service was how easy it was to get a great promotional rate. Now that the rate has expired, I am back on Sprint with better coverage I might add.

You can request one for free through Sprint International and they'll ship it. Or go into a store and ask for one.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[JustinRP37]

You can request one for free through Sprint International and they'll ship it. Or go into a store and ask for one.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Needs to be streamlined and offered online just like with the other national carriers.  No reason why it cannot be.

[WiWavelength]

Needs to be streamlined and offered online just like with the other national carriers.  No reason why it cannot be.

 

Too many Sprint handsets still floating around have non removable SIMs.  Moreover, CDMA2000 provisioning is done separately.  Until enough time has passed that those devices are almost all in the technology graveyard, Sprint widely offering SIMs online could prove confusing to a lot of current or potential users.

 

AJ

[thematch]

The email was from sww@Sprint.com

 

I'm giving up on these people for a day or two. My blood pressure has been up all weekend over this stupid unlock.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That is not the email I received.

 

Mine says:

 

This email is intended to confirm that Sprint has successfully submitted the request to unlock the device to Apple. Within 4 hours, your device will be ready to unlock so please follow the steps in both of the Apple support articles below to complete the device unlock your phone. This will unlock the iPhone you requested for international use. Please note inserting and testing the international SIM while here in the US will not work. You will need to be in the foreign country before you can test the unlock. If you do have any trouble at that point please contact the number below.

 

 

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[Johnner1999]

i’ve been working one person since Saturday — and I feel bad for Sprint employees — I mean Sprint has some of the worst follow through, both public and internally 

 

was told i’d be set today at noon… nope. 

[Vince]

i’ve been working one person since Saturday — and I feel bad for Sprint employees — I mean Sprint has some of the worst follow through, both public and internally

 

was told i’d be set today at noon… nope.

I just spoke with my 7th representative. She told me no other unlock requests have gone through. She claims hers did, and I needed to pull a carrier update via ##update# to pull down the unlock. She assured me it worked. Our call got disconnected almost like the push happened automatically and cut us off. Unfortunately, I'm at work with no sim to test it out. I'll edit back early tomorrow morning.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[acadiel]

I talked to my senior advisor that is working with engineering today. She had me do a ##clear# - and the 5S shows up as unlocked on Sprint's side, but not on Apple's. So will probably get a follow up tomorrow.