So far, I’ve stayed out of the deluge of iPhone blog postings and press coverage mainly because I’m not currently in the U.S. Though my U.S. cell phone provider is CingularAT&T and I’ve been starry eyed over the Apple iPhone since it was first announced, I can’t begin to imagine getting a gorgeous, $600 phone and not being able to use it when I’m outside the U.S.
I can understand carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint locking consumers into a contract period because they’ve subsidized the cost of the phone but the Apple iPhone is NOT subsidized in any way. Hence, I, as the customer, can be required to sign a two year agreement with AT&T only because Apple and AT&T have an exclusive arrangement. However, I should NOT be limited by having a crippled device that I can’t use while overseas or if I choose to break my AT&T contract, pay the early termination charges, and move to another GSM carrier.
I’ve only used unlocked phones for the past 3 years and the phones that I bought from Cingular have been unlocked by Cingular. I could be wrong, but I believe that U.S. cell phone providers must provide you with an unlock code for your phone under certain circumstances. These circumstances can include, 1) your contract period has ended, 2) you’ve decided to terminate your contract early and pay the associated fees, 3) you are traveling overseas and need to use your phone without expensive roaming charges.
Last year, before I bought my unlocked Nokia E61, I called Cingular and explained to them that I would be in India for almost three months and needed to use my Motorola SLVR with a local Indian SIM card. It took a little convincing but I was given the unlock/subsidy lock code for the phone immediately.
This past spring, when my mother was traveling, I did the same thing. However, this time Cingular (not yet AT&T at that point) told me that their policies had changed and it would take 7 to 10 business days to get the code. It wound up taking much longer (closer to a month or more) and there were always excuses as to why the code wasn’t provided, but at the end of the day, my mother’s Motorola RAZR was unlocked by Cingular.
If AT&T and Apple won’t support their customers with unlock codes then repeated calls, letters and emails to customer service is a good place to start, though an aggravating one. I can’t imagine that AT&T and Apple will not provide unlock codes to valid customers on a need by need basis. If you’re not willing or able to be an AT&T customer, then not having an iPhone is the price to pay since this is their business arrangement. Otherwise, hack away and hope something doesn’t go horribly wrong.
UPDATE: AT&T says they don’t have the unlock codes and only Apple has them. Apple says that they will not provide unlock codes under any circumstances. However, this is not a problem any longer if you’re planning to stay with firmware 1.02 of the Apple iPhone. Just get on Google and do a few searches on unlocking the iPhone. There are open source and commercial ways of doing this, though it could void your warranty with Apple.
