Who should read this?
Why you should read this
Preface
So what's my story?
What is wrong with this scenario?
What AT&T says
Why AT&T refuses to unlock the iPhone 3G
What Apple says
Her (Apple's unofficial) suggestions?
So what can be done [to unlock the iPhone]?
Turbo SIM
Soft-Unlock
What can be done moving forward?
A thank you to AT&T and Apple
Disclaimer
Who should read this?
International travelers who have purchased an AT&T iPhone 3G and want to use it abroad in countries with networks authorized for iPhone use
Why you should read this:
If we speak out against the unjutice that's being done through preventing us from exercising freedom of choice maybe we can effect change.
Preface:
Firstly, thank you to Apple and AT&T for bringing the iPhone to the world. Behind my Macbook Pro this is my second favorite consumer electronic device, ever. Apple, you rock for this.
And as for service, I have used cellphones for almost a decade and a half and have done business with a number of different service providers. AT&T is not perfect, but I have been pleased with the overall quality of service and would still be doing business with AT&T if I were still in the US.
So what's my story?
Like a lot of other enthusiasts, on July 11th, 2008, I waited for hours in line to be among the first in the world to get my hands on a new iPhone 3G. Yes, I was probably silly for dragging my girlfriend out there with me at 6AM, but aside from being a little sleep deprived it was a good time. (we went out to eat a nice breakfast afterward :-)
But in early August, 2008, I moved away from the US and had to cancel my contract with AT&T. I spent about an hour and a half on the phone while they transferred me to various "international solutions" departments, promising me great deals that would enable me to use my iPhone while living outside of the US. haha Yeah, right.
For the low, low, price of only $1.49 per minute I could still use my iPhone. Yeah, no. Don't get me started on the great deals they offered me on data...
So legally, I terminated my contract with AT&T by paying $175, I did not owe AT&T anything more, and the iPhone 3G was mine to keep. Right?
Well, without a service agreement the iPhone is basically an overpriced iPod Touch. With purchase price, activation fees, Applecare, monthly service charges, I had spent maybe around $750-800 on this "overpriced iPod Touch." Surely the rape of the century - you know what I mean?
What is wrong with this scenario?
After thinking about how much I paid for my new "iPod Touch" I began to look around on the Internet for possible solutions. There must be a way to unlock my phone and begin to use it to make calls and surf the Net while away from my home and work networks, right?
Well in a sense, yes, but I'll get to that momentarily. Following is what really opened up my eyes to the injustice being done by AT&T in the US regarding their refusal to unlock the iPhone:
Telcos are currently selling unlocked and unlockable iPhones, and Apple is selling pre-unlocked iPhones through the Hong Kong Apple Store (following quote from the site).
iPhone 3G purchased at the Apple Online Store can be activated with any wireless carrier. Simply insert the SIM from your current phone into iPhone 3G and connect to iTunes 8 to complete activation.Finding this angered me more than anything else, because although the 16G iPhone 3Gs being sold through the Apple Online Store in HK retail for about $800, I had already spent nearly that in the less than 2 months I owned and used the iPhone while in the US.
Back in October when I first found out about legally unlocked iPhone 3Gs being sold across the globe I called Apple to find out what was up for myself.
Miraculously, the first girl I spoke with told me that AT&T gave out "authorized unlock codes," which made sense, but was something I hadn't seen anywhere on the Internet. Maybe I was one of the first few to request this after Hong Kong started selling legally unlocked iPhones, and I could now get mine legally unlocked, too, right??!!!
No.
The Applecare girl, me, and the AT&T rep spent about 30 mins on the phone arguing about whether or not authorized unlocks had been given, and we got nowhere, really fast. I don't even want to get into the details of this first of about 4 conversations I had with multiple reps that night.
But in case it helps I'll try to summarize the about 3 hours I spent on the phone that night, below. And yes, I know I'm not going to get that 3 hours of my life back, but I hope that it wasn't spent in vain and that I'll be able to help some other people out there who are experiencing my same plight.
What AT&T says:
AT&T says that the iPhone 3G cannot be unlocked. Here's a link to a page on their site saying as much. AT&T at first said that it was simply impossible to unlock the phone, and that the technology didn't exist. Hah! I caught them in a lie!
You see, Apple, at the time (when I made this call), had a page showing all of the worldwide carriers selling iPhone 3Gs. This page included a big chart illustrating the differences between each carrier, including which telcos sold phones that could be unlocked upon request. This page has since been changed and it is very difficult to find out which telcos will sell phones that can be unlocked, but the fact remains that telcos can and do unlock iPhone 3Gs upon request.
When I most patiently pointed this out to the AT&T rep, they immediately shot back that Apple didn't give them the technology to do this. Since the Applecare rep wasn't on the line with us anymore at that point it was probably a convenient thing to say. There was not a whole lot I could do at that point so instead of arguing about what Apple did or didn't do for AT&T, I simply asked why AT&T didn't ask for the technology to do it, since other telcos around the world were offering this service for their customers.
I mean, is AT&T less technologically sophisticated than the other iPhone 3G-selling carriers who can offer authorized unlocks to their customers??
After navigating up the ladder in AT&T's customer care division, I finally got on the phone with the head of the entire division. She was a really nice woman, and I appreciate her level of patience.
The #1 question I had for her was why AT&T refuses to unlock the iPhone 3G. I finally got an answer to this question after probably a half hour of being on the phone with her, but she refuesed to email me any documentation supporting her statement, which follows:
"AT&T will not unlock the iPhone 3G for theft prevention and cost recovery."
Hmm, not a very good reason, but I couldn't get any further than the head of the Customer Care Division that night, so that was pretty much the end of the road.
What Apple says:
If AT&T wasn't going to unlock my iPhone 3G, then certainly Apple could help me out, right? I mean, why not just send me the firmware in the iPhones being sold in Hong Kong, or the rest of the world, and let me use my iPhone again? Or what about having me take the iPhone into the nearest Applestore and have an authorized rep do it for me?
The first thing the Applecare rep mentioned is that since not every country and not every telco can support the iPhone on their networks, Apple can't make any guarantees about quality of service. i.e. The iPhone isn't guaranteed to work on all networks.
Well this is fine, but the iPhones are being sold in a lot of countries. In fact, in Panama, where I'm currently living, Movistar just began selling iPhone 3Gs and is rolling out their 3G network in January of 2009. So I purchased an iPhone 3G through AT&T in the US, legally terminated my contract by paying my $175, I live in a country with a telco that sells authorized iPhone 3Gs on authorized networks, BUT I STILL CAN'T USE MY IPHONE???
This is just madness, and makes absolutely no sense.
To illustrate my grievance to one of the Applecare reps I spoke with, I asked her how silly it would be if I had to buy a new Macbook Pro for each country I visited because I couldn't use the Internet. Duh!
She agreed, which was kind of refreshing because I felt like I was speaking with a living, breathing, human being at that point, but she still couldn't help...
Her (Apple's unofficial) suggestions?
- Sell my iPhone on eBay
- Use the money to buy an iPhone for each country I visit (are you serious??)
- Use the money to buy an iPhone through my office in Hong Kong (more realistic)
- Do nothing and enjoy my new "iPod Touch" (ok, I added that last one, she didn't say that hehe)
We like solutions more than the problems, right?
So what can be done?
Firstly, here's what SHOULD be done - AT&T and Apple should offer a way to legally unlock the iPhone. Any other unlock method terminates any warranty/support from Apple, even if you've legally terminated your contract with AT&T and even if you've purchased Applecare for the iPhone from Apple.
But since this isn't available right now, all we have left (unfortunately) are the SIM hacks like Turbo SIM. Turbo SIM can be purchased through a number of different retailers across the globe (check out eBay, for example), and has worked well for a number of people.
The obvious downside to this is that by using Turbo SIM you violoate your Terms of Service with Apple, and Turbo SIM isn't even guaranteed to work on every network, anyway. (well, the iPhone isn't even guaranteed to work on every network, either...)
In the near future we will probably see a soft-unlock of the iPhone which means that if you want to unlock your iPhone, you won't have to use any hardware, like Turbo SIM. 1st generation iPhones are soft-unlockable already, if you don't need the 3G version, though there are downsides with this solution, as well.
Like Turbo SIM the soft-unlock will violate your agreement with Apple, and your warranty will be terminated. Furthermore, there have been cases of "bricked phones," which means that Apple has purposely included updates to their firmware (the stuff that makes the phone work) to permanatly disable unlocked iPhones. Not very nice, huh?
So there are solutions out there, but they have their risks. In an ideal world, at the very least, Apple should enable their iPhone customers to use the iPhones anywhere where there are authorized iPhone resellers and authorized networks.
Since I am not even in the US AT&T has no risk that I will take my phone and start paying T-Mobile or Verizon for my business. For goodness sakes I'm all the way in Panama where Movistar sells iPhone 3Gs and is rolling out 3G service in a couple of months! There's no way I'm going to pay AT&T $1.49 per minute plus data charges in Panama - AT&T is not even competitive out here!! But AT&T is still preventing me from being able to use the iPhone 3G I purchased through them, even though I fulfilled my contractual agreement with them! The iPhone should be mine to do with it as I please now, RIGHT??
In any event, this is pretty much the extent of my experience.
What can be done moving forward?
Since I am certainly not the only one subject to these illegal, anti-competitive, monopolistic business practices, I hope that as many people spread the word as much most possible so we can put some positive pressure on AT&T and Apple to help us out.
If you agree with what I've written, and agree that something should be done, please write blog posts of your own, bring this up in your daily conversations, comment on this blog, or email it to other people you think can help.
Let's get some positive attention and look for a positive solution!
AT&T and Apple are good companies that have brought us a great iPhone, but preventing law abiding citizens from being able to use their iPhones on authorized networks in other countries is borderline criminal, and must be stopped. I really hope that we receive the freedom to use our phones across the world, legally, soon.
A thank you to AT&T and Apple:
If you've read this far, thank you. I'm guessing that you're in a similar situation and are just as frustrated as I am that you can't legally use your iPhone in different countries. I hope we figure something out soon.
If you've read this far, live in the US, have great AT&T coverage, don't plan on traveling internationally, and don't have an iPhone but are thinking about purchasing one, go to your nearest AT&T or Applestore and buy one! You will most likely not be disappointed with this amazing device, and as long as you have good 3G coverage your service will be great.
The Apple iPhone is an absolutely awesome phone/computer/gadget and I recommend it to anyone interested in a smartphone. Admittedly I haven't used the G1 (Android) or Blackberry Storm or Bold, but you most likely won't be disappointed in the iPhone.
So thank you to AT&T and Apple for bringing us this great phone, just please help those of us out who need to use the phone in other countries on authorized networks. Please?!
Disclaimer:
I have tried to be as conciliatory toward AT&T and Apple as possible, and have tried my best to accurately reflect the truth of the situation. It's entirely possible that I've written something in error, worded something in a way that didn't convey the intended message, made a point about something backed by misinformation, or just plain screwed up somewhere in this post.
If you find an error in anything I've written, please let me know (nicely, in the comments below) and I will do my best to immediately rectify the error.
