Unlocked iPhone?

[AmyGarfield]

I have been using a tracfone for years and I've grown to hate it. I've been reading all the great posts to MMM's articles on the Airvoice plan for iPhone and the new republic wireless phone plans. I'm just not sure what to go with. I've always wanted an iPhone and I understand that I can either buy a brand new unlocked iPhone for around $650 and get a cheap plan, or purchase a used iPhone that has been unlocked.

I see that ebay has loads of them but I have no idea who to buy from. I've used EBay a lot in the past, but not for electronics. Seems like a lot of them could be fakes or hot.

Anyone here have one for sale or have any suggestions on where to purchase? (I am keeping an eye on Craigslist but nothing in my area currently).

Thanks!

[Daley]

Start here.

Finish here.

Either Madage, myself, or one of the other knowledgeable regulars can answer any further questions you might have.

[nomoreuntdebt]

I'm sure there is the occasional stolen phone that makes it through Amazon/eBay, but there's a lot of legit sellers as well (like myself). These sites will side with the buyer 19 times out of 20 on all disputes though, so you have a pretty good amount of protection when it comes to getting your money back.

New iPhone 5's run about $600 on Amazon, so no need to pay $650. However, you should also consider iPhone 4's (~$250) and iPhone 4s's (~$400). IMO, the iPhone 5 isn't all that different from the 4s. It's lighter and thinner and has a couple of minor improvements, but none that I think are worth the additional cost. You mentioned that you were open to used, and you should defintiely explore this path. Check out this guide I wrote about the ins and outs of buying used cell phones on Craigslist.

Locked vs. unlocked should not really factor into your decision, as the cost to unlock an iPhone is negligible. I use SwiftUnlocks to unlock all of the iPhones that I resell for $1.99. The only reason the unlocked phones are so marked up, is because the masses are unaware of cheap unlocking solutions, and many a website capitalize on this fact.

[AmyGarfield]

Thank you both for the info. As you can prob. tell, I know very little about smart phones! It's good to know that iPhones can be easily unlocked. The resources you mention are very helpful. THANKS!

[geekette]

I'm fairly new to all this MVNO stuff, but I have about 5-6 months left on my contract with AT&T.  From what I understand, unlocking now won't do me any good because I'd still have to pay to get out of the contract, and AT&T will unlock for free once my contract is up.

Where do all these locked but apparently contract free iPhones come from?

[dragoncar]

I've got a 4, but I didn't unlock it after my contract was up.  Now I have a 5, but not sure if I can still get the 4 unlocked.  Where do the phones come from?  People who upgrade every 2 years have a 2 year old phone left over!  You used to jailbreak to unlock but now AT&T will unlock when you are out of contract.  The sale of used unlocked phones used to completely pay for the new one (contact price)!

This is a place where my laziness is costing me money.  I've got two iPhone 3g and one 4 sitting around... They are good as music players and to tinker with as mini unix computers.  I always planned to use them as like a more expensive micro controller for an art installation or something but never had the time.

[madage]

I've got a 4, but I didn't unlock it after my contract was up.  Now I have a 5, but not sure if I can still get the 4 unlocked.

You can try requesting an unlock from AT&T directly. I didn't have any luck with that, I think because we had the original 4 replaced under warranty, but I'm not sure. I used UnlockFusion (found them on ebay) to unlock both my wife's 4 and a 3g I got off craigslist. UnlockFusion gets the unlock done in a few hours and costs around $2 per device.

[offroad]

supposedly all IPHONE 5 on Verizon are factory unlocked by default.

[fiveoh]

I've got an iPhone 4 I was going to put on eBay.  I would be willing to let it go for a cheaper price to a mustachian that would use it.  It is in great condition, however the home button works intermittently.  You can buy a new home button and fix it yourself or pay $40ish to get someone else to fix it.  I still use the phone daily and you can set it to an onscreen button for the home button or just push it multiple times.  Pm me if interested. 

It is unlocked and I've been using it on Airvoice.