RE: [Fed-Talk] iPhone Unlocked
RE: [Fed-Talk] iPhone Unlocked
- Subject: RE: [Fed-Talk] iPhone Unlocked
- From: "Stephen Bates" <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 14:54:27 -0500
- Thread-topic: [Fed-Talk] iPhone Unlocked
Outside of a Cingular dealer, you can usually get it unlocked for a
nominal fee. Latest and greatest releases will take a little bit for
the software to become available. I have a client in London that I
visit every month and was able to get my RAZR unlocked for 5 pounds in
about 5 minutes. After you get a Cingular bill for international
roaming and data usage you will most definitely want to get your phone
unlocked and use a local SIM. ;-]
FWIW, Virgin has prepaid SIMs that work like the Oyster card or EZ-Pass.
It dings your credit card for 30 pounds/dollars when you get low.
vrsb
-----Original Message-----
From: fed-talk-bounces+stephen.bates=email@hidden
[mailto:fed-talk-bounces+stephen.bates=email@hidden] On
Behalf Of Dave Schroeder
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 2:43 PM
To: Zweigel, Emanuel D
Cc: email@hidden
Subject: Re: [Fed-Talk] iPhone Unlocked
On Jan 11, 2007, at 1:15 PM, Zweigel, Emanuel D wrote:
> Question for Apple folks...
>
> In past, Palm has made unlocked Trio's available for the government
> though GSA contractors. Being in the foreign service and an advocate
> for all things Apple for diplomacy, I think the iPhone could be asset
> for me and other Public Diplomacy officers. But simply put...I can't
> afford to invest in a Cingular locked phone with a two year contract.
> I travel and will be posted overseas and need to swap SIM card
> often...this is not possible with a locked phone. I know it may be
> too early to ask, but it might get Apple Fed thinking.
While I agree with you 100%, here are a couple of points:
- Unlocked Treos are available to anyone directly through Palm (though
they cost more because they lack the carrier subsidy).
- Unlocked GSM phones are nearly always available, but you just have to
pay more (iPhone will not be in this category).
That said, unlocked, standalone versions of the iPhone are not planned
on being available, because Cingular has what Cingular's CEO describes
as a "multi-year, exclusive" arrangement with Apple. That means that
unlocked iPhones are unlikely to be available through any channel, even
government. There are a variety of reasons for this, not the least of
which is that Apple wants to tightly control a lot of things that it
considers intrinsic functionality of the iPhone, such as data services
and Visual Voicemail.
Further, carriers - including Cingular - DO allow customers to unlock
their GSM handsets for international travel. There are usually some
prerequisites, like you've been a customer for X amount of months, etc.,
but the DO in fact do it. It's a hassle, but all the US GSM carriers
will do it, sometimes with some fighting. This is the *only* way I can
see an unlocked iPhone being a reality. *However*, the arrangement
Cingular has with Apple may specifically prohibit this.
We'll just have to wait and see.
- Dave
_______________________________________________
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
Fed-talk mailing list (email@hidden)
Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
This email sent to email@hidden