AT&T to begin unlocking off-contract iPhones this Sunday, April 8th [ Edited ]

[New Reality]

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bbowen72 wrote:

My issue is that the policy makes no sense.

Why would they want anyone to ETF (which as they say loses that person as a customer) rather than unlock them.  Forcing us to wait until a contract is over does nothing to benefit AT&T.

They are still getting my money locked or not until the contract runs out.  If I ETF and pay the $115 fee, they lose $270 in monthly fees that I'd pay until my contract runs out plus they lose the $90 a month I'd pay as a continuing customer.

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Who ever said corporate America policies make sense??

They probably decided to make the change at the last minute  and didn't have all the processes - procedures prepared before hand. Why they announced without being ready and picked Easter Sunday for the cutover makes absolutely no sense.

Any reasonable business would have their web site updated for the change, press releases distributed, staff trained BEFORE the cutover. They would also have all the criteria built into the web based unlock request form to minimize the activity to the call center.

The time that will be wasted by AT&T staff explaining and explaining again the reasons a phone isn't going to be unlocked is going to bring the call center to its knees for the next few weeks. There goes the call center's measurements for the next few months:  hold times, abandon rates, busy signals, call duration, employee morale, customer sat..

Gives you some insight at the incompetence of the management and their lack of planning.

[New Reality]

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haywirex wrote:

@bbowden72

Yeah, I just got off the phone again with the "after hours" support (+1 866 801 3600) and the lady I talked to (she was very nice) took my info and gave me a case number, stating it would take five to seven days to process this request and that, right now, it's impossible to unlock any iPhone 4 or 4S without filing a case and waiting.

Kind of a joke, really... I mean, I'm fairly certain I'm going to get an email in five to seven days giving me some reason why they can't unlock it--or maybe the initial lady I spoke to was correct.

Who knows?

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While some of the forum regulars thought I was blowing smoke,  it took just under a week for my iPhone 3G to be unlocked by AT&T.  This was about 2 weeks ago, after I wrote a letter to Tim Cook.

From letter to unlock it took 2 weeks. I'm sure they were testing some of the procedures, but it seemed to be a manual, labor intensive process.

I would suggest that everyone just wait until they work out the processes,  you've waited years for this to happen, a few more weeks doesn't matter.

[haywirex]

@NewReality

Yeah, I totally understand... that's why I'm not indignant, been running Gevey since I left the US. Don't get me wrong, it's kind of an annoying business practice to deal with... but my world isn't going to go spinning off its axis.

I'm just hoping that I can get it unlocked... if not, oh well... I'll just keep punching 112...

heh

[the gryphon]

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While some of the forum regulars thought I was blowing smoke,  it took just under a week for my iPhone 3G to be unlocked by AT&T.  This was about 2 weeks ago, after I wrote a letter to Tim Cook.

From letter to unlock it took 2 weeks. I'm sure they were testing some of the procedures, but it seemed to be a manual, labor intensive process.

I would suggest that everyone just wait until they work out the processes,  you've waited years for this to happen, a few more weeks doesn't matter.

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Blowing smoke? For what? Writing a letter? We've all done that. And all called. I've written twice since Tim Cook too the leadership position.

[glich]

I am currently on termail hold with unlock department

CS guy says my old 3gs i cleared for unlock but i need to talk to these guys 2st and it mya be some time on hold (currnely at 16 min on hold and the cs guys has come back to chech up on my 8 times so far

[dlarkin]

I'm on a 3 year work contract in the UK. I have locked iPhone 4 from AT&T. I had to pay an ETF back in August 2010 when I moved from the US to UK.  I called AT&T today, provided my information and was told that it will take them 7 days to review my case... Will see...

[TerraPhantm]

I got the same line of bull that haywirex got. Even though my device is not associated with a contract, I have to wait until sometime in July to get the phone unlocked (even though I bought it and activated it in June - weird). I asked if I could speak to a supervisor, and then I got hung up on. What great customer service. I am so tempted to just close my account and move elsewhere now. Only thing holding me back is the hope of an LTE iPhone this fall.

[New Reality]

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the gryphon wrote:

Blowing smoke? For what? Writing a letter? We've all done that. And all called. I've written twice since Tim Cook too the leadership position.

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No,   the self proclaimed forum experts said AT&T doesn't unlock iPhones, therefore I was lying, and I had to prove to their satisfaction that AT&T did unlock my off contract 3G.

So, maybe Mr. Cook got tired of the unlock circus and I happened to hit it at that moment.

[glx500]

Just tried this as well.....

Spent 30+ minutes in a tech support chat, provided the IMEI # after waiting a while to be asked.  Then was told my phone is not eligible.  The suggestion was to bring it back to the place it bought it.....which is ironically AT&T.  So now what?  

The phone was on contract for 2+ years and it's been sitting on a shelf since I upgraded to the 4S in Oct.  I was going to put the phone on my wife's tmobile service which is due to expire in a few months.  Their coverage is bad in my area.  So it was a stop-gap until we could get her on a new plan.

I've been a loyal ATT/Cingular customer since the mid-90's, it's very disappointing.  I'll give it two weeks to see if they work the kinks out.  Perhaps the store reps can be more useful.

Tom

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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TerraPhantm wrote:

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wingrider01 wrote:

would have been interesting to ask one more question - If I etf out and cancel my contract can I still unlock the phone in the future

Also curious as to why you expected them to not follow the specific rules on the requirements, they don;t do it for anything else

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You stated in an earlier post that AT&T let you pay the etf on all of your lines without terminating your account. The poster above you tried to do the same, but they said it will close his account if he pays the ETF. And now all of a sudden he's not following the specific rules or requirements? Make up your mind and stick to a story. Don't make crap up for the sake of arguing.

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my accounts are still active, the etf was paid. If you want to argue it, go ahead do so

[the gryphon]

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New Reality wrote:

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the gryphon wrote:

Blowing smoke? For what? Writing a letter? We've all done that. And all called. I've written twice since Tim Cook too the leadership position.

========================================================================================

No,   the self proclaimed forum experts said AT&T doesn't unlock iPhones, therefore I was lying, and I had to prove to their satisfaction that AT&T did unlock my off contract 3G.

So, maybe Mr. Cook got tired of the unlock circus and I happened to hit it at that moment.

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ah, so you were lucky enough to still be posting here when they finally did it. You didn't really prove anything. You just waited long enough with the rest of us.  Wrote enough letters with the rest of us. ATT changed its policy. Your latest letter didn't cause it to happen. Momentum did.

Don't get my wrong. I'm glad this sanctimonious group of "leaders" has to suffer through all the new "I got my phone unlocked" threads given how rude some were when "forced" to explain that AT&T didn't unlock.

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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New Reality wrote:

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haywirex wrote:

@bbowden72

Yeah, I just got off the phone again with the "after hours" support (+1 866 801 3600) and the lady I talked to (she was very nice) took my info and gave me a case number, stating it would take five to seven days to process this request and that, right now, it's impossible to unlock any iPhone 4 or 4S without filing a case and waiting.

Kind of a joke, really... I mean, I'm fairly certain I'm going to get an email in five to seven days giving me some reason why they can't unlock it--or maybe the initial lady I spoke to was correct.

Who knows?

---

While some of the forum regulars thought I was blowing smoke,  it took just under a week for my iPhone 3G to be unlocked by AT&T.  This was about 2 weeks ago, after I wrote a letter to Tim Cook.

From letter to unlock it took 2 weeks. I'm sure they were testing some of the procedures, but it seemed to be a manual, labor intensive process.

I would suggest that everyone just wait until they work out the processes,  you've waited years for this to happen, a few more weeks doesn't matter.

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Tom Cook - interesting change of events now....

[youngjm ACE - Master]

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New Reality wrote:

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the gryphon wrote:

Blowing smoke? For what? Writing a letter? We've all done that. And all called. I've written twice since Tim Cook too the leadership position.

========================================================================================

No,   the self proclaimed forum experts said AT&T doesn't unlock iPhones, therefore I was lying, and I had to prove to their satisfaction that AT&T did unlock my off contract 3G.

So, maybe Mr. Cook got tired of the unlock circus and I happened to hit it at that moment.

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What many of us have said is what the current policy was at the time.  I know I also said things might be changing once that letter to Tim Cook resulted in an unlock.  I would suggest that you may have gotten lucky due to timing?  Does it matter?  Right now iPhones can now be unlocked (somehting long overdue)  Now the issue is the criteria for an iphone to be unlocked and folks not meeting it!

In my opinion, relatively few 4S's will qualify since that model is less than 12 months old on a 2 year contract.  Some 4's will qualify but again the two year mark for the majority of us is in June.  As for 3Gs's, that will depend if you bought it when it was the lastest version or if you bought it when it was the lower cost option.  

What I would not be surprised to see is second hand buyers oversees who have no relation to ATT trying to get their iPhones unlocked but cannot since they never had an account to be in good standing.  In a few days the policy/procedures will be more fully worked out and there will be more/better consistentcy betwen the reps who are trying to implent the unlocking policy.  I would expect some to get their iPhones unlocked whom ATT did not intend to have unlocked at this time due to errors by the reps. (We all know that does not happen)

I would not get worked up about not getting an iPhone unlocked today if you are told no.  Wait a few days for the kinks to get worked out and try again.

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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the gryphon wrote:

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New Reality wrote:

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the gryphon wrote:

Blowing smoke? For what? Writing a letter? We've all done that. And all called. I've written twice since Tim Cook too the leadership position.

========================================================================================

No,   the self proclaimed forum experts said AT&T doesn't unlock iPhones, therefore I was lying, and I had to prove to their satisfaction that AT&T did unlock my off contract 3G.

So, maybe Mr. Cook got tired of the unlock circus and I happened to hit it at that moment.

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ah, so you were lucky enough to still be posting here when they finally did it. You didn't really prove anything. You just waited long enough with the rest of us.  Wrote enough letters with the rest of us. ATT changed its policy. Your latest letter didn't cause it to happen. Momentum did.

Don't get my wrong. I'm glad this sanctimonious group of "leaders" has to suffer through all the new "I got my phone unlocked" threads given how rude some were when "forced" to explain that AT&T didn't unlock.

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the policy at the time was in place, at the time and in the forseeable future (look up the definition of the word forseeable) the policy was in affect. No one was "sanctimonous" they just stated what the current policy was. Me I am happy it is gone, going to make a killing on fleabay with the out of contract Iphones that are in the spare's box at the office, all current models, should pay for a few beers for the entire company

I really doubt that anyone is going to "suffer" through any of the posts nor lose any sleep over it, unless they are waiting on hold for hours. Still have not seen any verification htat they wil unlock a iphone for someone that is not a customer, unless you have. 

Rudness, like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, if the reply did not fit what was thought to be their right, the reply was rude, if it did then it was pleasant.

Already there is someone posting that they would not unlock their phone becasue it was still under contract

[Eivan]

I boguth my Iphone 4 for like 2 years ago you know where I could unlock it I have been searching the whole day. I'm from Sweden and don't know how to contact them.
I have been waiting for this loong time!!

[youngjm ACE - Master]

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Eivan wrote:
I boguth my Iphone 4 for like 2 years ago you know where I could unlock it I have been searching the whole day. I'm from Sweden and don't know how to contact them.
I have been waiting for this loong time!!

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For service or support questions including existing order status, call:
Customer Support: 1-800-331-0500

http://www.att.com/econtactus/callUs.jsp?serviceGroup=wireless#wireless

You need to call customer service.  If you follow the link, you can also find a phone number for international contact.  There is also an online chat on this page http://www.att.com/esupport/index.jsp  go to the bottom right and you will see an option.

[New Reality]

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the gryphon wrote:

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New Reality wrote:

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the gryphon wrote:

Blowing smoke? For what? Writing a letter? We've all done that. And all called. I've written twice since Tim Cook too the leadership position.

========================================================================================

No,   the self proclaimed forum experts said AT&T doesn't unlock iPhones, therefore I was lying, and I had to prove to their satisfaction that AT&T did unlock my off contract 3G.

So, maybe Mr. Cook got tired of the unlock circus and I happened to hit it at that moment.

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ah, so you were lucky enough to still be posting here when they finally did it. You didn't really prove anything. You just waited long enough with the rest of us.  Wrote enough letters with the rest of us. ATT changed its policy. Your latest letter didn't cause it to happen. Momentum did.

Don't get my wrong. I'm glad this sanctimonious group of "leaders" has to suffer through all the new "I got my phone unlocked" threads given how rude some were when "forced" to explain that AT&T didn't unlock.

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I never said my letter did anything other than get my phone unlocked by AT&T.  Nor did I say my letter made any difference in AT&T's decision. I only worte one letter and received a response one week later.

Right place at the right time.  And I put forward a legitmate  reason for an unlock. I'm sure you all have a legitimate reason for an unlock, that's why I just said "right place at the right time.

[dwill05]

Kind of curious about this Tim Cook thing. If true, does this mean that all along Apple could have simply asked AT&T to unlock the phone and they would have done it? If so, did no one ever write to Steve Jobs and ask for an unlock (I can't imagine that being true)? Or was Steve Jobs not interested in allowing unlocks no matter how many people asked and it took a change of leadership at Apple to make it happen?

[Eivan]

Thanks for your answer my question.

So I can't mail them?

[gauravdhingra55]

you can call att customer care and they will unlock it for you

[Eivan]

I'm from sweden and its a bit hard to call it will cost me much.

[21stNow]

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dwill05 wrote:
Kind of curious about this Tim Cook thing. If true, does this mean that all along Apple could have simply asked AT&T to unlock the phone and they would have done it? If so, did no one ever write to Steve Jobs and ask for an unlock (I can't imagine that being true)? Or was Steve Jobs not interested in allowing unlocks no matter how many people asked and it took a change of leadership at Apple to make it happen?

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I think that it's more of a competition (yay!) thing than an Apple thing.  Now that you have other carriers unlocking for international use only, AT&T stood to lose out on this one.  I know that there are plenty of other phones for people to use, but many people "have" to have an iPhone.

This is exactly why I'm glad that the acquisition of T-Mobile did not go through.

[Sabri]

Hello, I bought 2 years ago my apple iphone 4 in a store. how do I unlock my iphone imei with whom I should contact or if I have to send an email, I'm from Venezuela. thanks

[drumn_bass]

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glx500 wrote:

Perhaps the store reps can be more useful.

Tom

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Store reps don't unlock phones, so if you go to the store you'll be asked to call Customer Care.

[mightymouse1972]

i just called ATT customer support (15min ago) to unlock my 3GS, and i was told to go buy a new iPhone at full price. She also told me that ATT does not unlock iPhones due a contractual agreement with Apple.

[bethbeeman]

They know nothing. I've called three times with three different answers.  ATT is really terrible at customer service. I'm very frustrated with their inability to process what should be a simple request.  Clearly someone at the company dropped the ball.  Issued a press release and then forgot to implement the customer care process.  They are just terrible.  I can't wait for my contract to expire so I can leave.

[cacophony555]

I currently have an iPhone 4, but upgraded from a 3GS. I called "611" on my iPhone 4, asked for tech support, and then told the rep I wanted to get my old 3GS unlocked. She knew exactly what to do, asked a few qusetions (IMEI number, etc) and then said she had sent the request to the unlock team and that I should be getting confirmation/instructoins before April 16th. Whole process took about 15 minutes.

So call tech support to process the request, and if the person doesn't know about the new policy, call back to get somebody else.

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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Sabri wrote:
Hello, I bought 2 years ago my apple iphone 4 in a store. how do I unlock my iphone imei with whom I should contact or if I have to send an email, I'm from Venezuela. thanks

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appears you have to call them, still have not seen anyone stating that they got the phone unlocked and they where not a current customer of the carrier though. Good luck

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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bethbeeman wrote:

They know nothing. I've called three times with three different answers.  ATT is really terrible at customer service. I'm very frustrated with their inability to process what should be a simple request.  Clearly someone at the company dropped the ball.  Issued a press release and then forgot to implement the customer care process.  They are just terrible.  I can't wait for my contract to expire so I can leave.

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hmm new policy, you get one that may not have read the notes yet they have terrible support - why wait?

[cacophony555]

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wingrider01 wrote

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appears you have to call them, still have not seen anyone stating that they got the phone unlocked and they where not a current customer of the carrier though. Good luck

Look at response 319 in this thread: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1354611&page=13