"Choose carrier" on replacement phones for local carriers!

[justinkk2005]

I thought this was pretty interesting. A buddy of mine had his iPhone 5 on Appalachian Wireless replaced due to a faulty power/lock button, when he booted it up, this is what he found. Have you guys seen this before?

 

[Highrisedrifter]

How odd. That never happens to the International versions. I have had sim cards from four different carriers in my phone and they all worked. Is the default iPhone purchase in the USA tied to a carrier at a reduced price and the truly unlocked device carrying a premium price? No idea if that actually occurs, it's just the only thing I can think of though.

 

[gordol]

I thought this was pretty interesting. A buddy of mine had his iPhone 5 on Appalachian Wireless replaced due to a faulty power/lock button, when he booted it up, this is what he found. Have you guys seen this before?

Where was the replacement acquired? Directly from Apple? If so, they may be providing "blank" phones of the proper type (GSM vs CDMA) and selecting the specific carrier as needed when providing the handset.

 

[ninjamattic]

I had the same thing happen to me this week. Speaker went out on my month old iP5, and took it to Apple. New unit made me select my carrier for locking. I've noticed the quality of my retina screen isn't as good as my original, including faint scan lines, which seems to happen a lot in replacements I've had. I asked the genius about the carrier lock, and he wasn't really sure about it. He was pretty confident international sims were still supported.

 

[dictoresno]

i had it on my replacement verizon iphone 5 at the apple store. its only on CDMA phones as far as i know. its because they all operate on the same frequencies (pretty sure) so when you select the carrier, it will lock it in to them. it makes it easier for apple to be able to carry "blank" replacement phones which can be programmed on the spot. since they dont brand the phones by carrier, it allows them to lock the generic blanks to whatever CDMA carrier is needed, it then just locks in the carrier programming. i can see where this makes perfect sense from a logistical standpoint. apple can carry 500 blank CDMA replacement phones as opposed to 200 verizon, 100 sprint, 50 of another carrier.....etc etc.

 

[Carlos94080]

lets say someone had a Sprint IPhone after getting it replaced then choose as Verizon as the carrier would that mean that it would be unlocked automatically to use any sim card in the U.S.

 

[dictoresno]

lets say someone had a Sprint IPhone after getting it replaced then choose as Verizon as the carrier would that mean that it would be unlocked automatically to use any sim card in the U.S.

the phone wont work for sprint anymore, but "should" work for any gsm carrier. you will have basically told the phone to program itself, via verizon network, as a verizon phone. PRL updates, carrier updates and your account info will no longer be coming from Sprint. this will brick the phone for your use. it will ONLY be able to be used by someone on verizon or any GSM network.

im willing to bet, that this initial setup does software unlock the SIM slot once verizon is selected, and in turn locks it if another carrier is selected. but then you cant connect the phone to sprint or any other cdma carrier. but as far as i know, as the picture states, theres no way to get to this screen except for straight out of the box at the store. but yea, to answer your question, my money is on yes.

 

[Night Mare]

Same thing happened to me 2 weeks ago, I got my SPRINT iPhone 5S 32Gb replace at the apple store and it asked me to choose a carrier, I went down the list of options but Verizon Wasn't listed as an option (I want to unlock the phone by choosing verizon) but StraightTalk was an option!! and I choose StraightTalk (because I had a simcard from them and I no longer wanted to be with Sprint) and then I inserted my Simcard and it Worked!!!!! so I try a tmobile sim and an att sim and it also work so it means that when I choose straight talk somehow Unlocked the phone to work with any USA simcard.
But not all phones will give that option, because my friend went to get his sprint iphone 5 and a 5s replace and the replacement did not ask to choose a carrier so is just luck to get across one with that option and note that this option is only shown the first time you boot the phone and after you choose the carrier you can not undo or change the carrier again since it will be locked to that carrier.

 

[SwitchBeach]

You can't "unlock" a Sprint phone to use on Verizon. You would not be able to use a Sprint phone on Verizon. StraightTalk is showing because some "versions" of StraightTalk use AT&T and thus are using the GSM side of the device.

"Choosing StraightTalk" did not unlock the phone. It was already unlocked.

 

[Mara Eng]

why

 

[SwitchBeach]

why

Why what?

 

[jakeandfieldj]

Hi! I just relieved a replacement phone and I can choose my carrier. My carrier is GSM (AT&T) but I want for it to be able to be used on any network that is also GSM because I am traveling abroad this summer and need for it to be unlocked. If I select Verizon, how sure are you that I would still be able to use my AT&T sim? Please reply ASAP.