AT&T will unlock your iPhone for free starting tomorrow

&#62; According to AT&#38;T, the iPhone you want to unlock can't be associated with a current active term commitment, and you must already be out of your contract terms (usually two years from purchase) or you must have paid an early termination fee. Your account must be in good standing, too—no $700 overdue phone bills for you.<p>I don't see anything that seems overly strict here. You finish the contract you signed up for, or pay the early termination fee and also make sure your bill is paid.<p>What is overly strict about this? This seems to be more common sense than anything.

That seems like a fair move on AT&#38;T's part and a nice PR opportunity. The article characterizes AT&#38;Ts requirements as "strict" but I disagree. I think it is completely reasonable that they expect you to finish the contract you signed with them and have no outstanding balance.

I'm going to go and demand they unlock the first generation iPhone I bought the fist day they were released (for the full $600 price) just on principle. Still a bit annoyed that it was locked since it wasn't subsidized at all, although I knew what I was getting in to.

Verizon will "unlock" the SIM unit in their iPhone 4S units if you've been a customer in good standing for 60 days and the iPhone is on an active plan.<p>However, it's not a real unlock -- it just allows you to use any GSM SIM <i>EXCEPT</i> from US carriers.<p>I went back and forth between Apple and Verizon about it back in December, trying to get a true unlock but each blames the other. It seems clear at this point that it's the carriers being the jerks.<p>I hope Verizon will get similarly bad press about this and follow suit.

I just called AT&#38;T and they gave me a rundown. The phone must:<p>1. Have been purchased through AT&#38;T 2. Not be stolen 3. Have its 2 year contract fulfilled 4. BE ACTIVE ON YOUR ACCOUNT<p>The last one is the kicker and something NO news service has reported on up until now. It has to have its own line on your current bill and 'be active'. I asked 3 times what 'be active' meant, and the best they could explain was that it must have service and 'have been used' (i.e. phone calls made/accepted on it).<p>I asked if I could add it as a line, and she said yes: $36 activation fee, plus $9.99 per month, and then you have to use it. Then they can unlock it. There's no contract minimum time limit that you have to fulfill to do this (I was told...I was transferred to their activation department which was closed today, so I don't have more details), so as best as I can assume - set it up, use it for a couple of days, make sure your bill is paid, then ask for an unlock, and cancel the line.<p>There's definitely more than AT&#38;T has told all the news outlets, and you have to call to get the details. Surprise, surprise - AT&#38;T not totally forthcoming? Who knew...

Well there goes the ~$100 premium I was able to fetch on Craigslist for my last generation iPhones. Good news for AT&#38;T consumers, though.<p>I wonder if this means they'll also unlock iPads since they were never under contract?

This is going to lower the price of unlocked phones in ebay and the like. (used ones) Good news.

Locked hardware really has nothing to do with enforcing a fixed-term contract. I think the day will come when Apple refuses to produce locked iPhones and sells only unlocked devices to the carriers.<p>In many markets the carriers already do next to nothing to promote or sell the iPhone, so there isn't much they can threaten to take away. And a carrier isn't going to drop the iPhone as long as there's a competing carrier that's willing to sell the iPhone.

Does this apply to iPhones that were bought off contract? (From the Apple Store.)