If I buy an Iphone 7+ at the Apple store...

[SaltyNuts]

can I use it on any network? And if I pick a network, and want to switch, switch the Iphone over to use on the new network fairly easily? Sorry for the newb question. Thanks!

 

[Yakk]

You can pick your network with an unlocked phone from the apple store pretty easily.

However you are paying an oftentimes significant premium versus signing up with a network, buying their phone, and unlocking it. Carriers want to sell their phone and will discount their phones & plans to do that versus BYOD. You can take advantage of that.

 

[SaltyNuts]

Yakk, thanks so much. What kind of premium would you guess off hand? And to get the discounted Iphone I take it I would probably have to sign a long-term contract with that carrier? Thanks!

 

[WhiteNoise]

I doubt you will get a discounted price when buying from a carrier. They don't usually discount new phones. Apple sells the 7+ 32gb for $769.99 and T-Mobile sells the 7+ for .....$769.99 and so does AT&T and Verizon. So you will pay the same. I have bought unlocked phones in the past and brought them to both AT&T and T-mobile and I did not have to pay more for a plan. So IMO do what you want as you will not save any money either way.

The one convenience you get from buying at a carrier is a payment plan on the phone and 0% interest if you have good credit. That or it is rolled into your monthly phone costs depending on the carrier. Of course you could buy it from apple, then have a lower cell phone bill from your carrier as there will not be a cell phone payment rolled into the bill but ultimately you are still paying for it one way or the other.

 

[Kazukian]

From my understanding, Apple isn't selling 7 & 7 + phones that aren't associated with a carrier at this time.

Also, to ensure a 7 or 7+ works on Sprint or Verizon's network with no hassle, you should purchase a Verizon or Sprint specific phone with the Qualcomm chip, there are 2 versions of the iPhone 7 & 7+, GSM and CDMA, the CDMA radio IIRC, has all the bands to work on GSM networks. The Verizon variant comes carrier unlocked, BTW.

 

[SaltyNuts]

Well heck Kazukian, that complicates matters a bit. You said CDMA, then CDMA radio - was the "radio" a mistype> So if I get the CDMA phone it should work with all carriers?

Thanks!

 

[tdawg]

Well heck Kazukian, that complicates matters a bit. You said CDMA, then CDMA radio - was the "radio" a mistype> So if I get the CDMA phone it should work with all carriers?

Thanks!

Sprint and Verizon are CDMA networks, while T-Mobile and AT&T, along with pretty much anybody else in the world, are GSM networks.

I thought Apple developed a universal SIM idea so an unlocked phone could be moved between all US carriers with ease, but I could be incorrect on that.

 

[Kazukian]

Well heck Kazukian, that complicates matters a bit. You said CDMA, then CDMA radio - was the "radio" a mistype> So if I get the CDMA phone it should work with all carriers?

Thanks!

Yes, if you want to be able to use it on all networks potentially.

It will be several months or longer before Apple typically sells phones without a carrier, your best bet is to pick one up from swappa, just get a Verizon specific iPhone, you should be able to get one used for a reasonable price in a month or so or even new sealed. All LTE Verizon phones are unlocked, it's allegedly part of a hush hush deal with the FCC for approval to buy out a carrier on the East coast several years ago.

I do know for sure there are 2 versions this year, one with an Intel chipset (GSM) and the Qualcomm (CDMA), radio just refers to the chipset in general, they're radios. This is the first use of an Intel chipset by Apple.

 

[Commodus]

I should note that Apple is already selling unlocked iPhones... at least, outside of the US. My iPhone 7 ordered in Canada ships unlocked from the get-go. My guess is that US carriers want to discourage anything that would give you more freedom to switch providers.

 

[Mike64]

Well heck Kazukian, that complicates matters a bit. You said CDMA, then CDMA radio - was the "radio" a mistype> So if I get the CDMA phone it should work with all carriers?

Thanks!

There's no typo in that post. You must be confusing "radio" with "FM radio" (or something). A radio as such is just a device that transmits and/or receives "electromagnetic signals" at any frequency or signal format. CDMA phones have "CDMA radios", GSM phones have "GSM radios", and universal phones have both...

 

[gus6464]

I thought that iphones don't get "carrier locked" until you activate them. All iphones are identical until you put the sim in and activate with your carrier if it's CDMA type. When I bought the iphone 6 for my mother-in-law they didn't have "tmobile" ones because they were oos of sims at the store. I bought the "ATT" one, didn't have them activate it. Went to a tmo store, got a tmo sim, opened up the iphone box and popped it in and connected to itunes. Phone activated and I didn't get any warning about it being an "ATT" phone.

 

[Commodus]

I thought that iphones don't get "carrier locked" until you activate them. All iphones are identical until you put the sim in and activate with your carrier if it's CDMA type. When I bought the iphone 6 for my mother-in-law they didn't have "tmobile" ones because they were oos of sims at the store. I bought the "ATT" one, didn't have them activate it. Went to a tmo store, got a tmo sim, opened up the iphone box and popped it in and connected to itunes. Phone activated and I didn't get any warning about it being an "ATT" phone.

The difference with an unlocked phone is that it's never carrier-locked. You're free to switch carriers at any time. That really comes in handy when you're traveling abroad and would rather get a local prepaid SIM than pay through the nose to get full-quality roaming service.

 

[Kazukian]

I thought that iphones don't get "carrier locked" until you activate them. All iphones are identical until you put the sim in and activate with your carrier if it's CDMA type. When I bought the iphone 6 for my mother-in-law they didn't have "tmobile" ones because they were oos of sims at the store. I bought the "ATT" one, didn't have them activate it. Went to a tmo store, got a tmo sim, opened up the iphone box and popped it in and connected to itunes. Phone activated and I didn't get any warning about it being an "ATT" phone.

If you bought it at an Apple Store without a contract, it was unlocked from the factory.

 

[Suijin]

Couple things:
If you go into the apple store they will go through the entire setup with you. You will leave the store all done (this can take awhile though, especially if the store is busy, I did it at the busiest one in the twin cities, this was for the wife).

Only way to get cheaper phones is to look for the deals they have now. The samsung S8 came out they had deals like buy 1 get 1 free (probably with 2 year contract). Sometimes places like Samsclub will give you a $XX giftcard for buying there, although it isn't usually very much from memory. In general carriers don't have the cheap on contract phones anymore automatically, you need to have one of the sales deals.

 

[Will Thatcher]

Hi,
When you go and buy the phone, you can either take with you 2 SIM cards, one from Verizon and the other from a different network. Once you buy the phone and the person from the apple store let's you know that the phone is unlocked, you can try first the Verizon SIM and then the other SIM.
The order is very important, because the phone may be locked under two different policies when you buy it directly from apple. The first one and the best one is Multi-Mode Unlock = phone is unlocked.
The second one, is if in some case one of the guys working there is not doing his/her job correctly, is for the phone to be locked to US Reseller Flex Policy = first SIM you put inside the phone, the phone get's locked to that network.
The reason why it is so important to use the Verizon SIM is because Verizon SIM are already unlocked and if you place it into a phone that is locked unde US Reseller Flex Policy, it will get locked under Verizon, but since their policy is unlocked the phone will be Verizon SIM unlocked and you will be able to use other CDMA and GSM networks.
Iphone 7 and 7+ have the band width to work on both CDMA or GSM networks. The Band width applies only to iPhone models up to 6 plus.
Hope this helps and I hope I have made everything a little clearer!