Last week we reported that AT&T was reportedlystarting to unlock iPhonesthat were still under contract. Though they had been a few reports of this, we hadn’t been able to verify the information ourselves.
I decided to take the matter in my own hands and submitted a request tounlockmy under-contract iPhone 4S via AT&T’s handyonline form. I was a bit doubtful because I had previously asked AT&T if they couldunlockthis device for me, and at the time, they kindly declined, saying that they couldn’t because I was still under contract.
A couple days after filling out the request form, I received the following confirmation email from AT&T…
Thank you for contacting AT&T Customer Care about unlocking your iPhone.
We have reviewed your request and confirmed that you are eligible to have the requested iPhone unlocked.
Please allow 24 hours upon receipt of this notification to complete the unlock.
To complete the unlock, simply:
Additional information on unlocking can be found athttp://support.apple.com/kb/TS3198
For questions regarding AT&T’s wireless service and iPhone, please visit the Phone/Device Learning Center.
We thank you for your continued business.
Sincerely,AT&T Customer Care Team
So yes, I can verify that it works. All you have to do is fill outthis formand wait patiently for AT&T to get back to you.
By the way, because I have an iPhone 4S, I didn’t even have to restore to complete the unlock process. All you have to do if you have an iPhone 4S is to pop out the AT&T SIM card and put a SIM from a different carrier (ie. T-Mobile) in. The phone will activate itself within seconds. If you have an older iPhone, you will have to restore, or I guess you can useRedSn0wto deactivate/reactivate the device, which could save you a restore.
Now the question on my mind is why would AT&T let me unlock my eleven month old iPhone? After all, AT&T isn’t the kind of carrier that likes to do nice things for its customers. AT&T likes to do nice things for AT&T!
Maybe they want me to unlock so I can sell my iPhone on Craigslist and buy the iPhone 5 and be locked in another 2-year contract?
