gdgt

Can you actually buy them unsubsidized? I remember reading a long while ago that you still have to get an ATT service plan, meaning you can't just walk in to an Apple store and walk out with an iPhone...

The unsubsidized prices are for those who don't qualify for any upgrade discount. I believe an AT&T plan is still required.

Ugh...wasn't there a bill a few years ago that made it illegal for the wireless companies to force you into a contract, and in addition to that it forced the wireless companies to unlock your phone at the end of your contract?

To the first part, AT&T isn't forcing you into a contract. They're simply giving you a huge discount if you sign up for a new contract or are otherwise eligible for the upgrade price.

I don't know anything about carriers being forced to unlock your phone. It wouldn't do much good in the U.S. anyway. The iPhone won't work with Verizon or Sprint, and won't get 3G speeds through T-Mobile.

Indeed. I reserved the "$199" version via the Apple Store App this morning, and received the confirmation e-mail indicating that I owed $599 on pickup day (since they couldn't verify with AT&T's servers).

IIRC, unlocking phones doesn't apply to any device which is exclusive to a single carrier in a given market.

I believe you're talking about DMCA exemptions that happen every 3 years where the US Copyright Office, which is a list of approved anti-circumvention exemptions. Apple challeged the list that included jailbreaking of phones

www.eff.org­/issues­/dmca­-rulemaking
www.eff.org­/cases­/2009­-dmca­-rulemaking

The ruling for 2009 hasn't been approved yet (they are supposed to sometime this year), but if the entire list was approved that was proposed by the EFF it would make it possible that a carrier under certain circumstances would unlock your phone. The 2006 ruling, which was set to expire on 10/27/2009, still stands indefinitely, so it's possible that you can get AT&T to unlock your iPhone, but probably unlikely. The argument for AT&T for locking phones is for protection against fraud and theft. Apple's is that cellphone firmware is protected by the DMCA.

Read more of the legal mumbojumbo here:

www.copyright.gov­/1201/

I've read that people have had success with unlock their phones through AT&T if they've waited a sufficient amount of time on contract and/or stated that they were going to be working or moving to a country where AT&T doesn't have roaming agreements with.

From what I hear on T-Mobile will unlock your phone if you wait 3 months. My sister has unlocked several phones legally through T-Mobile.

My parents and I have gotten AT&T to send us unlock codes for nearly all of our phones in the past 3 or 4 years. They are usually rather slow in actually sending the email with the instructions but they do eventually. I have not tried asking for an unlock code for my iPhone 3G yet. I'm curious how they'll respond.

Apparently AT&T don't allow the unlocking of iPhones, though if they ever do change this policy, it'll probably work like it does here (UK), with the actual unlocking process taking place via iTunes itself.

www.wireless.att.com­/answer­-center­/main.jsp­?soluti...

They won't unlock your iPhone, unless something changes.

Actually, Apple keeps a list of all the carriers around the world, and whether iPhone is sold "locked to carrier" and whether the carrier "offers
authorized unlocking." - support.apple.com­/kb­/HT1937

fwiw, there are countries that have a sole carrier, but the iPhone is sold unlocked. And there are countries in which the iPhone is offered through a sole carrier, locked, yet the offer "authorized unlocking."