My iPhone just died...
- Thread starter Ilya
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Dead in the water. Again.
Okay, so AppleCare Plus (or AppleCare in general) is a like-for-like replacement. No changing colors or carriers, which is why I had to wait until today for a 64 GB White/Silver iPhone 5s Model A1453. When it came in, I was surprised to see the battery was totally flat. In like, it wasn't able to start the Setup-because-the-phone-couldn't-boot-up-flat. So I did a dumb thing: I left the store with the replacement 5s, my two SIMs, and receipts for the returned iPhone 6 and case.
When I got back home I plugged the iPhone 5s into my wife's iPad charger (speed things along) and after fifteen minutes I notice the phone is ready to start the Setup process. I have the T-Mobile SIM in my phone and I see it shows as "Searching... LTE" in the signal area. I go through the WiFi connection and I get the message that the iPhone is locked and I need to contact my carrier to unlock it.
I still have the VirginMobile SIM so I pop that in. I power the phone back up and it starts the process all over again, then comes to a screen that says, "plug this iPhone into iTunes to complete the registration process." When iTunes sees the iPhone, it tries to take me to Sprint. That's not a good sign.
To cut some time spent on hold, Apple said I had to contact my carrier. Sprint said I had to call VirginMobile USA. And VirginMobile USA said their computers would not let them unlock a VirginMobile device until February 11th, 2015. Obama signed the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act last August 1, 2014, so I guess VirginMobile USA is really dragging their corporate feet on this. According to the law, prepaid carriers could keep the phones locked for the first year. My iPhone 5s from VirginMobile USA was over 15 months old before it took the Last Swim.
When I finally get done with all this, I still have a shiny white and silver paperweight. I am "up" at this point over $760 from this morning, but I am once again without a phone. I have an appointment with Apple tomorrow to see if by some chance I can swap the 64 GB A1453 with a 64 GB T-Mobile handset, but I'm not holding much hope here. Apple, for the most part, has their hands tied since they have to honor their agreements with their carriers.
But it makes me wonder if, once I get my iPhone unlocked, what's to keep something like this from happening again?
Edit: When I called Sprint and got bounced around, they gave me an 888 number that was supposed to be the last-chance number to resolve these issues. "Jim" understood my concern and actually connected me to Technical Support. However, I should have known better than to get my hopes up: ten minutes later, I'm still sans iPhone, as even Sprint Technical Support cannot unlock my replacement Sprint phone.
Okay, so AppleCare Plus (or AppleCare in general) is a like-for-like replacement. No changing colors or carriers, which is why I had to wait until today for a 64 GB White/Silver iPhone 5s Model A1453. When it came in, I was surprised to see the battery was totally flat. In like, it wasn't able to start the Setup-because-the-phone-couldn't-boot-up-flat. So I did a dumb thing: I left the store with the replacement 5s, my two SIMs, and receipts for the returned iPhone 6 and case.
When I got back home I plugged the iPhone 5s into my wife's iPad charger (speed things along) and after fifteen minutes I notice the phone is ready to start the Setup process. I have the T-Mobile SIM in my phone and I see it shows as "Searching... LTE" in the signal area. I go through the WiFi connection and I get the message that the iPhone is locked and I need to contact my carrier to unlock it.
I still have the VirginMobile SIM so I pop that in. I power the phone back up and it starts the process all over again, then comes to a screen that says, "plug this iPhone into iTunes to complete the registration process." When iTunes sees the iPhone, it tries to take me to Sprint. That's not a good sign.
To cut some time spent on hold, Apple said I had to contact my carrier. Sprint said I had to call VirginMobile USA. And VirginMobile USA said their computers would not let them unlock a VirginMobile device until February 11th, 2015. Obama signed the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act last August 1, 2014, so I guess VirginMobile USA is really dragging their corporate feet on this. According to the law, prepaid carriers could keep the phones locked for the first year. My iPhone 5s from VirginMobile USA was over 15 months old before it took the Last Swim.
When I finally get done with all this, I still have a shiny white and silver paperweight. I am "up" at this point over $760 from this morning, but I am once again without a phone. I have an appointment with Apple tomorrow to see if by some chance I can swap the 64 GB A1453 with a 64 GB T-Mobile handset, but I'm not holding much hope here. Apple, for the most part, has their hands tied since they have to honor their agreements with their carriers.
But it makes me wonder if, once I get my iPhone unlocked, what's to keep something like this from happening again?
Edit: When I called Sprint and got bounced around, they gave me an 888 number that was supposed to be the last-chance number to resolve these issues. "Jim" understood my concern and actually connected me to Technical Support. However, I should have known better than to get my hopes up: ten minutes later, I'm still sans iPhone, as even Sprint Technical Support cannot unlock my replacement Sprint phone.
Last edited:
Here I go again... Apple is/was powerless as their agreements with the Carriers prevent them from acting in the customer's interest. They did explain that even though it was Apple's servers sending the Unlock code to the iPhone, the request has to originate with the Carrier. Also, the terms of the AppleCare Plus are such that they cannot replace the iPhone with anything other than the same Model as the damaged iPhone.
My wife's suggestion was to contact VirginMobile and have the iPhone activated as a new account for $35, then cancel and unlock in two weeks. That would have left me with two phone numbers, one of them in limbo, while I waited for the 11th to roll around. I would not be able to move my existing phone number back from T-Mobile to Virgin for two weeks, then go back. Even if I did, I would lose out on the $30/mo. T-Mobile Unlimited Text and Data (100 minutes talk) that I was able to get since they said it was a one-time deal with my account. They want to push the $40 and $45/mo. plans.
Eventually, I went back to the Apple Store, got $210 for the Great White Brick, and walked out with a 64 GB Space Grey UNLOCKED iPhone 6. I will never need worry about about Carrier crapple as I own this phone, not T-Mobile, nor AT&T, Verizon, VirginMobile, or Sprint, but ME! I can move it to whoever has the best no-contract deal, plus I can pop in an International SIM like Orange if I go abroad.
Plus, here's a tip if you do have AppleCare on a device that you trade in: Remember to get a refund for the unused portion of the 2-year contract. I forgot about this when I got $105 for my son's iPhone 4s last month. In my [articular case, for the 4s and 5s trade-ins, it will cut over 50% off the cost of AppleCare for the new iPhone 6.
My wife's suggestion was to contact VirginMobile and have the iPhone activated as a new account for $35, then cancel and unlock in two weeks. That would have left me with two phone numbers, one of them in limbo, while I waited for the 11th to roll around. I would not be able to move my existing phone number back from T-Mobile to Virgin for two weeks, then go back. Even if I did, I would lose out on the $30/mo. T-Mobile Unlimited Text and Data (100 minutes talk) that I was able to get since they said it was a one-time deal with my account. They want to push the $40 and $45/mo. plans.
Eventually, I went back to the Apple Store, got $210 for the Great White Brick, and walked out with a 64 GB Space Grey UNLOCKED iPhone 6. I will never need worry about about Carrier crapple as I own this phone, not T-Mobile, nor AT&T, Verizon, VirginMobile, or Sprint, but ME! I can move it to whoever has the best no-contract deal, plus I can pop in an International SIM like Orange if I go abroad.
Plus, here's a tip if you do have AppleCare on a device that you trade in: Remember to get a refund for the unused portion of the 2-year contract. I forgot about this when I got $105 for my son's iPhone 4s last month. In my [articular case, for the 4s and 5s trade-ins, it will cut over 50% off the cost of AppleCare for the new iPhone 6.
I am going with unlocked non contract iPhones now. When AT&T had the 1/2 data sale I switched off my unlimited to limited (it ended up being cheaper since I had a MiFi and an iPad on the account too). With the shared data plan, you pay $15/month for a non contract phone or $40 for a contract one. So, if you go non contract $25/month savings, or $600 in two years - much more than the $450 off MSRP with 2 year contract. Plus you can update any time you want and resell the previous phone if you like.
I'm seriously considering the same thing once my current android phone is paid off with Verizon. It's expensive up front but no more dealing with the headache from the carriers. Plus I'm hoping Apple will have a truly universal iphone by that time similar to the iPad Air 2.
