Can anyone confirm that the VZ iPhone 5-s will continue to have an unlocked SIM slot for us international travelers?

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Asheville, NC Area

Also, I've 'heard' both the Verizon and AT&T versions, if bought for the full unsubsidized price at an Apple store (and the online Apple store) are unlocked and equally good for overseas use. Is that true?

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Carnos Jax
Also, I've 'heard' both the Verizon and AT&T versions, if bought for the full unsubsidized price at an Apple store (and the online Apple store) are unlocked and equally good for overseas use. Is that true?

if you buy at full price, you might as well buy the unlocked version, (not the ATT version). unless there is some technical reason to buy the ATT version, but I think Apple said the new phones have lots of LTE bands, I don't think there is much difference (if any) between ATT and Unlocked

Is the unlocked version the Verizon one?

I'm not buying an unlocked version. My iPhone 5 is SIM unlocked and I was wondering if the 5s will be similarly unlocked.

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Asheville, NC Area

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MartyStickle
I'm not buying an unlocked version. My iPhone 5 is SIM unlocked and I was wondering if the 5s will be similarly unlocked.

Should be unlocked.
I read that Verizon was forced to keep them unlocked, on new multi band phones, as a condition of getting one of the bandwidths they acquired.
I will look for the confirmation I found earlier this week.

Here is the link, from last year, about why the 5 was unlocked. Should also apply to the 5s, I would assume.
[www.macrumors.com]

It's worth noting that though the Verizon iPhone 5 will work on AT&T and T-Mobile's 3G network for voice and data, the phone will not work on AT&T's LTE data network. It will work on a number of international LTE networks. Apple's LTE information page details the bands that each specific model of iPhone 5 supports.

The main reason for the unlocked SIM card slot appears to be FCC network access requirements for Block C, the 700 MHz spectrum that Verizon uses for its LTE network. According to the FCC's CFR Title 47 Part 27.16 paragraph (e):
(e) Handset locking prohibited. No licensee may disable features on handsets it provides to customers, to the extent such features are compliant with the licensee's standards pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section, nor configure handsets it provides to prohibit use of such handsets on other providers' networks.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2013 12:34PM by rgG.

thought so, thanks.

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Asheville, NC Area

In case there was any doubt, I confirmed my Verizon 5S is unlocked by testing with a leftover Italian SIM card. With this SIM, the carrier shows up as T-Mobile.

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bhaveshp
In case there was any doubt, I confirmed my Verizon 5S is unlocked by testing with a leftover Italian SIM card. With this SIM, the carrier shows up as T-Mobile.

Yeah. Thanks.

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Asheville, NC Area

Great thread. Thanks for the info.