Officially unlocked iPhones not really unlocked

Before plunking down 650 euros (about US$965) for an "unlocked" French iPhone, take note: the device retains a country lock meaning that it will only allow use of SIM cards for carriers that operate in France according to our friends at iPhone Atlas. In other words, you can't take your France-bought iPhone to Spain, the United States, or anywhere else, pop in a foreign SIM card, and make calls on a local carrier; you're still stuck paying international roaming fees to a French company.

Attempting to use a foreign SIM card with one of these partially-unlocked phones will result in an inability to make calls, send text messages or use other network functions.

This is almost certainly a restriction imposed by Apple, loathe to see "unlocked" phones shipped from France to the US or other countries where exclusive contracts are in place with local carriers.

France is the only country where you can purchase an "unlocked" iPhone. In the US, UK and Germany (the only other markets where the iPhone is available), Apple holds exclusive contracts with AT&T, O2 and T-Mobile respectively. French law forbids the sale of one item that requires the purchase of another.

[saintchuck]

French law

Wouldn't that disallow all cellphones? Purchasing a cellphone requires you to purchase a contract or minutes for a pay as go plan. Heck, you couldn't sell a car because it requires fuel. Or a motherboard because it requires a processor, memory, etc. I don't agree with Apples exclusive contracts but that law is idiotic.

[akaoscar]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

from what I've seen it's more like a law telling that you have to give the customers the possibility to buy the car without fuel or a cellphone without a plan. It won't make it impossible, just requires an extra option

[jpelaezcn]

I am currently living in Spain, and I have my iPhone from abroad, so I was a little pissed off I cannot use it here. I made a little research and this is what I found:

A. You can unlock it if you have an old firmware version. You musy "hack" it. I dont feel very safe about this.
B. You can use a little sim card called XSIM. You put this card between the original sim and the iPhone and this little card will trick the iPhone to think the foreign sim card is ok.

So I choose to buy this XSIM here in Spain, I got it at http://www.liberar.es and the folks there were very kind, I asked them a lot of questions and they explained me all the stuff and even offered me a return back if the XSIM was not working.

Finally Im using my US iPhone in Spain! :)