Unlocked phone works with FIDO?

[egregor]

I live part time in Canada and part time in the US. If I were to unlock an iPhone 4S so that I could switch sim cards from AT&T to Fido and back when I move between the two countries, would the service be interupted in any way or would it work fine once I put the sim card in?

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[10yearfido · Accepted solution]

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@egregor wrote:

I live part time in Canada and part time in the US. If I were to unlock an iPhone 4S so that I could switch sim cards from AT&T to Fido and back when I move between the two countries, would the service be interupted in any way or would it work fine once I put the sim card in?

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It will work fine as soon as you pop in the Fido SIM. The only hiccup you might have is if you subscribe to Visual Voicemail with Fido. VVM needs the IMEI of your phone, so you might have to call in to have this manually added to your Fido account. Aside from that you shouldn't have any issues at all.

[egregor]

Thank you! And one more quick question: since I still have 2 years left on my contract, do I have to pay to terminate my contract and THEN have them unlock it or will they just unlock it regardless of how much time I have left on my contract?

[10yearfido]

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@egregor wrote:

Thank you! And one more quick question: since I still have 2 years left on my contract, do I have to pay to terminate my contract and THEN have them unlock it or will they just unlock it regardless of how much time I have left on my contract?

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If you are talking about a Fido iPhone, then no, you don't have to pay off your contract first. You used to have to, but as of this year you can have it unlocked after 90s days on your account. The cost is $50. The only catch you might run into is if you have ever had your phone exchanged, the IMEI of the replacement might not be in your account and Fido might require you to wait another 90 days from when you call in now to add it to your account. Hopefully they have resolved this problem and you can just call in and pay the $50 and have it unlocked.

If you are talking about an AT&T phone, I am not 100% certain of their policies anymore. That last I remember, you had to be out of contract for the phone in question (or pay to terminate) for them to unlock. They unlock their iPhones for free.

[Sim_A]

To add to this question - 

(1) if someone brings an unlocked phone to fido on a plan with no data, would wifi still work?

and

(2) If they go to settings and turn data to "on" would the internet automatically start working as pay per use? 

[Wufai]

Sim_A

A1. an unlocked phone will work on wifi regardless of your plan.

A2. If you turn 'on' data setting, it will depend where you are. If you are aleady connected to a wifi network it will override the cell phone data and you will not be charge. Once you are outside your wifi setting the phone will automactically use cell phone data and you will be charged.

[FidoStephen]

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@Wufai wrote:

Sim_A

A1. an unlocked phone will work on wifi regardless of your plan.

A2. If you turn 'on' data setting, it will depend where you are. If you are aleady connected to a wifi network it will override the cell phone data and you will not be charge. Once you are outside your wifi setting the phone will automactically use cell phone data and you will be charged.

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I'd just like to make a slight correction to Wufai's post - we no longer bill for data on a pay per use basis. If you enable data and have no connection to a Wi-Fi network, you would receive a text message prompting you to add a data pass or data add-on. You can see these options here.