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Comment by downandout | Hacker News Reader

You are conflating the name of the program with the concept of "upgrading" an old phone. If you read the thread, he didn't "upgrade" anything. The "iPhone Upgrade Program" is the name of a program that Apple runs, that allows you to upgrade your iPhone every year. A bank that Apple contracts with loans the money for the phone - it is similar to putting it on a credit card, and is not tied to any carrier. It appears that he signed up under the program for a new phone for his girlfriend, which going forward could be upgraded every year under the program.

It doesn't appear that he tried "circumvent" anything, as he was told by Apple that the phone was going to be unlocked.

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Fair enough I guess, maybe I misunderstood. I'm not familiar with the program. But the are multiple people in the thread disputing his claim.

It just drives me crazy. The tone. The victim mentality. Just feels like BS, I don't really belive him to be honest. Sounds like he just made a dumb choice.

Why would he choose the Verizon version? He wanted an unlocked phone. It's very clearly an option in the list. I've looked at the checkout page on the Apple store. Just choose the option that clearly says it's a generic unlocked phone.

But he didnt. He chose the specific version tied to Verizon. Even though he's in the Apple program? Hmm...

I guess I jiat got really fired up because this is the last thing I want to see trending on the front page. It is soo far from being interesting, or able to satisfy ANYONE'S intelectual curiosity, it caused me to go on multiple angry rants in the comments! :)

Why would he choose the Verizon version?

People "in the know" buy unlocked Verizon phones directly from Apple regardless of their actual carrier because only the Verizon version supports both CDMA and GSM. It is the only iPhone that can be used on every US network.

This is true, but the SIM-free model is also the same as the Verizon model. Unless availability of the SIM-free model is delayed (it’s not this time), there’s no reason to buy the Verizon version if all you want is expanded band support.

No, the new iPhone doesn't support CDMA as Verizon is turning it off at the end of the year. https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-21881...

Thanks for the info. I honestly was NOT 'in the know', I've always been with Verizon as it had by far the best service in the mountainous region I live in. AT&T, Sprint & others are far inferior, through experience & evidence from friends/ family.

So I wasn't aware that Verizon phones were desirable for this reason. It's actually interesting to look into the different wireless bands and how the different carriers use them, but is this still the case when you select the SIM free version straight from apple?

I just feel like most of this is misplaced 'outrage'. I refuse to subscribe to outrage culture, where everyone is looking for a reason to complain in a recreational sense.

Meanwhile as 'outraged' as the guy in the original thread is, he is clearly going to keep using Apple products.

I agree that they went a little over the top in sentiment, but it after the Reading the entire thread, they appeared more correct than the other people. They also explained why they selected the Verizon phone. Historically that was the model to get due to CMDA and/or bands. However, I am not sure if that was necessary this year.

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