We have iPhone5 from Sprint and are leaving them and going over to TMobile with OnePlus One phone. Just read that carriers HAVE to unlock our phones upon request at no charge. Am trying to figure out the pros and cons of unlocking my iPhone5 that is with Sprint. Can folks please weigh in? We are probably going to keep the phones and use them as iTouch with regular WiFi.
If you plan to travel internationally, an unlocked iPhone can be used with a local SIM card.
Yes, we will be traveling internationally, but weren’t sure we planned to take any phones. 
Any downsides to unlocking the Sprint iPhone5?
Only fees, but if they do it for free… I do not see any downsides. D’s unlocked cell phone worked great both abroad and in the US.
Does any data get lost and are settings & other things lost? Do you have to back everything up before the unlock? We may want to unlock before we travel abroad, so we can have phones and internet when we were out of country. I understand that Sprint unlocking isn’t as effective domestically, since they have a different system for the older iPhones made for them. 
I do think that Sprint iphone 5 has a SIM slot in it even though Sprint uses CDMA technology domestically. If that is the case, yes unlocking it will be helpful to use it overseas. Confirm with Sprint first.
Yes, I would back up everything in your computer before you unlock it.
Any dowonside to unlocking, considering we only plan to use the device as a iTouch and no longer PLAN to use it ias a Sprint phone? We will back up and downlaod the photos.
I can’t think of a single downside. I unlocked my old iPhone to use internationally and there’s been no problem. What downside can there be? All unlocking means is that you can use other carriers. You can buy unlocked phones and many prefer that. Honestly, I don’t understand what the issue is.
Ok. Thx. Am just trying to figure out any downsides, since the phone carriers say you may not be able to use the phone with them after the unlock and I can’t know whether to trust them.
There’s a difference between prematurely unlocking a phone that is still under contract and a legal unlocking done by the carriers.
We would be having the carrier unlock and have abided by contract for over 24 months.
Our iPhones from Verizon all came unlocked out of the box. I see no downside to having the phone unlocked since it seems the carrier will do it for free. If you are under contract with a carrier there is still no downside to them since you will continue to pay your monthly fee irregardless of whether or not you actually use their network.
On a recent trip to Europe I was able to easily get a local SIM card get the iPhone up and running. It was pretty cheap. Unlocking the phone just gives you additional capabilities.
Deitz…I think HImom is canceling her sprint service on these IPhones…and wants them only for international SIM card use…And use as an iPod type device. She won’t be paying a monthly fee to sprint anymore.
@thumper1, you are precisely correct. We are migrating to Tmobile, with our new OnePlus One phones.
OK, it looks like we are almost there. Callled Sprint and confirmed that they did everything from their end to unlock the phones. Called each of the kids to get confirmation that they followed all the steps that Sprint laid out to have the unlock succeed. Am now waiting for a callback conirmation from S.
Will be porting the numbers to Tmobile over as soon as S calls back. For the domestic unlock, they gave us numeric codes–one specific to each phone line to unlock each. When we choose whatever carrier we want, we have to give them that unlock number and then it SHOULD be domestically unlocked. It has taken a LOT of phone calls and time in hold to get to this point. They certainly don’t want to make things easy.
Was plesantly surprised to learn that Tmobile has free international data and texting!