Arrowhead Towne Center in Glendale, AZ is the largest shopping mall this side of Phoenix. It has two levels and appears to have hundreds of stores and eating establishments. We, however, were in search of the Apple Store to get my iPhone unlocked.
Tmobile, my cell phone carrier, told us that we would be able to use their services internationally for as long as we were customers. However, that proved to be a shorter time than I was originally given to believe. It turns out that Tmobile's services will slow down to almost nothing after 3 months in Europe and we plan to stay longer than that (and told them so from the beginning). So... we must get our phones unlocked before we leave the country in preparation for eventually using a new cell service in Europe. Apparently, you can't unlock them outside the country of origin.
Tmobile has changed their story about this a few times and I have dragged my feet on doing the final unlock. My service has been unlocked for a few weeks, but I was told that iPhones are special, in the way that very complicated, frustrating things are special. Tmobile can unlock your service, but your actual, physical phone also needs unlocking.
The instructions for unlocking are completely different for my iPhone than they are for my husband's Android phone. He, lucky duck, gets to bring up an app on his phone called something like Phone Unlock, hit unlock and he's done. Tmobile did their thing and he did his.
For iPhones Tmobile told me, you have to go to iTunes, move all your Stuff into iTunes, completely wipe your phone of everything, turn the phone on, and then get all your Stuff back from iTunes, before it is actually unlocked. Simple, but to me, terrifying.
So... I went to the Apple Store and asked if they would walk me through this "move-wipe-move back again" process so I don't lose any of my Stuff. You know what's coming don't you?
The Apple guy patiently looked up the details for my phone on his tablet computer (what's with that, anyway?) and found that my iPhone 6s is already unlocked for multiple providers. Although there is nowhere on my iPhone where that is stated, he said, "No, problem. You don't need to go to iTunes or wipe anything. You can just pop in a new provider's SIM card now (tempting!) or in Europe."
So, I went back to the Tmobile store and said, "Is this Apple information correct? Am I already unlocked and ready for Europe?" And, of course, they didn't know. They only unlock on their end, but how could they know if my physical phone is unlocked unless I followed the instructions?
After much back-and-forth, it was agreed that I should perform a test to see if it was unlocked. So, I went to the Verizon store in the Mall, where there were no customers waiting, and asked the counter person to take my SIM card out, put a Verizon SIM card in, and see if it worked. Yesss! It did work; it showed Verizon as my carrier on my phone. After the short-lived elation, though, she put my SIM card back in and told me that the phone is unlocked in the United States, but it may not be unlocked in Europe.
Back to Tmobile's phone rep and we nailed down two things:
- Yes, my phone should be unlocked in Europe, if it is unlocked in the U.S. (amazingly, without following the "wiping" directions) and
- If there are problems, I now have the international phone number for Tmobile who can fix it even though I will be in Europe.
After two months and at least 10 phone calls, that (and a few other things) is finally resolved.
This is just an example of what can go mildly and sometimes bizarrely wrong with travel plans and, in my case, retirement plans. (I've been retired for a month and everything is still not completely set up. VEBA (use of collected sick leave for health ins payments) is a strange beast.)
One of the only hard and fast rules seems to be that every representative of an organization does not know what they are talking about. Do your homework, don't believe everyone (trust, but verify), and check/re-check. After you get what you need, for sanity's sake let it go. Let the frustration, stress, anger, etc. go. Life's too short and there are too many other enjoyable things to do, like find a place to live in Spain and take the train into Barcelona for the day.
Tomorrow will be a trip to St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church for noon Mass. Why, you ask, is an avowed agnostic (possibly atheist) going to noon Mass? It is a beautiful church, very like a cathedral, in downtown Phoenix. I love the architecture of these churches and plan to visit cathedrals all over Europe. My brother is Catholic and used to be a congregant at this church, so he's going to give me a brief tour after the 20 minute mid-day service. I hope they let me take photographs!
