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Verizon iPhone 5 comes unlocked, usable on AT&T

Verizon's iPhone 5 comes unlocked, allowing it to be used freely on AT&T's network.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
Verizon

The Verizon iPhone 5 comes unlocked out of the box, a Verizon representative confirmed with CNET today.

Reports have been trickling out over the last 24 hours or so saying that Verizon's iPhone 5 can used on AT&T's network.

A Verizon representative confirmed that it is "GSM unlocked" -- and that the iPhone is unlocked out of the box.

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Of course, there are a bunch of caveats. This "feature" could be "fixed" via a future update. And AT&T's and Verizon's 3G/4G-class networks achieve different levels of connectivity speeds.

That said, iDownloadBlog, wrote on Friday that "the big news here is that we have confirmed that you can use a Verizon iPhone 5 on AT&T or T-Mobile, freely, even if you're a brand-new customer under contract."

Updated on September 23 at 5:10 p.m. PDT: adding comment from Verizon representative.