Can I buy a iphone from apple.com w/out getting a plan with at&t?

[Tyler]

At apple.com you can buy the iphone w/out signing up for at&t. they ship it out and you activate what plan you want via itunes. My question is if i buy the iphone would i be able to unlock it for T-mobile with out activating it with at&t? they have referbished iphone at a great price and would really be interested in buying one and unlocking it for T-mobile.
Thanks,

[summer d]

you may be able to unlock it but alot of things dont work if you inlock it and you cant download any updates for ur phone

[mnb477]

nope, first thing when you buy it, it says connect to itunes. You can use it, or do anything with it untill you activate it via itunes. You have to sign up with a 2 year contract, then you can use the phone, and run some hacks to unlock it. i dont think you can just buy one and take it out of the box and just unlock it. Unlocking takes risks also, your risking a brick, and future updates that will block these hacks. If you get a brick apple wont touch the phone or bother looking at it