I don’t think so.

Even though Apple and Canada’s national carriers (Rogers, Fido, Telus, and Bell) will tell you (as an Apple Store employee told me) that when you buy an iPhone that you’ll be locked (FOREVER!) to the carrier you choose, there’s a way to get off your current provider and give it another go with another provider. The good news is that I’ll find out 100% next week when a client of mine moves a few iPhone 3GS’ from Telus to Rogers.

I found a nice scoop on the Virgin Mobile Canada website FAQs. I know 3G Virgin phones run on Bell and Telus’ new HSPA network but it’s the first documented proof I’ve seen in Canada that an iPhone has no association to a carrier other than the SIM card and downloaded carrier settings associated with a device.

So here’s the FAQ from the Virgin Mobile site:

Can I bring my iPhone to Virgin Mobile?

Yes. If you have an existing iPhone with another company and it has been unlocked, then a Virgin Mobile SIM card with a smartphone plan will work. Virgin Mobile can’t unlock iPhones for customers. Once unlocked and activated with an active Virgin Mobile SIM card, members will need to change their service settings to the Virgin Mobile settings to get up and running.

So, if you dislike your current carrier (in Canada a lot of folks do!), looks like all you’ll need to do is unlock your iPhone or restore it to the factory settings to initiate the switch up. Once this is done and you’ve inserted the SIM card provided by your new carrier you’ll be back up and running (providing you’ve given your new carrier your phone’s IEMI number).

This post will be a work in progress. I expect to have a detailed examination of results sometime next week.