IPhone 4S Factory Unlocked Query

Question

Hi folks, so I ran into this situation below:
I bought the iPhone 4S factory unlocked at full price of $649 from the Apple store at Yorkdale Mall in Toronto, Canada and they even told me it was factory unlocked. They asked me if I needed one of the Big 3 sims, but I politely declined. I bought it because I visit the US quiet often and I am with Bell Mobility. I activated the phone on Bell but before going to the US this weekend, I had a hunch that something is wrong. I called up Apple and provided the serial # based on the receipt/on the phone and they said the phone is locked to Bell.
So does that mean its permanently locked to Bell and cannot be used with another carrier? Or does that mean it is locked to Bell at the moment?
Plus I told myself people usually don't pay full price for an iPhone from the Apple store that's locked to a carrier, and Apple usually sells the carrier ones at the subsidized contract pricing. Or do they even sell carrier locked ones for full price?
Any input on this will be helpful.
Cheers

Answer 1

I have had a similar problem. I live in Uganda , but quite travel a lot.   I bought an unlocked  iPhone 4s from Apple Store Broadway, Australia for 899$ .  It was activated at the apple store , but we did not put in a sim card.
Back in Kampala , I put in an Orange Uganda SIM card , which was in my iPAD , and it worked for some time.
After sometime , we bought a sim card for it, from Orange Uganda , but unfortunately it did not work. It asked for activation.
After troubleshooting for sometime , we dicided to reset the phone , and everything is now down. I can not even start the phone without a sim card.
I am waiting for  Monday to call the Apple Store, because clearly , this would be unfortunate. Remember , I live in Uganda where there are no Apple Stores , so a visit is out of the question