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TORONTO - Undaunted by reports of signal problems, hundreds of techie faithful in Canada flocked Friday to buy the new iPhone 4, lured in part by the newfound freedom to be selective in choosing their iPhone's wireless provider.

For the first time, consumers were able to buy an unlocked iPhone, without a contract, which means they will be able to shop around with other carriers to find the best deal.

That would have saved Dani Winters a major headache.

The 22-year-old was at the front of a long line outside the Apple Store in the Toronto Eaton Centre after waiting 19 hours since the night before. Winters was laughing and joking with staff as he eagerly awaited entry into the store.

But once inside he became furious as it appeared for a few moments that all his time spent in line had been for naught.

His service provider seemed to be having trouble connecting his iPhone 4 to the network. And so he sat, arms crossed, for more than an hour during the extended wait for his beloved new toy.

"It was just pure craziness, and kind of a little bit killed the spirit, but in the end I got my iPhone," said a smiling Winters, as he waved the new gadget in the air, showing it off to the throngs of media waiting outside the store.

Winters' struggle highlights why some will choose to eschew the traditional wireless contract, which customers can do with the iPhone 4 — something they haven't been able to do before.

While the contract-free phone will attract the truly tech-savvy, average Canadians won't jump to buy the unlocked phone, a telecommunications expert said, because they've become accustomed to buying phones at a subsidized cost on contract.

The typical deals for iPhones have hovered around the $200 range with a two- to three-year contract, depending on the amount of memory the phone offers.

The 16-gigabyte iPhone 4 model retails at $659 before taxes and the 32 GB phone is $779.

"Unfortunately for Canadians, we've become so used to buying subsidized phones under contract, that we don't appreciate the true costs of a leading edge smart-phone," Carmi Levy, a telecom analyst from London, Ont., said in a phone interview.

"We bristle at the prospect of spending $500, $600, $700 for a phone."

While consumers get an immediate break on the costs when they purchase a phone with a plan, it's actually cheaper in the end to buy the phone outright, Levy said.

"If you add up the overall costs of ownership over two to three years, it might be higher than if you'd simply bought the phone yourself and shopped around for a different carrier."

Most Canadians will still buy the phone with a contract, except for the truly tech-savvy, he added.

"The people who are buying iPhones today and this weekend are the absolute Apple diehards, the leading edge consumers, and they likely will skew to the unlocked model," he said.

One of those diehards was Ali Zakariya, who bought $6,000 worth of unlocked iPhone 4s for his family in Saudi Arabia.

He was among the hundreds of people who stood in a line that snaked its way through the Eaton Centre shopping mall Friday morning.

Gary Chan, 21, arrived at the mall at 10 p.m. on Thursday.

"It was worth the wait," said an exhausted but happy Chan as he held the phone in his hand.

"The improved screen, it's really crisp. I've seen it in person. It's beautiful," he said.

The iPhone 4 differs from its previous incarnation, the iPhone 3GS, because it offers video calling and a high-resolution display, which the Apple website says produces a "sharper" image. It also has a 5-megapixels flash camera and HD video recording capabilities.

Despite complaints pouring in from the United States about Apple's latest gadget, many people outside the store Friday said they weren't concerned about reports that calls were being dropped when the phone was held a certain way.

"I think that is over-exaggerated," said Chan, shrugging. "It's kind of like Toyota and that gas-pedal issue. It has been blown out of proportion. If there's anything serious at all, Apple will be on top of it."

For Cameron Burgess, 13, the decision to camp out to upgrade his iPhone 3G to an iPhone 4 was more about the atmosphere.

"I like just meeting the different people. It's really cool, half of it's the phone, half of it's just the experience," said Burgess.

Burgess also said he wasn't worried about the iPhone problem, a glitch that has been termed "death grip."

He walked out of the store on Friday, tearing the phone from its packaging to test out the signal.

"Yeah, it does look pretty good, it only drops one bar," said Burgess as he gripped the side of the phone.

"So I can lose one bar if I touch this spot here, that would not make a difference in phone calls," he added.

Apple had promised to give away free rubber cases meant to improve reception. But customers in line were told they would not be receiving the cases. However, if there are problems with the phone, they were told they may be able to get rebates for the cases.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has played down the signal problem, saying it's a common issue with all smartphones.

Earlier this month, Consumer Reports magazine did not recommend the iPhone 4 because of the reception problems.