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Unactivated T-mobile sim card?

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marcelo4527

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 23, 2012
95
0
I wanna test if my new iPhone 5 is in fact unlocked now, and the best way to do that is to simply put a different carrier's sim card, such as T-mobile..
The thing is that I need it to be unlocked to use it internationally with foreign carriers, so I don't have any T-mobile plans, and don't plan on having one.

They sell really cheap sim cards that I'm thinking about buying it just to find that out, but they come unactivated. Will my iPhone recognize the unactivated sim card and show T-mobile on the top corner, or do I need to like activate it with a cheap plan, or prepaid plan in order for that to work? And remember that I just wanna do that to find if my iphone is unlocked now, i don't have any intentions in use that sim card for other than that!:apple:
 
A

aznboi91

macrumors regular
Jul 27, 2012
173
6
marcelo4527 said:
I wanna test if my new iPhone 5 is in fact unlocked now, and the best way to do that is to simply put a different carrier's sim card, such as T-mobile..
The thing is that I need it to be unlocked to use it internationally with foreign carriers, so I don't have any T-mobile plans, and don't plan on having one.

They sell really cheap sim cards that I'm thinking about buying it just to find that out, but they come unactivated. Will my iPhone recognize the unactivated sim card and show T-mobile on the top corner, or do I need to like activate it with a cheap plan, or prepaid plan in order for that to work? And remember that I just wanna do that to find if my iphone is unlocked now, i don't have any intentions in use that sim card for other than that!:apple:
Click to expand...

Why don't you just bring it into a T-Mobile store and ask them to test it for you...?
 
M

marcelo4527

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 23, 2012
95
0
aznboi91 said:
Why don't you just bring it into a T-Mobile store and ask them to test it for you...?
Click to expand...

That's a good idea actually! Although there's no T-mobile stores near me.. Do you think if I take it to at&t and ask them to just test that for me they would do it?
 
A

aznboi91

macrumors regular
Jul 27, 2012
173
6
marcelo4527 said:
That's a good idea actually! Although there's no T-mobile stores near me.. Do you think if I take it to at&t and ask them to just test that for me they would do it?
Click to expand...

Probably, or verizon or any cellular network that has nano sims.
 
M

marcelo4527

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 23, 2012
95
0
I went to att and they didn't have any activated to test with my iphone.
It's a verizon iPhone, i know it is unlocked but i just wanted to test it out and make sure...
 
J

Jades

macrumors 6502
Oct 15, 2012
317
51
marcelo4527 said:
Did you just put in your iPhone and it showed "simple mobile" on the top left corner right away or did you have to activate the sim first?
Click to expand...

Just put it in the phone and will say simple mobile

Do you know if tmobile actually has coverage in your area though? If not, you may want to just check on their map and make sure that you will roam under AT&T
 
H

hoosier1

macrumors newbie
Nov 26, 2012
6
0
Jades said:
Just put it in the phone and will say simple mobile

Do you know if tmobile actually has coverage in your area though? If not, you may want to just check on their map and make sure that you will roam under AT&T
Click to expand...

See my thread I just started. Uisng an unlocked/full price iphone in the US before going overseas, may lock the phone.
 
M

marcelo4527

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 23, 2012
95
0
Jades said:
Just put it in the phone and will say simple mobile

Do you know if tmobile actually has coverage in your area though? If not, you may want to just check on their map and make sure that you will roam under AT&T
Click to expand...

Yes I checked! So can I just buy a cheap simple mobile sim card and insert in my phone without worrying about activating it?
 
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Mrfatboy

macrumors 6502
Dec 15, 2008
316
6
I bought a cheapy simple mobile sim on amazon to test my verizon iphone 5 unlock. I did not activate it. I just popped it in. It says "no service". I'm in a remote area and Tmobile has crappy service in general in our area. I guess I will try in an better area to see if "Tmobile" pops up.
 
alphaod

alphaod

macrumors Core
Feb 9, 2008
22,183
1,245
NYC
Any T-Mobile SIM card would work, so you could test with an old one, just ask around.
 
M

marcelo4527

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 23, 2012
95
0
alphaod said:
Any T-Mobile SIM card would work, so you could test with an old one, just ask around.
Click to expand...

I bought an used iPhone 4 for my brother for when I see him again, Idk how I didn't think of that before but it's an art phone and it had a sim card there! I cut to a nano sim size and put in the iPhone 5, since the aim was inactive it showed no signal but when I went to settings-general-about, it shows Carrier AT&T 13.0, which means it recognized the another carrier's sim!
 
M

Mrfatboy

macrumors 6502
Dec 15, 2008
316
6
marcelo4527 said:
I bought an used iPhone 4 for my brother for when I see him again, Idk how I didn't think of that before but it's an art phone and it had a sim card there! I cut to a nano sim size and put in the iPhone 5, since the aim was inactive it showed no signal but when I went to settings-general-about, it shows Carrier AT&T 13.0, which means it recognized the another carrier's sim!
Click to expand...

I had 'carrier 13.0' also when I put in the simplemobile sim but had 'no service'.

I will be downtown tomorrow and will test again and report back.
 
M

marcelo4527

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 23, 2012
95
0
Mrfatboy said:
I had 'carrier 13.0' also when I put in the simplemobile sim but had 'no service'.

I will be downtown tomorrow and will test again and report back.
Click to expand...

Mine said AT&T 13.0 and also no service but that's because the sim card wasn't activated!
Did you just buy the simple mobile and put it in your iPhone? Because you would need to activate the sim card and assign a phone number to that sim in order to show signal! So yours is probably just inactive
 
M

Mrfatboy

macrumors 6502
Dec 15, 2008
316
6
I'm confused. According to post #17 the simple mobile sim DOES NOT need to be activated to display 'tmobile'. Which way is correct?
 
M

marcelo4527

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 23, 2012
95
0
Mrfatboy said:
I'm confused. According to post #17 the simple mobile sim DOES NOT need to be activated to display 'tmobile'. Which way is correct?
Click to expand...

If your sim card is not activated and doesn't have a number assign to it, I don't see how it would show service
 
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