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bear1992

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 5, 2013
5
0
I had my verizon iphone 5 stolen. i still have the nano sim because it was not in it at the time. a friend has offered me an unlocked at&t iphone 4s. i understand that the sim cards for the two are different sizes but i have an adapter to overcome that.

my question is: will the verizon nano sim be compatible with the unlocked at&t 4s? i have heard contradicting things and am not sure what to believe
 

HiddenPuppy

macrumors 6502
Dec 31, 2011
284
0
I had my verizon iphone 5 stolen. i still have the nano sim because it was not in it at the time. a friend has offered me an unlocked at&t iphone 4s. i understand that the sim cards for the two are different sizes but i have an adapter to overcome that.

my question is: will the verizon nano sim be compatible with the unlocked at&t 4s? i have heard contradicting things and am not sure what to believe

Not normally as Verizon is CDMA and that does not work for the SIM. At least that was my experience on the 4s, but it may be different.
 

bear1992

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 5, 2013
5
0
im not saying you're incorrect because i am really quite clueless on this stuff but i thought because the iphone 5 does use a sim, whereas older verizon phones did not, it was compatible with the gsm and the cdma?

thanks for your help, also. im new to using these type of things haha
 

HiddenPuppy

macrumors 6502
Dec 31, 2011
284
0
im not saying you're incorrect because i am really quite clueless on this stuff but i thought because the iphone 5 does use a sim, whereas older verizon phones did not, it was compatible with the gsm and the cdma?

thanks for your help, also. im new to using these type of things haha

I can take my Verizon iPhone 5 to AT&T and use their SIM, I don't think I can use the Verizon SIM in an AT&T. The 4s from Verizon does use a SIM, but it is only for foreign service.
 

bear1992

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 5, 2013
5
0
I can take my Verizon iPhone 5 to AT&T and use their SIM, I don't think I can use the Verizon SIM in an AT&T. The 4s from Verizon does use a SIM, but it is only for foreign service.

so what your saying is even though i have a Verizon SIM and the at&t uses SIM, it still wont work? forgive me, all of this is jibberish to me
 

HiddenPuppy

macrumors 6502
Dec 31, 2011
284
0
so what your saying is even though i have a Verizon SIM and the at&t uses SIM, it still wont work? forgive me, all of this is jibberish to me

That is the way I understand it. A Verizon iPHone 5 can use an AT&T SIM, but will not get LTE, but an AT&T phone cannot use a Verizon SIM as the VERizon SIM also depends on CDMA.

To be really honest, it is all so confusing that we don't all use the same system. Don't know why they have to be so complicated.
 

bear1992

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 5, 2013
5
0
That is the way I understand it. A Verizon iPHone 5 can use an AT&T SIM, but will not get LTE, but an AT&T phone cannot use a Verizon SIM as the VERizon SIM also depends on CDMA.

To be really honest, it is all so confusing that we don't all use the same system. Don't know why they have to be so complicated.


haha ok. will it ruin my existing sim if i try it? or will it simply not work
 

chargit

macrumors 6502a
Jan 17, 2010
924
2
Evansville, In
dont waste your time it WILL NOT WORK. The verizon 5 is unlocked from the factory to use other sims like At&T but the At&t 4s will not work with a verizon sim even if it is unlocked. and other posters are correct it is because of the networks. sorry!
 

HiddenPuppy

macrumors 6502
Dec 31, 2011
284
0
dont waste your time it WILL NOT WORK. The verizon 5 is unlocked from the factory to use other sims like At&T but the At&t 4s will not work with a verizon sim even if it is unlocked. and other posters are correct it is because of the networks. sorry!

Thanks for the confirmation, I thought that was the case, but since I have never tried it,did not want to be too positive about it not working
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,390
19,458
Verizon's SIM is there really for Verizon's LTE service and essentially nothing more, so it won't do much in a phone from another carrier.
 
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