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Carrier Understanding AT&T IMEI blocking.

R

ratbrain

macrumors member
Sep 21, 2010
52
3
RotaryP7 said:
IMEI gets blocked by AT&T and T-Mobile. All GSM carriers in the US. It will stay at "No Service" ; the iPhone becomes an iPod only unless you use it overseas.
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from personal experience, thats exactly what happens.

if you use a stolen phone and the original owner reports it stolen, the phone will eventually stop working with a message saying device is blocked from this network or something. (for ATT and tmo)

and if you have an ATT sim your account also gets locked out.
 
6

617aircav

Suspended
Jul 2, 2012
3,975
818
I think that you should only be able to report your phone stolen if it has active on your account recently. This will prevent someone from selling their phone and then next week report it stolen to get another one.
 
GeorgieAcevedo

GeorgieAcevedo

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 12, 2012
740
1
New York City
Just a quick update.

So I blocked the IMEI. I got an email yesterday from AT&T saying someone was trying to activate the iPhone I blocked and the person was in Boston. (200 miles away from me) I live in manhattan. I just had an awesome laugh that the stolen iPhone cannot be used.
 
6

617aircav

Suspended
Jul 2, 2012
3,975
818
GeorgieAcevedo said:
Just a quick update.

So I blocked the IMEI. I got an email yesterday from AT&T saying someone was trying to activate the iPhone I blocked and the person was in Boston. (200 miles away from me) I live in manhattan. I just had an awesome laugh that the stolen iPhone cannot be used.
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can't be used in the united states but will work in other countries when unlocked.
 
T

thecellphoneguy

macrumors newbie
Jun 30, 2013
1
0
617aircav said:
can't be used in the united states but will work in other countries when unlocked.
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What if the phone was unlocked first, then months later it was reported stolen. Can the phone be used on Tmobile in the USA?

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Baggio said:
Old IMEI status follows to new IMEI with replacement at least for locks/unlocks. Not sure if stolen IMEI info shared between carriers and Apple.
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What if the phone was unlocked first while on AT&T, then months later it was reported stolen. Can the phone be used on Tmobile in the USA?
 
6

617aircav

Suspended
Jul 2, 2012
3,975
818
thecellphoneguy said:
What if the phone was unlocked first, then months later it was reported stolen. Can the phone be used on Tmobile in the USA?

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What if the phone was unlocked first while on AT&T, then months later it was reported stolen. Can the phone be used on Tmobile in the USA?
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Once blocked it won't work on any US carrier.
 
Z

Zazachokeli

macrumors newbie
Dec 1, 2015
1
0
617aircav said:
Or you use it in the us with an international sim. My Vodafone UK sim works in an att blacklisted iphone 5 showing the att network logo. This will be expensive though.
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Hi. Are you sure lost/stolen blacklisted by AT&T iphone, can work in UK with Vodafone or O2 network? If its been blacklisted by AT&T, how its can be used with UK sim card in USA? Or did you mean its will work only inside UK with Vodafone simcard?
 
convergent

convergent

macrumors 68040
May 6, 2008
3,034
3,082
GeorgieAcevedo said:
We tracked it with find my iPhone, it lead to a specific address. It was stolen at her school, the phone was shut off after it was at that location. I sent my little sister to school to find out which student lives in or around there. There's only one student that lives in that address & it's a girl and she's latina. She denies she took it of course but out of 500 students she's the only one that lives there and around that specific area. There's not much we can do besides block the IMEI.
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My daughters phone was stolen and we called the police while tracking it with Find My iPhone. They went to the location where it stopped moving and found the guy that had it and got it back. You might try that if it happens again.

Can't you report it stolen to Apple? I thought there was a way to do that.
 
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