Un activated Verizon iPhone 5 locked?

[zorinlynx]

Originally Posted by jumpfrog

I bought the phone (for $50 less!) and then went straight to T Mobile. The guy put the sim in and activated it, it took about 5 mins. I'm now up and running with T Mobile for $50 a month no contract. I live in Manhattan and the speed is excellent when browsing.

Is the Mobile Hotspot feature available on the phone when using it through T-Mobile?

The idea of spending half as much for cel phone service (once my contract is up) is appealing. But I can't live without the Hotspot feature.

[jumpfrog]

Hi yes you can get a hotspot with T Mobile, they have them in the store for you to connect to try. I'm not sure how much extra it is to get though.

[marcelo4527]

Originally Posted by jumpfrog

Thanks for responding. This is definitely a Verizon iPhone.
Also, the phone did not come with a Verizon sim. It's just an empty iPhone with no sim. I am not a Verizon customer under contract. Could this be the issue?

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Spent 45 mins in T Mobile trying this and various other methods!

My verizon iPhone that I got from best buy did came with a verizon sim, and it activated as soon as i turned the phone on, i still haven't got any time to test it with another carrier but as soon as i test, i will post the result here

[aznboi91]

I think the key thing is to not turn your phone on before you put in your carrier of choice sim card. Take it out first, put in the carrier sim card you wish to use and then boot it up. It should take a few minutes. Even with an unactivated sim card my phone was able to see T-Mobile on it. idk how that works out but yea... its kinda weird....

[htpw16]

Originally Posted by aznboi91

I think the key thing is to not turn your phone on before you put in your carrier of choice sim card. Take it out first, put in the carrier sim card you wish to use and then boot it up. It should take a few minutes. Even with an unactivated sim card my phone was able to see T-Mobile on it. idk how that works out but yea... its kinda weird....

Thats true. Its pretty well documented that the Verizon iPhone 5 is GSM unlocked. I think the OPs strange situation may have something to do with your suggestion.

[darster]

I'm beginning to wonder what the BB rep did when he sold you the phone. I also noticed you have the A1429 model. Verizon and Sprint both use that model number. Verizon unlocks their version, Sprint does not. I have a feeling you were sold the Sprint model.

[Applejuiced]

Originally Posted by darster

I'm beginning to wonder what the BB rep did when he sold you the phone. I also noticed you have the A1429 model. Verizon and Sprint both use that model number. Verizon unlocks their version, Sprint does not. I have a feeling you were sold the Sprint model.

That's the only thing that would make sense.
All verizon i5 models work and activate fine with any gsm sim.
Unless off course you got a sprint one

[bidwalj]

Originally Posted by Applejuiced

That's the only thing that would make sense.
All verizon i5 models work and activate fine with any gsm sim.
Unless off course you got a sprint one

He didn't get a sim with the phone (does the sprint one use a sim?). I have a feeling it was a sprint version as well.

[marcelo4527]

Originally Posted by darster

I'm beginning to wonder what the BB rep did when he sold you the phone. I also noticed you have the A1429 model. Verizon and Sprint both use that model number. Verizon unlocks their version, Sprint does not. I have a feeling you were sold the Sprint model.

I have the same feeling too because you also told us that it didn't came with a nano sim! Sprint is the only carrier that the iPhone 5 don't come with a sim card on in.
I got mine from best buy, the Verizon one and it came with a verizon nano sim!

[Applejuiced]

Yep. Sounds like you for played OP.

[jumpfrog]

I'm guessing it probably was Sprint. However, when the girl at BB rescanned the box it showed up as 'VWS' on the screen...Maybe a mix up in the stock room or something. Anyway my advice to anyone is to go to the Apple store if planning to do this, they actually know what they are talking about.

[VinegarTasters]

So can someone verify this?

Verizon uses nano-SIM to store CDMA stuff.
Sprint burns the info on the iPhone 5 itself.

So if you have a Verizon iPhone 5, and take out the SIM, you can't make any calls.

If you have a Sprint iPhone 5, and take out the SIM, you can still make calls. (assuming Sprint SIM only stores LTE stuff).

[marcelo4527]

Originally Posted by jumpfrog

I'm guessing it probably was Sprint. However, when the girl at BB rescanned the box it showed up as 'VWS' on the screen...Maybe a mix up in the stock room or something. Anyway my advice to anyone is to go to the Apple store if planning to do this, they actually know what they are talking about.

Was your iPhone sealed when you got? Someone might have put the sprint one in the verizon box maybe?

I got my verizon from BB and it came with a nano sim card. I got with no contract and I don't have a plan with verizon or anything.. When the nano sim from verizon is in the phone it shows signal and when I turn the wifi off it even shows 3G but because I don't have a plan it doesn't load anything.. but i found that interesting

[bidwalj]

Originally Posted by VinegarTasters

So can someone verify this?

Verizon uses nano-SIM to store CDMA stuff.
Sprint burns the info on the iPhone 5 itself.

So if you have a Verizon iPhone 5, and take out the SIM, you can't make any calls.

If you have a Sprint iPhone 5, and take out the SIM, you can still make calls. (assuming Sprint SIM only stores LTE stuff).

I don't know about sprint but all Verizon lte phones function only with a sim, the iphone 5 is no different. If you take out the sim, you can't do anything. The sim is needed to make calls and for data.

[VinegarTasters]

Could this mean the Verizon iPhone 5 uses CDMA SIM?

If you take another person's Verizon SIM and plug it inside your iPhone 5, will calling another number give the caller ID of your new SIM? Is your iPhone factory unlocked? Could factory unlock mean you can put other Verizon SIMs inside? And if it is not factory unlocked, then it means you CAN'T use other Verizon SIMs?

[bidwalj]

Originally Posted by VinegarTasters

Could this mean the Verizon iPhone 5 uses CDMA SIM?

If you take another person's Verizon SIM and plug it inside your iPhone 5, will calling another number give the caller ID of your new SIM? Is your iPhone factory unlocked? Could factory unlock mean you can put other Verizon SIMs inside? And if it is not factory unlocked, then it means you CAN'T use other Verizon SIMs?

Verizon lte phone sims work exactly like gsm sims. You can't do anything without the sim and you can do everything on any phone just by putting in your sim

[VinegarTasters]

Originally Posted by bidwalj

Verizon lte phone sims work exactly like gsm sims. You can't do anything without the sim and you can do everything on any phone just by putting in your sim

Then how does Verizon force you to pay your 2 years of contract on an iPhone 5? Lets say you get the iPhone 5 from them on contract, then you sell it on ebay for more. Are you saying that guy can use his own CDMA SIM on your iphone 5? What is to prevent you from ignoring your contract?

[Applejuiced]

Originally Posted by VinegarTasters

Then how does Verizon force you to pay your 2 years of contract on an iPhone 5? Lets say you get the iPhone 5 from them on contract, then you sell it on ebay for more. Are you saying that guy can use his own CDMA SIM on your iphone 5? What is to prevent you from ignoring your contract?

Verizon doesnt care what device you're using.
You can sign a 2 year contract and right away sell your iphone 5 and still use your old cellphone.
They dont care and wont stop you from doing that.
If you ignore your contract and you dont pay your bill or try to cancel your contract you will have to pay the $350 early termination fee.
If you dont they will take legal action against you.

[VinegarTasters]

Originally Posted by Applejuiced

Verizon doesnt care what device you're using.
You can sign a 2 year contract and right away sell your iphone 5 and still use your old cellphone.
They dont care and wont stop you from doing that.
If you ignore your contract and you dont pay your bill or try to cancel your contract you will have to pay the $350 early termination fee.
If you dont they will take legal action against you.

Then what is this thing with Paid Month-by-Month plan and Contract plan and "factory unlocked" Verizon iPhone 5?

I am ASSUMING... People who pay on contract will get an iPhone 5 locked to their CDMA SIM. You can, however, instead buy a "factory unlocked" iPhone 5 from Verizon, which allows you to switch any Verizon SIM inside. This way the Month-by-month plan would come in handy.

[Applejuiced]

Originally Posted by VinegarTasters

Why? AT&T checks their database of iPhone 5 and only works with their own iPhone 5's? Wouldn't AT&T's SIM work with an unlocked phone that Apple is selling? (The GSM portion that is, I think the LTE wouldn't work because on different band).[COLOR="#808080"]


Can you take out your Verizon iPhone 5 SIM and see if it still makes calls? Didn't you say the CDMA is burned inside the phone and the SIM is only used to store LTE stuff? I would like to get a verification on this whether the CDMA stuff is attached to the SIM or attached to the iPhone 5 (for Verizon specifically)

Unfortunatelly I dont have a verizon iphone 5 to test this out on.
I thought if you remove the LTE sim from the verizon 5 that CDMA 3G such as voice and data will still work but not 100%. I Might be wrong.

I was responding above to a user with an unlocked AT&T iphone that if he wants to test it if its GSM unlocked for sure to use a tmobile sim.

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Originally Posted by VinegarTasters

Then what is this thing with Paid Month-by-Month plan and Contract plan and "factory unlocked" Verizon iPhone 5?

I am ASSUMING... People who pay on contract will get an iPhone 5 locked to their CDMA SIM. You can, however, instead buy a "factory unlocked" iPhone 5 from Verizon, which allows you to switch any Verizon SIM inside. This way the Month-by-month plan would come in handy.

LMAO
Man, you got way too many questions.
I still dont get what iphone you're trying to get and what carrier you want to use it on.
It would be simpler to answer that instead of the 100's of hypothetical questions you're putting up.

The iphone 5 you will get from verizon is not locked to only their line or phone number. It can be transfered at any other verizon account with no probs.
And offcourse also used with any GSM sim.

[marcelo4527]

Originally Posted by VinegarTasters

Then what is this thing with Paid Month-by-Month plan and Contract plan and "factory unlocked" Verizon iPhone 5?

I am ASSUMING... People who pay on contract will get an iPhone 5 locked to their CDMA SIM. You can, however, instead buy a "factory unlocked" iPhone 5 from Verizon, which allows you to switch any Verizon SIM inside. This way the Month-by-month plan would come in handy.

Whether you get a verizon iphone 5 under contract or off contract, it is FACTORY UNLOCKED to ANY GSM carriers! You can insert an AT&T SIM and it will work

[Jtludwig]

Originally Posted by marcelo4527

Whether you get a verizon iphone 5 under contract or off contract, it is FACTORY UNLOCKED to ANY GSM carriers! You can insert an AT&T SIM and it will work

Exactly! Vinegar guy has started another thread too with this nonsense...he just doesn't understand.