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I have a GoPhone plan pay-per-month which I am using with an iPhone 5. Can I just buy one of these unlocked iPhone 6+ models, and take the phone to an AT&T store and have them swap the SIM card? And it will work??

You can do it yourself using a paper clip. Very easy. The 5 and 6 use the same SIM

BTW, you might want to look into H2O wireless, Net10, or Straighttalk; they all use AT&T service and provide much better prepaid value than GoPhone
 
T-MOBILE/AT&T
Model A1549 (GSM)*
Model A1522 (GSM)*

UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29)

VERIZON
Model A1549 (CDMA)*
Model A1522 (CDMA)*
CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz)
UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29)

SPRINT/GLOBAL SIM-FREE
Model A1586*
Model A1524*
CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz)
UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz)
TD-SCDMA 1900 (F), 2000 (A)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
FDD-LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29)
TD-LTE (Bands 38, 39, 40, 41)

Maybe i need to do more research, cause according to this chart/stats on the official apple website, t-mobile/at&t/Verizon are essentially the same phones except that the sprint model has the 4 additional TD-LTE bands and TD-SCDMA.

!586 and 1524 are the only "sim free" models being sold around the world. Except maybe Canada where the sim-free model is 1549/1522.

PS: I do not see the band 12 you were alluding to in your post.

Correct. Band 12 in the newer 700mhz band that TMo is starting to use and neither phone has support for it. If I remember correctly, they acquired this from Verizon. I dont know why they just dont sell ONE phone and get rid of all these details. But I assume there is a reason...:(
 
If I was to buy the Unlocked iPhone 6 Plus from Apple in the UK (model 1524) would it work on AT&Ts LTE Network if I put a local sim in. It looks to have the correct band but it doesn't list AT&T on the supported carrier list can anyone confirm if this will work or not as i travel between the UK and the U.S a lot and having 4G LTE compatibility for both countries would be great.
 
Look at Italy or Japan (for ex). This "new" model has more bands.
Brazil (for ex), the TMo version is better.
Also, there is no support for T-Mobile’s band 12 700MHz freq on either phone.

I know the A1586 and A 1524 support four additional bands (see posts above), I was asking the question the other way around.

I'm not aware of any iPhone 6/6+ model that supports Band 12?

Correct. Band 12 in the newer 700mhz band that TMo is starting to use and neither phone has support for it. If I remember correctly, they acquired this from Verizon. I dont know why they just dont sell ONE phone and get rid of all these details. But I assume there is a reason...:(

Moving goalposts, most likely.
 
According to the BF, the iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, iPhone 6+ activate service on replacement phones without entering anything into iTunes or otherwise, even before they transact the service swap (which would in theory alert Verizon to a change). They just pop in the sim and it comes right up.

If that is true with service phones its likely true with sim free retail.

We covered swapping already activated SIM cards earlier.

What hasn't been verified (yet) is whether Verizon will do new activations for these new SIM-free iPhones on their network.

IOW, walk into a VZW store with an A1586 or A1524 and walk out with an activated Verizon SIM card in the phone.

Historically, Verizon has taken a hardline on this. Hence, the skepticism.
 
Correct. Band 12 in the newer 700mhz band that TMo is starting to use and neither phone has support for it. If I remember correctly, they acquired this from Verizon. I dont know why they just dont sell ONE phone and get rid of all these details. But I assume there is a reason...:(
Yes you are right, Tmo acquired that newer band, however even the 1549/22 models don't support band 12. Thats what i was trying to point out. So i don't see any advantage of having the 1549/22 TMO version. in fact Verizon 6/6+ is the more versatile contract free/unlocked version. The Verizon iPhone 6 can be switched to the T-Mobile network at anytime whereas the T-Mobile iPhone 6 cannot be transferred to the Verizon network because Verizon only authorizes the serial numbers of the iPhones that originate on their service. The Verizon model is GSM, LTE and CDMA capable, giving the consumer many more options when traveling abroad

The sim-free 1586/1524, essentially includes everything the 1549/1522(TMO/VZN/AT&T) has plus more. Making it the most flexible version available to the consumer. This is the official global phone which arrived late to the party.

I completely agree with you about having one phone across the board to avoid unnecessary complications.
 
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Yes you are right, Tmo acquired that newer band, however even the 1549/22 models don't support band 12. Thats what i was trying to point out. So i don't see any advantage of having the 1549/22 TMO version. in fact Verizon 6/6+ is the more versatile contract free/unlocked version. The Verizon iPhone 6 can be switched to the T-Mobile network at anytime whereas the T-Mobile iPhone 6 cannot be transferred to the Verizon network because Verizon only authorizes the serial numbers of the iPhones that originate on their service. The Verizon model is GSM, LTE and CDMA capable, giving the consumer many more options when traveling abroad

The sim-free 1586/1524, essentially includes everything the 1549/1522(TMO/VZN/AT&T) has plus more. Making it the most flexible version available to the consumer. This is the official global phone which arrived late to the party.

I completely agree with you about having one phone across the board to avoid unnecessary complications.


Aha, got it. Sorry if I misunderstood your original point. These LTE bands are making me nutty. Apologies.
 
That's not entirely true. I bought an iPhone six with a T-Mobile Sim card and I was able to activate my Sim from Ecuador perfectly fine here in the US. I also bought my sister and AT&T iPhone six and was able to activate her Sim card from Ecuador as well, with no problems whatsoever.

How are you activating an Ecuador SIM (Claro/Movistar) while you are physically in the USA (and more importantly why would you)? Or did I read that wrong? AFAIK, you must be within a carrier's service area in order to receive the OTA (over the air) signal to begin service with a particular SIM.

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US is usually the first to get anything from Apple.
I always have been wondering why not from the first day unlocked SIM free iPhones in US? In UK we get them the very first day.

If you do not live in America, please be aware that the average consumer does not know that one is able to buy an unlocked phone and obtain service at a fraction of the cost of the legacy carriers (AT&T / Verizon / Sprint / T-Mobile). Most people do not understand phone locking and SIM swapping and think that if their carrier charges $100 a month for iPhone service, that is just what they have to pay if they want an iPhone. They don't realize that you can buy the phone for $750 and pay less than $50 a month for service from a prepaid service. And the legacy carriers and media outlets want to keep the consumers ignorant that way. Most people don't buy unlocked iPhones here (although I would NEVER buy a locked phone of any type).
 
How are you activating an Ecuador SIM (Claro/Movistar) while you are physically in the USA (and more importantly why would you)? Or did I read that wrong? AFAIK, you must be within a carrier's service area in order to receive the OTA (over the air) signal to begin service with a particular SIM.

I just popped out the T-Mobile sim and popped in my sim from Ecuador and I got service through roaming from a local carrier. I needed to verify my phone number through text so that Whatsapp would work on the new phone.
 
Picked up a Sim Free iPhone 6 today
A1586 with no issues. I guess i got the best global phone as of right now.
 
We covered swapping already activated SIM cards earlier.

What hasn't been verified (yet) is whether Verizon will do new activations for these new SIM-free iPhones on their network.

You really think Apple would be stupid asses and advertise these phones as working on Verizon if the carrier was going to not activate them?
 
You really think Apple would be stupid asses and advertise these phones as working on Verizon if the carrier was going to not activate them?

I'm fairly certain that the concern is more that VERIZON would be "stupid asses" and refuse to activate these phones regardless of what Apple advertises.
 
How are you activating an Ecuador SIM (Claro/Movistar) while you are physically in the USA (and more importantly why would you)? Or did I read that wrong? AFAIK, you must be within a carrier's service area in order to receive the OTA (over the air) signal to begin service with a particular SIM.

----------



If you do not live in America, please be aware that the average consumer does not know that one is able to buy an unlocked phone and obtain service at a fraction of the cost of the legacy carriers (AT&T / Verizon / Sprint / T-Mobile). Most people do not understand phone locking and SIM swapping and think that if their carrier charges $100 a month for iPhone service, that is just what they have to pay if they want an iPhone. They don't realize that you can buy the phone for $750 and pay less than $50 a month for service from a prepaid service. And the legacy carriers and media outlets want to keep the consumers ignorant that way. Most people don't buy unlocked iPhones here (although I would NEVER buy a locked phone of any type).
Of course you can buy cheaper service, the silly argument is the service and support are equivalent.
 
You really think Apple would be stupid asses and advertise these phones as working on Verizon if the carrier was going to not activate them?

Given my personal dealings with Verizon, and the vast number of anecdotes of other people's dealings with Verizon, I do think Verizon might do something s***ty when it comes to actually activating devices that didn't start life as Verizon smartphones.

And you only need to look as recently as the iPad Air 2/"Apple SIM" fiasco with Verizon to see Apple have to walk back their original press releases and documentation.

So to answer your question, no, I don't believe Verizon won't find some way to crap all over this, short of getting confirmation of someone walking into a VZW store with a new A1586 or an A1524 and walking out with an activated Verizon SIM card in the phone.

As they say on the interwebs, "Pics or it didn't happen"...
 
I'm fairly certain that the concern is more that VERIZON would be "stupid asses" and refuse to activate these phones regardless of what Apple advertises.

If Apple is advertising that they work on Verizon then they have signed agreements that Verizon will activate them. Likely had them before they started producing them
 
If Apple is advertising that they work on Verizon then they have signed agreements that Verizon will activate them. Likely had them before they started producing them

Then explain iPads with the "Apple SIM" that got SIM-locked when used on the AT&T network. Some world-class backpedaling on Apple's part between the announcement and the first SIM activations.
 
How are you activating an Ecuador SIM (Claro/Movistar) while you are physically in the USA (and more importantly why would you)? Or did I read that wrong? AFAIK, you must be within a carrier's service area in order to receive the OTA (over the air) signal to begin service with a particular SIM.

----------



If you do not live in America, please be aware that the average consumer does not know that one is able to buy an unlocked phone and obtain service at a fraction of the cost of the legacy carriers (AT&T / Verizon / Sprint / T-Mobile). Most people do not understand phone locking and SIM swapping and think that if their carrier charges $100 a month for iPhone service, that is just what they have to pay if they want an iPhone. They don't realize that you can buy the phone for $750 and pay less than $50 a month for service from a prepaid service. And the legacy carriers and media outlets want to keep the consumers ignorant that way. Most people don't buy unlocked iPhones here (although I would NEVER buy a locked phone of any type).

Buying locked vs unlocked on the carrier finance plans has pros and cons for each. One, I don't really travel abroad and have no plans to the next few years, thus, I'm not too concerned about my phone being locked. Second, if I should need to travel abroad, then I'll just pay off the rest of my NEXT installments and I'll get my phone unlocked. Third, while I'm staying purely domestic, might as well spend my carrier's money to buy the phone and slowly pay them back over a 2 year period with zero interest all else being equal.
 
Buying locked vs unlocked on the carrier finance plans has pros and cons for each. One, I don't really travel abroad and have no plans to the next few years, thus, I'm not too concerned about my phone being locked. Second, if I should need to travel abroad, then I'll just pay off the rest of my NEXT installments and I'll get my phone unlocked. Third, while I'm staying purely domestic, might as well spend my carrier's money to buy the phone and slowly pay them back over a 2 year period with zero interest all else being equal.

But the point is one is worse off financially using the legacy carriers (Spring/Verizon/ATT/TMob). The *cheapest* plan Verizon offers is $80 a month, and in my experience that will be almost $100 with taxes and fees. That is for 2GB of data. 2 years * $80 = $2,400 plus $200 for the phone = $2,600 plus around $50 in sales tax for the phone, $2,650. Or buy the phone for $650 online, get service from a MVNO such as Ultra Mobile, pay $40 a month for unlimited data, first 750MB at 4G, total cost $1,610 or a savings of $1,040. You can buy yourself a new ipad every year and have money left over. And the coverage is T-Mobile so exactly equal to if you pay for t-mob directly (I chose Verizon for an extreme $$ example here.. T mobile has a plan for $50+ taxes and fees so the savings are smaller, but still significant).

The advantage of an unlocked phone, is lets say you didn't know about Ultra mobile and want to switch to them, well, you are prevented from doing so if you have a locked phone. Otherwise, just pop a new sim in and you are ready to go. Maybe you are in love with your current carrier, but lets say you move, or change jobs, and no longer get service and want to switch? Also when you sell your phone, the market for an unlocked phone is much larger and more pricey than a locked one.
 
But the point is one is worse off financially using the legacy carriers (Spring/Verizon/ATT/TMob). The *cheapest* plan Verizon offers is $80 a month, and in my experience that will be almost $100 with taxes and fees. That is for 2GB of data. 2 years * $80 = $2,400 plus $200 for the phone = $2,600 plus around $50 in sales tax for the phone, $2,650. Or buy the phone for $650 online, get service from a MVNO such as Ultra Mobile, pay $40 a month for unlimited data, first 750MB at 4G, total cost $1,610 or a savings of $1,040. You can buy yourself a new ipad every year and have money left over. And the coverage is T-Mobile so exactly equal to if you pay for t-mob directly (I chose Verizon for an extreme $$ example here.. T mobile has a plan for $50+ taxes and fees so the savings are smaller, but still significant).

The advantage of an unlocked phone, is lets say you didn't know about Ultra mobile and want to switch to them, well, you are prevented from doing so if you have a locked phone. Otherwise, just pop a new sim in and you are ready to go. Maybe you are in love with your current carrier, but lets say you move, or change jobs, and no longer get service and want to switch? Also when you sell your phone, the market for an unlocked phone is much larger and more pricey than a locked one.

An unlocked phone is $949 for the one I have. A carrier 0% financed phone is $949 in the end. I'm not on a service contract. If I decide to leave AT&T, I just pay off the rest of my phone's payment balance, and then AT&T unlocks my phone and I'm really in no worse shape than I was if I bought an unlocked phone. Yes, I know the unlocked phone has a few extra bands, but what are the chances I would even think about switching to Sprint or move to China? Nada
 
You did not purchase a subsidized phone from your carrier, which is what the above description was about, so it's not clear what the point is?

It is possible to use an unlocked phone on a legacy carrier? In that case your rates should be in the middle, higher than MVNOs and lower than traditional subsidized phone users. But again, most Americans purchase subsidized phones from one of the big 4.
 
Welcome to the rest of the world. It still baffles why US consumers prefer their phones to be subsidized when unlock phones enable you freedom and you own it from day 1 with no strings attached. It is also makes selling it a whole lot easier.
 
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