I'm thinking about upgrade my parents' 6S with 7 plus from at&t ( their current carrier), and then wait 60 days to switch over to T-Mobile and they will pay off the remaining payments for them if I'm not mistaken or misunderstood. Question is at&t locks their iPhones, will only unlock if u pay off the phone, if that's the case then I can forget about my plan right? Or can T-Mobile unlock an at&t iPhone so it can use a T-Mobile SIM card?
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Carrier AT&T iPhone 7 with T-Mobile sim card
- Thread starter kevjen888
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AT&T's phones are locked. You cannot unlock them until after they have been paid off in full. So you can't use those phones on TMO until after TMO pays the phone off and AT&T unlocks it. And TMO won't pay until you are on their network for x amount of days.
Edit: According to TMO's website, they will pay off your old phone when you trade in and purchase a new one through them.
"Limited time offer; subject to change. Eligible device trade-in, new device purchase, qualifying credit, port-in from eligible carriers, and qualifying service required. Pay-off your device requires trade-in of financed/leased device in good condition; your payments must be current. Payments consist of: (1) credit of device trade-in value, and (2) Prepaid MasterCard® Card in amount of carrier’s Early Termination Fee (for ETF offer) or remaining device balance, including lease purchase option if applicable, minus trade-in credit (for device offer) (card not redeemable for cash and expires in 12 months unless extended by Issuer)."
"Switch to T-Mobile and we’ll cover your device payoff with a prepaid card when you get a new phone."
https://www.t-mobile.com/offer/switch-carriers-no-early-termination-fee.html
Edit: According to TMO's website, they will pay off your old phone when you trade in and purchase a new one through them.
"Limited time offer; subject to change. Eligible device trade-in, new device purchase, qualifying credit, port-in from eligible carriers, and qualifying service required. Pay-off your device requires trade-in of financed/leased device in good condition; your payments must be current. Payments consist of: (1) credit of device trade-in value, and (2) Prepaid MasterCard® Card in amount of carrier’s Early Termination Fee (for ETF offer) or remaining device balance, including lease purchase option if applicable, minus trade-in credit (for device offer) (card not redeemable for cash and expires in 12 months unless extended by Issuer)."
"Switch to T-Mobile and we’ll cover your device payoff with a prepaid card when you get a new phone."
https://www.t-mobile.com/offer/switch-carriers-no-early-termination-fee.html
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No carrier can unlock a device locked to another carrier.
swiftunlocks can probably help you.
So my master plan won't work then lol. Plan was signed up for new iphone7 from att first then after 60 days switch over to T-Mobile and have them pay off the phone. And they will be using those same phones on T-Mobile network.
Yeah that would never have worked regardless if they are locked or not. You must trade in those devices to get them to pay off the balance.
Like @eyoungren mentioned, you can try to get swiftunlocks to unlock the phone. Looks like their premium service for iPhone 7/7+ is $54.99 if you want to give it a shot.
Didn't they extend the GetOutOfTheRed promotion to AT&T and Sprint? Or did I imagine that?
Not sure, but I posted above the exact terms. States you must trade in and buy new.