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My sister has been a Sprint customer for 14 years- She bought a 7plus 70 days ago when BB had a $300 gift card for the 256gb promo. Since I have Verizon and picked up her iphone - when I activated it I used my sim first.

Fast forward to last week she finally got tired of Sprints terrible service and ported over to T-Mobile under the carrier freedom promo. The T-Mobile sales guy kept telling her that her iPhone was locked to Sprint. My sister called me - the salesman then tried to tell me the difference between locked/unlocked until I said put a T-Mobile sim in it. Then he wanted to know how I knew to activate it first with my Verizon sim

My sister ended up paying 3 payments on her 7 plus total and really they paid her to take the phone when you factor in the $300 card she got

They always try to get you to buy a new phone from them.
They pull that with everyone, they wont even test out a sim.
They just flat out tell everyone their phone wont work.
 
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This has been a super helpful thread!

I purchased an iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 plus for my dad and girlfriend from Bestbuy last week. As so many other people who were also lied to comment here I was told it was fully unlocked to work in the UK. I doesn't activate (as I now know due to Best Buy selling under the US flex locking policy!)

SO - I know I need to use a Verizon Sim to activate first...but:

- Does this need to be a Verizon pay as you go sim or does it have to be a Verizon monthly contract phone sim - do both work the same?

- Also I'm now in the UK so if I get a Verizon sim from eBay can I activate in the UK?

Many thanks for your help

Best Wishes,
Tom
 
This has been a super helpful thread!

I purchased an iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 plus for my dad and girlfriend from Bestbuy last week. As so many other people who were also lied to comment here I was told it was fully unlocked to work in the UK. I doesn't activate (as I now know due to Best Buy selling under the US flex locking policy!)

SO - I know I need to use a Verizon Sim to activate first...but:

- Does this need to be a Verizon pay as you go sim or does it have to be a Verizon monthly contract phone sim - do both work the same?

- Also I'm now in the UK so if I get a Verizon sim from eBay can I activate in the UK?

Many thanks for your help

Best Wishes,
Tom
flex policy is for usa unlocked only , once u leave the usa it will be locked, according to best buy mobile technical department. doesnt matter which sim you use from verizon once you leave usa it most likely will get locked.
 
Are you 100% about that?
I thought once setup as a verizon phone it will work as all verizon iphones that are unlocked for any GSM carrier in the world.


flex policy is for usa unlocked only , once u leave the usa it will be locked, according to best buy mobile technical department. doesnt matter which sim you use from verizon once you leave usa it most likely will get locked.
 
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The phones are unactivated (won't activate with my UK sim) and now in the UK - my only option is to try either a Verizon prepaid pay as you go or Verizon contract (inactive) phone as far as I can tell from eBay?

Blacklisted - what would they be locked to exactly as they've left the US?
 
flex policy is for usa unlocked only , once u leave the usa it will be locked, according to best buy mobile technical department. doesnt matter which sim you use from verizon once you leave usa it most likely will get locked.

no that is not correct. i have used my 7 plus in UK and it worked fine. My dad is using his 8 Plus in Pakistan right now and its working fine!
[doublepost=1507302746][/doublepost]
Are you 100% about that?
I thought once setup as a verizon phone it will work as all verizon iphone that are unlocked for any GSM carrier in the world.

'they remain unlocked read my comment above.
 
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no that is not correct. i have used my 7 plus in UK and it worked fine. My dad is using his 8 Plus in Pakistan right now and its working fine!
[doublepost=1507302746][/doublepost]

'they remain unlocked read my comment above.


Thanks! Did you unlock them with Verizon contract sim or prepay sim and also was this done in the US or overseas?
 
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I bought a Sim free unlocked IP8+ from the Apple store and I'm planning on giving it to mom overseas. Have anything changed recently or am I good?

I need to activate it (planning to use a sprint Sim) first to get to the update screen and apply the latest update that fixes the crackling because my mom is pretty tech illiterate haha.
 
I bought a Sim free unlocked IP8+ from the Apple store and I'm planning on giving it to mom overseas. Have anything changed recently or am I good?

I need to activate it (planning to use a sprint Sim) first to get to the update screen and apply the latest update that fixes the crackling because my mom is pretty tech illiterate haha.
apple store is fine, this thread is about bestbuy/walmart/kmart/target/ primarily resellers.
 
You'll be fine.
I dont think it matters if you're in the US, UK or in Japan when you first stick the sim in.
Once you put in that verizon sim it should activate and put in the unlock policy like all verizon iphones that are fully unlocked for any GSM carrier.


Thanks. Does anyone have experience of this activation process working with a Verizon sim out of the US - I need to do in the UK!
 
You'll be fine.
I dont think it matters if you're in the US, UK or in Japan when you first stick the sim in.
Once you put in that verizon sim it should activate and put in the unlock policy like all verizon iphones that are fully unlocked for any GSM carrier.

Thank you - does it matter if it's prepay sim or contract Verizon sim? Prepay easy on eBay - deactivated contract I can't find!
 
Sadly Verizon LTE 4G sim arrived and Iphone8 doesn't activate in the UK either on WIFI or through iTunes. Same error message as EE UK sim.

Still speaking to Bestbuy store manager but this isn't looking good...he is going to post another Verizon sim in case one I got from eBay sold as for iPhone was actually for android however the seller told me they purchased from eBay US seller to get around the same problem - in waiting for them to confirm it worked for them!

Does anyone have any ideas?! Have they changed something with iPhone 8 and US reseller flex policy?
 
Thanks Guys for all your help , i was able to unlock it .. and it was pretty simple actually....
i just logged into iTunes and turned find my iPhone off , factory reset ...and done. now m able to use it with my local carriers as well

Hello! I have the same problem. How you unlock the iPhone? Thanks!
 
Hi all, I just got a new Iphone X from Ebay, I am currently living in Guatemala Central America. The phone said it was supoosed to be unlocked. When the phone arrived it was sealed in box, but it is a US Reseller Flex Policy phone, i tried my local carrier SIM but it was invalid, i then tried a Verizon SIM card but it did not take it. I then tried a T Mobile SIM card and i was able to activate the phone (for the first time) the phone is locked does anyone know if paying $200 plus for a T Mobile unlocking service will do the trick? Or do i need to bring the phone to the US?
[doublepost=1511880553][/doublepost]
Sadly Verizon LTE 4G sim arrived and Iphone8 doesn't activate in the UK either on WIFI or through iTunes. Same error message as EE UK sim.

Still speaking to Bestbuy store manager but this isn't looking good...he is going to post another Verizon sim in case one I got from eBay sold as for iPhone was actually for android however the seller told me they purchased from eBay US seller to get around the same problem - in waiting for them to confirm it worked for them!

Does anyone have any ideas?! Have they changed something with iPhone 8 and US reseller flex policy?
Hi, i have the exact same problem as you, i tried the verizon SIM and nothing happened, i left it a cel shop for 15 minutes and when i came back the guy had inserted a T Mobile SIM in it, and he was able to activate with WIFI, my local SIM is still invalid and now i dont know if my phone is locked to T Mobile... any luck on your end?
 
Hi all, I just got a new Iphone X from Ebay, I am currently living in Guatemala Central America. The phone said it was supoosed to be unlocked. When the phone arrived it was sealed in box, but it is a US Reseller Flex Policy phone, i tried my local carrier SIM but it was invalid, i then tried a Verizon SIM card but it did not take it. I then tried a T Mobile SIM card and i was able to activate the phone (for the first time) the phone is locked does anyone know if paying $200 plus for a T Mobile unlocking service will do the trick? Or do i need to bring the phone to the US?
[doublepost=1511880553][/doublepost]
Hi, i have the exact same problem as you, i tried the verizon SIM and nothing happened, i left it a cel shop for 15 minutes and when i came back the guy had inserted a T Mobile SIM in it, and he was able to activate with WIFI, my local SIM is still invalid and now i dont know if my phone is locked to T Mobile... any luck on your end?
people dont seem to understand this, us reseller flex policy , this is for usa use only. the phone will not be unlocked for international use.
 
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