Carrier options for paid off but not yet unlocked iPhone 6 Plus?

[kilcher]

We've been with AT&T for quite a while but lately I've been thinking about switching to Sprint to save money. I would consider T-Mobile but I don't think they have much of a presence around here and since I drive an hour each way to and from work (mostly rural) I would need some coverage in case of an emergency - from what I understand T-Mobile service is virtually non-existant when there are large gaps like that. Other than that I have access to wifi most of the time. I would even consider Verizon if they offered a better plan for the same money or a comparable plan for less but they seem to be on the high side most of the time.

Anyway... I just bought an iPhone 6 Plus from AT&T. I bought it on Next but paid it off after one payment. I have not had it unlocked but I would imagine I'd need to do that before doing anything else.

I'm a little confused by how these phones are set up now, what are my carrier options with this particular phone? Once it's unlocked could I take it to Sprint, T-Mobile, or Verizon?

 

[KPOM]

You should get it unlocked, which AT&T will do. Once you do that, T-Mobile becomes an option. It won't work on Sprint, and there's only a "back door" way to make it work on Verizon.

You technically could make it work on VZW if you have an existing Verizon phone with a nano-SIM. Verizon needs a "whitelisted" phone associated with an account. But once you have that, you can take the SIM out, and it would work in an unlocked iPhone 6. That's a chance from the iPhone 5s. Because of a glitch, there are lots of Verizon unlimited data plan accounts that are out there now (the MarketPlace here has a few poster and there's a whole thread on this below). One option is to assume liability on one of those accounts, get a hold of a used Verizon iPhone 5 or above on Swappa or eBay, activate that phone on VZW, and then swap the SIM. Just keep that used phone around, since if it gets linked to another account it could mess up yours.

 

[kilcher]

You should get it unlocked, which AT&T will do. Once you do that, T-Mobile becomes an option. It won't work on Sprint, and there's only a "back door" way to make it work on Verizon.

You technically could make it work on VZW if you have an existing Verizon phone with a nano-SIM. Verizon needs a "whitelisted" phone associated with an account. But once you have that, you can take the SIM out, and it would work in an unlocked iPhone 6. That's a chance from the iPhone 5s. Because of a glitch, there are lots of Verizon unlimited data plan accounts that are out there now (the MarketPlace here has a few poster and there's a whole thread on this below). One option is to assume liability on one of those accounts, get a hold of a used Verizon iPhone 5 or above on Swappa or eBay, activate that phone on VZW, and then swap the SIM. Just keep that used phone around, since if it gets linked to another account it could mess up yours.

Ok, T-Mo's probably the only real option then and I don't think that'll work around here. I probably should have thought of this more BEFORE buying the phone. Thanks for the info!