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Carrier Changing cariers soon, trying to confirm something

G

Gmcube

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 19, 2009
229
36
This probably gets asked a lot but I've heard some conflicting info on whether or not I'll have to get a different model iphone 6 to use it on Verizon. I'm currently on AT&T.

It sounds like I do, but wanted to confirm that with you guys. I know it was like that in the past but I thought I read something about how starting with the iphone 6 they were all the same. Is that wrong?
 
Gmcube said:
This probably gets asked a lot but I've heard some conflicting info on whether or not I'll have to get a different model iphone 6 to use it on Verizon. I'm currently on AT&T.

It sounds like I do, but wanted to confirm that with you guys. I know it was like that in the past but I thought I read something about how starting with the iphone 6 they were all the same. Is that wrong?
Click to expand...

Have AT&T unlock it for you before you switch to VZW so that way you'll be ready to go.
 
Depending on the exact model iPhone you have, it may not be possible to take it to Verizon as they use CDMA and ATT is GSM. If your phone isn't CDMA capable, having ATT unlock it won't help you.
 
heyyitssusan said:
Have AT&T unlock it for you before you switch to VZW so that way you'll be ready to go.
Click to expand...

Actually no. Verizon will not activate a phone that is not the verizon model or the official unlocked model. If you have an ATT iphone, you will need to sell that and either buy the verizon iphone or sim free one.

The only way to use the ATT iphone on verizon is if you already have an active verizon account. Again, verizon will NOT active a new account with a phone that is not either a verizon model or official unlocked one.

While the ATT phone and verizon iphone are identical, verizon are bastards and will never whitelist (allow) the ATT phone to activate a new line on their network.
 
Okay, I think I get it now. So there's no technical reason they cant activate them, they just choose not to?

This is probably a stupid question but what if I were to buy a verizon phone, activate it, then put that sim card in my current iphone 6? That wouldn't work would it?

The model is a MG4W2LL/A (gsm).
 
Really? So I could probably just return or sell the new phone after that and continue using my old one?

Because it would save me a lot of trouble. Aside from avoiding the hassle I would like to keep my current one if I can as it was a gift from my mother who passed away about a week ago.
 
Gmcube said:
Really? So I could probably just return or sell the new phone after that and continue using my old one?
Click to expand...

Or, if you have a friend with a Verizon phone that takes a nano SIM and doesn't mind letting you use it for a few minutes, you could activate with that phone, then swap the SIM into your iPhone.
 
Gmcube said:
This probably gets asked a lot but I've heard some conflicting info on whether or not I'll have to get a different model iphone 6 to use it on Verizon. I'm currently on AT&T.

It sounds like I do, but wanted to confirm that with you guys. I know it was like that in the past but I thought I read something about how starting with the iphone 6 they were all the same. Is that wrong?
Click to expand...

Verizon will not officially activate phones from other carriers, but if you have a Verizon SIM that is already active, it will supposedly work with a non-Verizon iPhone 6/6+. Unfortunately they don't sell SIM cards without phones, so you'd have to borrow one from a friend if you don't have one from another phone.
 
Best advice is to borrow a friend's iPhone, activate it, then swap the SIM. Works great. If you get a knowledgeable rep, they will activate one of the floor model phones, and hand you the SIM card. But those are few and far between...
 
Are you guys saying I should borrow the phone, or their sim? Either way I'm not sure I get the point. Since my current one will be rendered useless and I cant get a new sim without buying a verizon phone, don't I have to buy a phone either way? If I'm doing that I might as well activate using that, no?

If you mean borrow a sim, how would that work? iphones wont get service without a sim so I cant just hand it back after activating an iphone.
 
Last edited:
scaredpoet said:
Or, if you have a friend with a Verizon phone that takes a nano SIM and doesn't mind letting you use it for a few minutes, you could activate with thait phone, then swap the SIM into your iPhone.
Click to expand...

Can you explain in more detail how this would work, I'm with the OP same phone on ATT but ready to switch.
What sim do I put in my friends phone the one in iphone with ATT now?, how am I activating it and then get my number ported to Verizon.
I'm lost also, do I put my sim in friends phone and ask to activate it, then put that in my phone?
 
Gmcube said:
Are you guys saying I should borrow the phone, or their sim? Either way I'm not sure I get the point. Since my current one will be rendered useless and I cant get a new sim without buying a verizon phone, don't I have to buy a phone either way? If I'm doing that I might as well activate using that, no?
Click to expand...

Brewc said:
Can you explain in more detail how this would work, I'm with the OP same phone on ATT but ready to switch.
What sim do I put in my friends phone the one in iphone with ATT now?, how am I activating it and then get my number ported to Verizon.
I'm lost also, do I put my sim in friends phone and ask to activate it, then put that in my phone?
Click to expand...

Borrow a friends Verizon phone that uses a nano sim. Pop their sim out, walk into a Verizon store and ask to activate a new line using your friends Verizon phone(basically you're starting a new line and bringing your own device). Once the activation is complete, pop the sim out of your friends phone and put it into your AT&T iPhone.
 
Brewc said:
So I put the the sim that's in My iPhone into their phone for the activation then swap back, and then the imei registers in the system?
Click to expand...

No, you don't put a sim into your friends phone until the employee at the Verizon store hands you one.
 
Gmcube said:
Really? So I could probably just return or sell the new phone after that and continue using my old one?

Because it would save me a lot of trouble. Aside from avoiding the hassle I would like to keep my current one if I can as it was a gift from my mother who passed away about a week ago.
Click to expand...

KUguardgrl13 said:
Verizon will not officially activate phones from other carriers, but if you have a Verizon SIM that is already active, it will supposedly work with a non-Verizon iPhone 6/6+. Unfortunately they don't sell SIM cards without phones, so you'd have to borrow one from a friend if you don't have one from another phone.
Click to expand...

The voluntary carrier agreement is now in place. While it technically only applies to phones developed after 2/11/15, Sprint, for one, decided to start unlocking iPhones all the way back to the 5c/5s and whitelist all iPhone 6 models, so maybe Verizon will do so as well. It's worth a shot. There is no technical reason why the AT&T iPhone 6 won't work on Verizon.
 
KPOM said:
The voluntary carrier agreement is now in place. While it technically only applies to phones developed after 2/11/15, Sprint, for one, decided to start unlocking iPhones all the way back to the 5c/5s and whitelist all iPhone 6 models, so maybe Verizon will do so as well.
Click to expand...

The problem is that "unlock" and "activate" are two different things. My understanding is that the voluntary agreement has carriers being more clear and maybe more lenient about unlocking their phones, but they don't have to change their policies about what phones they allow on their network. So it's like this: they'll unlock your phone, but you're on your own getting other carriers to activate it.

The proof will be in the pudding: Maybe Verizon might start activating accounts on non-Verizon iPhones, but no one should be surprised if they still don't. Nor does Verizon need to change their policy about unlocking phones, since Verizon LTE phones already come unlocked because of an FCC agreement.


It's worth a shot. There is no technical reason why the AT&T iPhone 6 won't work on Verizon.
Click to expand...

This is true: there isn't any reason at all. If Verizon doesn't allow it, the only reason is that they just don't want to.
 
Was going to go to verizon today, but it looks like I have another month at least to figure this out now.


If I am able to borrow someone's iphone would I still be able to port my number? Or would I have to get a new one?
 
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