Confused: Using an unlocked AT&T Iphone 6 on Verizon. Can't or Won't?

[T5BRICK]

So all I have to do it use another sim to activate the phone then put in the vz sim?

Activate means different things depending on what you're talking about here. It has been a while since I read up on this stuff, so I may not have things 100% correct. I can tell you that an unlocked AT&T or T-Mobile iPhone 6/6+ will work just fine on Verizon so long as you already have service and a functioning sim.

Activate your iPhone - is what happens when you're first setting up your phone. You just need a working sim in your phone. If your iPhone is locked, the sim has to match the network that the phone is locked to.

Activate a line of service with a carrier - this is when the carrier sets up a new line of service. When you're doing this with Verizon, because of the way their systems are setup, they'll ask for your MEID or IMEI. If it doesn't match something on their list of phones that are registered with them, they won't activate the line.

 

[biosci]

so...



ATT locked then unlocked does not work on VZ

Sprint locked/unlocked will never work on VZ

Tmo locked then unlocked will not work on VZ

VZ locked to VZ on CDMA but not GSM will work on VZ and any other GSM

iPHone factory unlocked will work on any network as long as it takes a sim but not activated on VZ first?

As applejuice said. But you're correct with the old iPhones. TMobile and ATT are GSM based. CDMA carriers are VZ and Sprint. (Of course for the "Big" major carriers)

It may help to read up more on them and you'll soon see why some don't work with others.

For example. I also own a OnePlus One Android phone. It's unlocked and can be used on any carrier. BUT, it only works on GSM. So TMobile works and not VZ.

Again, as Applejuice and many others have said (including myself), the iPhone 6 is different. It's the first real "World" type of iPhone that Apple has put out as it supports the most bands. IMO, it's way more efficient and better for managing the product pipeline rather than having inventory for each carrier.

Hope this all made sense.

 

[mgdpublic]

Over at the apple forums everyone is insisting that it won't work. So strange. Anyway, is it possible that it's not working because I didn't set the phone up as new and instead restored from a backup from the Verizon phone?

 

[mattopotamus]

Over at the apple forums everyone is insisting that it won't work. So strange. Anyway, is it possible that it's not working because I didn't set the phone up as new and instead restored from a backup from the Verizon phone?

I'm still confused about what you are doing. You can use your AT&T phone only if you have a working Verizon SIM. If you are trying to activate a new account with verizon, you cannot use your AT&T iPhone.

 

[mgdpublic]

I'm still confused about what you are doing. You can use your AT&T phone only if you have a working Verizon SIM. If you are trying to activate a new account with verizon, you cannot use your AT&T iPhone.

I have a working verizon sim that I'm trying to transfer from a Verizon Iphone six to an unlocked AT&T 6plus. I'm wondering if maybe because I am restoring the AT&T phone from a Verizon phone's backup that some fundamental setting is not being reset.

 

[mattopotamus]

I have a working verizon sim that I'm trying to transfer from a Verizon Iphone six to an unlocked AT&T 6plus. I'm wondering if maybe because I am restoring the AT&T phone from a Verizon phone's backup that some fundamental setting is not being reset.

I guess you can try setting it up as new. Are you 100% sure the unlock went through? That would be the only other reason I see it not working.

 

[zorinlynx]

The AT&T and T-Mobile iPhone 6 and 6+ will function just fine on Verizon if you already have a Verizon account and sim.

The AT&T and T-Mobile iPhone 6 and 6+ cannot be activated as a new device or on a new account because Verizon doesn't recognize it as a Verizon device.

I wonder if this has changed. Apple claims that the sim-free unlocked iPhone 6 can be activated on any carrier including Verizon and Sprint, even though it's not a Verizon or Sprint phone.

This may mean Verizon has changed their policy and is allowing you to bring "non-Verizon" iPhones to their network as long as they support the right CDMA bands. All unlocked AT&T and T-Mobile iPhone 6 units should work fine on Verizon because they have the necessary bands, as proven by already activated Verizon SIMs working.

It's an idiotic policy not to activate a phone that works fine on your network. Why refuse a potential customer? It's about time they work all this crap out so an unlocked phone is an unlocked phone no matter what.

 

[T5BRICK]

I wonder if this has changed. Apple claims that the sim-free unlocked iPhone 6 can be activated on any carrier including Verizon and Sprint, even though it's not a Verizon or Sprint phone.

This may mean Verizon has changed their policy and is allowing you to bring "non-Verizon" iPhones to their network as long as they support the right CDMA bands. All unlocked AT&T and T-Mobile iPhone 6 units should work fine on Verizon because they have the necessary bands, as proven by already activated Verizon SIMs working.

It's an idiotic policy not to activate a phone that works fine on your network. Why refuse a potential customer? It's about time they work all this crap out so an unlocked phone is an unlocked phone no matter what.

You can go check to see if your phone is whitelisted on Verizon here:

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/nso/enterDeviceId.do

 

[mattopotamus]

I wonder if this has changed. Apple claims that the sim-free unlocked iPhone 6 can be activated on any carrier including Verizon and Sprint, even though it's not a Verizon or Sprint phone.

This may mean Verizon has changed their policy and is allowing you to bring "non-Verizon" iPhones to their network as long as they support the right CDMA bands. All unlocked AT&T and T-Mobile iPhone 6 units should work fine on Verizon because they have the necessary bands, as proven by already activated Verizon SIMs working.

It's an idiotic policy not to activate a phone that works fine on your network. Why refuse a potential customer? It's about time they work all this crap out so an unlocked phone is an unlocked phone no matter what.

I think it just means they will only whitest the unlocked version as well.

 

[JulesJam]

I wonder if this has changed. Apple claims that the sim-free unlocked iPhone 6 can be activated on any carrier including Verizon and Sprint, even though it's not a Verizon or Sprint phone.

The SIM-free and the TMobile models are not the same model.

This may mean Verizon has changed their policy and is allowing you to bring "non-Verizon" iPhones to their network as long as they support the right CDMA bands.

The only phone that Verizon has relaxed it's "Verizon branded phones only" policy for is the SIM-free iP6/6+ AFAIK.

It's an idiotic policy not to activate a phone that works fine on your network. Why refuse a potential customer? It's about time they work all this crap out so an unlocked phone is an unlocked phone no matter what.

Verizon is very controlling and their CDMA network allows them to be. They want your phone filled with Verizon bloatware that they make money off of so they want it to be as hard as possible to activate anything other than Verizon bloat-filled phones on their network. Apple is the only phone manufacturer to have the ability to stop Verizon from doing that.

 

[mgdpublic]

Ok Working! I started from scratch and it's working. Erasing all the settings did it.

Next question: Is there a way to make sure all the networks are working? I read somewhere that LTE may work but some of the others may not. Just want to make sure I won't have problems with this down the road. Thanks all for your help!

Also, does anyone see any problems down the road with doing this and having Verizon not officially recognize my device?

 

[mgdpublic]

BTW you people are much cooler than the pedants over at the apple forums. Anyway, does anyone foresee problems with VoLTE with this setup?

 

[mattaz02]

Question for those who are using the T-Mobile/AT&T unlocked model on Verizon... I transferred 8 lines over to Verizon from T-Mobile. 6 of the phones were iPhone 6's or 6+'s from T-Mobile(unlocked). I was able to get them all activated using a Verizon branded iphone 5c then transferring the activated SIM card into the iPhone6's. Now since I brought my own phones I should be receiving the $25 off per line on the more everything plan, but Verizon can't seem to get it to work in their system. They are saying that the codes they are using are not being accepted. If I put the sim card from one of the 6's into the 5c(Verizon phone) then they are able to add the discount, but once I put that sim card back into the iPhone6 the discount goes away since it now shows up as a non VZW device. Has anyone been able to get the $25 a month discount added? If so HOW???? Thanks in advance.

 

[617aircav]

Question for those who are using the T-Mobile/AT&T unlocked model on Verizon... I transferred 8 lines over to Verizon from T-Mobile. 6 of the phones were iPhone 6's or 6+'s from T-Mobile(unlocked). I was able to get them all activated using a Verizon branded iphone 5c then transferring the activated SIM card into the iPhone6's. Now since I brought my own phones I should be receiving the $25 off per line on the more everything plan, but Verizon can't seem to get it to work in their system. They are saying that the codes they are using are not being accepted. If I put the sim card from one of the 6's into the 5c(Verizon phone) then they are able to add the discount, but once I put that sim card back into the iPhone6 the discount goes away since it now shows up as a non VZW device. Has anyone been able to get the $25 a month discount added? If so HOW???? Thanks in advance.

Why would the phone affect the discount anyway. That's just Verizon trying to force you to buy another phone.

 

[mattaz02]

It is stupid and I don't understand how they cannot manually add the discount, but they are giving me such agony over this. They've tried multiple times to do different things and all it did was deactivate my SIM card to which then I had to go into a Verizon store to get a new SIM card and reactivate it on one of their devices in store. They've figured out how to reactivate it without me needing to go into the store, so that's nice, but still can't get the discount. Ideally, I would just buy new phones, but I would lose a good amount of money on the sale of 6 phones and then have to pay full retail for new ones since I don't want to be on contract incase I want to switch again....

 

[C DM]

Question for those who are using the T-Mobile/AT&T unlocked model on Verizon... I transferred 8 lines over to Verizon from T-Mobile. 6 of the phones were iPhone 6's or 6+'s from T-Mobile(unlocked). I was able to get them all activated using a Verizon branded iphone 5c then transferring the activated SIM card into the iPhone6's. Now since I brought my own phones I should be receiving the $25 off per line on the more everything plan, but Verizon can't seem to get it to work in their system. They are saying that the codes they are using are not being accepted. If I put the sim card from one of the 6's into the 5c(Verizon phone) then they are able to add the discount, but once I put that sim card back into the iPhone6 the discount goes away since it now shows up as a non VZW device. Has anyone been able to get the $25 a month discount added? If so HOW???? Thanks in advance.

Have you tried dealing with different representatives? Sometimes one or a few might just not really be all that good and can't figure out things or sometimes even don't understand them or understand them incorrectly.

 

[techiegirl]

I signed up with Verizon using my T-Mobile (unlocked) 6+'s a few weeks ago. Last night I was told by Verizon that my 6+'s are not Verizon phones and I would not get my $25/line discount.

I decided not to argue with them and took my business back to AT&T. They had no problem activating my T-Mobile phone.

 

[mattaz02]

I've tried 3 different representatives, who all believe that the discount should be added and have tried, but can't seem to get it to work. I've got someone supposed to call me tomorrow to try 1 last thing, if It doesn't work then I will probably be heading to AT&T as well.

 

[cavscout]

AT&T iPhone 6 Plus unlocked on Verizon

I just went through this process and it worked as of yesterday. I have an iPhone 6 Plus on contract with AT&T (got it in December), my girlfriend bought an iPhone 6 from Verizon last week. We tried to just swap the sim cards, my AT&T sim worked in her Verizon phone, her Verzion sim in my at&t phone did not work. I got the carrier sim lock down message, I forget the exact verbage.
I took my iPhone 6 Plus and had it unlocked at a third party establishment. Hooked up to my iTunes and wiped it and it came back up and said congratulations your phone has been unlocked. Restored the phone with my girlfriends backup and put her Verizon sim card in and it works fine now. I restored my backup onto her Verizon phone and used my AT&T sim and we are both working just fine.

 

[Marllysounds]

I can confirm that as of yesterday i had my phone unlocked and i am currently using an att iphone 6 on the verizon network. Gonna have to see if that discount thing happens cause im in a no contract post paid plan. You have to do a network reset to get LTE.

 

[passivecool]

Can anyone update me on whether Verizon will activate a new nano-SIM card for an iPhone 6 purchased from Apple, AT&T, Sprint, or T-Mobile (not from Verizon)? (Currently, I'm not a Verizon customer.)

I've tried 3 different representatives, who all believe that the discount should be added and have tried, but can't seem to get it to work. I've got someone supposed to call me tomorrow to try 1 last thing, if It doesn't work then I will probably be heading to AT&T as well.

Is Verizon still refusing to apply discounts you should be receiving? Were you able to get a full refund for every month Verizon didn't apply a discount?

 

[GigabitEthernet]

Why does Verizon have to activate your device on their network?

I'm just curious as in the UK you just buy any phone you want and use it on whatever network you want (provided it's unlocked of course).

 

[C DM]

Why does Verizon have to activate your device on their network?

I'm just curious as in the UK you just buy any phone you want and use it on whatever network you want (provided it's unlocked of course).

It's a CDMA network, which works somewhat differently than a GSM network. With more and more of it all happening on LTE side of things, that's changing in a way, so these days an activated Verizon SIM should work in a compatible unlocked iPhone, even if it isn't a "Verizon" one.

 

[jomo25]

I have a slightly different situation, but i'm trying to work around the Verizon whitelist. I have a Tmobile iPhone 6 bought out right on launch day (the true unlocked wasn't available til months later). But it's fully unlocked and I know it'll work on the VZ networks (CDMA and LTE). But of course it's not on the VZ whitelist and i can't use the IMEI to open a new account. (Yes, I'm going back to VZ cuz the TMo service in my area is weaker, and VZ has dropped their prices making it worthwhile again)

So, I'm wanting to take the advice of others to "get a cheap whitelisted VZ smartphone off Ebay and activate a VZ line with it, then put the SIM in the iPhone 6". The issue is all cheap smartphones on Ebay use MicroSIM, not NanoSIM. So, I can't simply put that activated MicroSIM into my iPhone 6. I can try to trim it (not something I'd like to do). Or will VZ then let me swap the MicroSIM for a NanoSIM without checking the iPhone's IMEI against their whitelist again since the lie is already established?

If I can swap, then great. If not, I guess I can go the trimming route. Thoughts? Thanks!

 

[bniu]

I wonder if this has changed. Apple claims that the sim-free unlocked iPhone 6 can be activated on any carrier including Verizon and Sprint, even though it's not a Verizon or Sprint phone.

This may mean Verizon has changed their policy and is allowing you to bring "non-Verizon" iPhones to their network as long as they support the right CDMA bands. All unlocked AT&T and T-Mobile iPhone 6 units should work fine on Verizon because they have the necessary bands, as proven by already activated Verizon SIMs working.

It's an idiotic policy not to activate a phone that works fine on your network. Why refuse a potential customer? It's about time they work all this crap out so an unlocked phone is an unlocked phone no matter what.

How much arm twisting did Apple do to finally get Verizon to accept the sim-free unlocked iPhone onto their network?