macher
macrumors 68040
I very recently sold an unlocked AT&T iPhone 6 to a person who has Verizon. We met at a Verizon and the rep activated a new sim and the unlocked AT&T iPhone 6 worked on VZW with no hitches.
Confused: Using an unlocked AT&T Iphone 6 on Verizon. Can't or Won't?
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I very recently sold an unlocked AT&T iPhone 6 to a person who has Verizon. We met at a Verizon and the rep activated a new sim and the unlocked AT&T iPhone 6 worked on VZW with no hitches.
macher
macrumors 68040
Are you sure the iPhone is unlocked? I ran IMEI through Verizon checker and it was good to go. Check with Apple to see if iPhone is unlocked.
Absolutely unlocked. It's just that the only iPhones that are 'whitelisted' for service activation are the VZ iPhones and the "no carrier SIM" unlocked iPhones.
The TMobile iPhones, which are unlocked and will work on the VZ networks are not whitelisted, so they cannot be activated. But when I put an already-activated VZ SIM in , it works perfectly.
The issue is VZ won't activate new service it even though it works fine. You can only activate new service with a Whitelisted phone, then transfer the SIM into a non-whitelisted phone. My issue is that I have an active microSIM, but need to get the service transferred to nanoSIM to be used in my phone.
The TMobile iPhones, which are unlocked and will work on the VZ networks are not whitelisted, so they cannot be activated. But when I put an already-activated VZ SIM in , it works perfectly.
The issue is VZ won't activate new service it even though it works fine. You can only activate new service with a Whitelisted phone, then transfer the SIM into a non-whitelisted phone. My issue is that I have an active microSIM, but need to get the service transferred to nanoSIM to be used in my phone.
macher
macrumors 68040
AT&T unlocked iPhone 6's will absolutely work on Verizon.
I know it will work. The question is will they activate a new line. Your experience was yes, they will. Cool. Many others (everyone else besides you in this and other threads) have said no, they won't. Your mileage varied.
Thus my question about switching SIMs after activating a line.
Thus my question about switching SIMs after activating a line.
macher
macrumors 68040
Ok the question is 'will Verizon activate a new line with an unlocked AT&T iPhone 6'.
Call customer service.
I've called them and they told me they will not do it. It has nothing to do with compatibility, it is just policy.
The person I spoke to said if I had an old sim from an older phone, they could use that sim to activate it. This sounded promising as I do have an old sim so I reviewed pricing and I can't seem to beat my AT&T price. Service in my area for AT&T is good though Verizon is a little better but not worth the price increase to switch.
The person I spoke to said if I had an old sim from an older phone, they could use that sim to activate it. This sounded promising as I do have an old sim so I reviewed pricing and I can't seem to beat my AT&T price. Service in my area for AT&T is good though Verizon is a little better but not worth the price increase to switch.
Exactly. For me it would be $30 cheaper per month for 10Gb with 2 lines and my corp discount. I can activate the 2 lines with old VZ phones that use Micro SIMs. But I want to xfer the lines to our iPhone 6's that use nano SIMs.
So, for the record here's what my experience was:
My local Verizon store would/could not activate a new line with My TMobile iPhone 6 (and my wife's). Both phones are fully unlocked and support TMo, AT&T, and Vzn bands 3G/4G/LTE bands, but their activation process requires a Whitelisted IMEI to start service. Only official Verizon iPhones are whitelisted. Unlocked AT&T and TMo iPhones, while supporting all required bands, arent eligible. And depending on the level of experience the rep has, they either think "it wont work" (wrong) on their network or, that "it'll work, but we cant activate a line/SIM with it" (correct).
So, I actually got cheap ($22) VZN Droid IVs off of ebay and activated service. But those use micro-SIMs, not nano-SIMs. I got my service activated at one store saying "my wife and I want to try the service first before we commit with porting our numbers and our main phones" to Vzn. Of course, I'd have to pay, even if we decided to cancel.
The next day, i went to another store and said, we like the service and want to switch our main phones and numbers to VZN. Since they (or we) couldnt simply take the SIMs out and use them in the iPhones, they had to activate new nano-SIMs. Unfortunately, the same whitelisting issue came up even when trying to activate a new SIM on an existing line. So, it is a block on activating the SIM, not just a service line.
Now, I had to push them harder and come clean as to what I was trying to do. After a bit of explaining, and negotiating, I had them actually activate the new nano-SIMs on my account in a store display iPhone, then just give me the SIM and pop it into my phone. Did it for each mine and my wife's. This makes total sense. and I know others have done this. But it all depends on the willingness and savvy-ness of the rep/mgr you work with. So your mileage may vary. Just know that this process does work and will be supported by some of their people.
We've had the new service for 2 weeks since and no issues whatsoever. The VZN service in our area has greatly improved int he year since we left them and their pricing is much better now than it was. (Actually, we even got the bonus promotion that doubles our data allotment for the first year from 10Gb to 20Gb). And my company has a 21% corp discount. So for $110 for 2 lines one excellent network, i'm happy with this.
My local Verizon store would/could not activate a new line with My TMobile iPhone 6 (and my wife's). Both phones are fully unlocked and support TMo, AT&T, and Vzn bands 3G/4G/LTE bands, but their activation process requires a Whitelisted IMEI to start service. Only official Verizon iPhones are whitelisted. Unlocked AT&T and TMo iPhones, while supporting all required bands, arent eligible. And depending on the level of experience the rep has, they either think "it wont work" (wrong) on their network or, that "it'll work, but we cant activate a line/SIM with it" (correct).
So, I actually got cheap ($22) VZN Droid IVs off of ebay and activated service. But those use micro-SIMs, not nano-SIMs. I got my service activated at one store saying "my wife and I want to try the service first before we commit with porting our numbers and our main phones" to Vzn. Of course, I'd have to pay, even if we decided to cancel.
The next day, i went to another store and said, we like the service and want to switch our main phones and numbers to VZN. Since they (or we) couldnt simply take the SIMs out and use them in the iPhones, they had to activate new nano-SIMs. Unfortunately, the same whitelisting issue came up even when trying to activate a new SIM on an existing line. So, it is a block on activating the SIM, not just a service line.
Now, I had to push them harder and come clean as to what I was trying to do. After a bit of explaining, and negotiating, I had them actually activate the new nano-SIMs on my account in a store display iPhone, then just give me the SIM and pop it into my phone. Did it for each mine and my wife's. This makes total sense. and I know others have done this. But it all depends on the willingness and savvy-ness of the rep/mgr you work with. So your mileage may vary. Just know that this process does work and will be supported by some of their people.
We've had the new service for 2 weeks since and no issues whatsoever. The VZN service in our area has greatly improved int he year since we left them and their pricing is much better now than it was. (Actually, we even got the bonus promotion that doubles our data allotment for the first year from 10Gb to 20Gb). And my company has a 21% corp discount. So for $110 for 2 lines one excellent network, i'm happy with this.
zorinlynx
macrumors G3
It absolutely BOGGLES MY MIND that Verizon hasn't fixed this issue. This is COSTING THEM POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS. A lot of people won't be willing to put up with that ********, and will just walk right out, over to the AT&T store and activate there.
Seriously what's the deal with Verizon? Don't they want customers? This is the most boneheaded thing I've ever seen, turning away customers with compatible equipment who want to GIVE YOU MONEY. LOTS OF MONEY.
It's funny you say this. I didn't include it in my post above. But I had to really push them hard to do this. I mean it got heated. I had to basically force them to try this. They were this close to throwing me out of the store, all while I'm yelling 'I'm trying to give you guys my business!'
They wouldn't believe it would work and they threw a SIM from one if their demo phones (which happened to be out of credit for some reason) into my phone and when it didn't work told me because my phone isn't compatible. After arguing with the sales guy that it's because the SIM was bad, he called the manager, who backed him up. Protesting, I said look, try one more SIM, and if it doesn't work, I'll leave immediately. Of course this time it worked and the manager continued to then listen to my explanation of how this can work.
passivecool
Suspended
A lot of people will just accept some trade-in promotion. Verizon wants service revenue AND equipment revenue to look good on its quarterly earnings reports.
zorinlynx
macrumors G3
I don't think anyone is going to trade-in a current gen device like the iPhone 6.
passivecool
Suspended
I know accepting $300 then giving Verizon $650 for a new phone seems foolish, but Verizon is running that promotion for people who REALLY want to switch. Previously, Verizon was running a $200 trade-in promotion, so the current promotion indicates churn is increasing.
Hey, I already filed an informal complaint with the FCC about manipulative white-listing. The 700 MHz Second Report and Order and the 2015 Open Internet Order should prohibit this . . . yet Verizon is still doing it.
Mikewh
macrumors member
I've officially activated 2 unlocked AT&T iphone 6's on Verizon as of the "new" plans introduced in mid august. I bought 2 unactivated sims from Amazon and created a verizon account by activating sim on unlocked phone. No problems. Everything works.
mjtaylor86
macrumors newbie
I bought an iPhone 6 from AT&T last December. I just switch to Verizon, I had AT&T unlocked my phone first. While I was waiting for my phone to be unlocked I had my number ported over to a Verizon SIM card which was activated inside a different iPhone 6.
Once my iPhone 6 was unlocked I transferred the Sim. Everything worked but.......I cannot use data while on the phone. I thought it was just a different carrier, different rules and I thought maybe Verizon Just didn't allow it. So I ignored it.
...well about 1 month later I am looking at iPhone 6's for my wife and I found out there is not 1 size fits all iPhone 6. There is a GSM and the is a CDMA for the US. Both are model A1549, which is why I think some people here believe they are the same, but they are different order numbers. Mine is a GSM only model with order/model MG4N2LL/A. The CDMA order/model is MG5W2LL/A.
So yes it does work, but it will never be technically equal, because there is technically/physically multiples versions of the iPhone 6 including but not limited to GSM/North America and CDMA/Morth America.
I don't have access to my bill to see what is going on, like if I am roaming right now or anything, I will update in a couple of days when I am able to get that information.
Once my iPhone 6 was unlocked I transferred the Sim. Everything worked but.......I cannot use data while on the phone. I thought it was just a different carrier, different rules and I thought maybe Verizon Just didn't allow it. So I ignored it.
...well about 1 month later I am looking at iPhone 6's for my wife and I found out there is not 1 size fits all iPhone 6. There is a GSM and the is a CDMA for the US. Both are model A1549, which is why I think some people here believe they are the same, but they are different order numbers. Mine is a GSM only model with order/model MG4N2LL/A. The CDMA order/model is MG5W2LL/A.
So yes it does work, but it will never be technically equal, because there is technically/physically multiples versions of the iPhone 6 including but not limited to GSM/North America and CDMA/Morth America.
I don't have access to my bill to see what is going on, like if I am roaming right now or anything, I will update in a couple of days when I am able to get that information.
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I went into the Verizon store to activate my supposedly still locked to AT&T iPhone 6 Plus, and to my and several Verizon employees surprise, it activated immediately. They even ported my number from AT&T. I still have a year left on the AT&T 2 year contract that the line was under, so I expect AT&T will hit me with an ETF soon. I still end up saving more than the ETF under Verizon though. I'm not sure how it worked since I bought the phone from AT&T originally, and I even submitted an unlock request to AT&T which was immediately denied.
Why would there not be CDMA to fall on?
Well I'm asking if it works for like if you live in a rural area where LTE wasn't available. like att switches back and forth from GSM to LTE
Well, for Verizon, it would similarly switch to CDMA if LTE coverage isn't available.
yes but I to have an AT&T iphone 6 plus I'm wanting to switch to Verizon. Was just wondering if there were any problems with that is all
It's the same model as the one used for Verizon, so from that point of view (assuming the phone is unlocked) there would be no difference as if you went with Verizon and had the Verizon model.