I'm thinking about buying my buddy's iPhone 5 when he gets his new 6 next week so I'm curious about this. Thanks for any assistance.
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Does an AT&T iPhone 5 unlocked get LTE speeds on T-Mobile?
- Thread starter andyx3x
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I think the 5S was the first phone compatible w/ TMO's LTE. But you might want to throw your SIM card in there to check.
Applejuiced
macrumors Westmere
Yes, it will get LTE but some early iphone 5 models will not get 3G/HSPA+.
You'd be stuck with 2G edge if you don't have LTE available.
Iphone 5 models manufactured after April 2013 will be compatible with all 3G and 4G bands for Tmobile.
Put the serial number into the applecare website and it will give you an idea of when the warranty started and if its before April 2013 then it doesn't have all frequencies available.
https://getsupport.apple.com/ProductSelector.action
Yeah he got it right when it came out. Now I bought a full priced AT&T iPhone 5 at the Apple Store the first week of November 2012(I ended up losing it) and it got HSPA+ speeds on T-Mobile.
Applejuiced
macrumors Westmere
Then it wont have all the bands available used by Tmobile.
Some Tmobile areas have refarmed HSPA+ bands that's why you got 3G with that other iphone before and most likely you will get 3G with this phone also on the same locations you did before.
But not all Tmobile areas are refarmed so if you drive away further you might be stuck with 2G service where a newer iphone 5 will stay with HSPA+.
Up to you, see if he lets you test drive it for a day and see if it works out for you.
All 5S, 5C and iphone 6 models now have all bands available for tmobile.
Yeah I do live in a refarmed area(Raleigh/Durham). And I'll have it a little while before I decide. I wanna test the battery life for a couple of days to make sure I'm not gonna have to replace that.
I'm not with T-Mobile now. Will let they you borrow a sim card to see what type of speeds you get on the network before you commit to anything?
Applejuiced
macrumors Westmere
I see.
Check to see if it qualifies for a battery replacement since most iphone 5 do. You just gotta go to Apple and they will put in a new one.
Go to this site:
https://www.apple.com/support/iphone5-battery/
About Tmobile Im not sure if they will let you test out a sim for free like that. I know they had that iphone test program for 14 days but you can go and ask them for details.
If not you can just purchase a prepaid Tmobile sim with data and see how it goes.
Yeah I already checked the battery replacement thing for him about a month ago. It surprised me but his iPhone 5 didn't qualify. He even went into an Apple Store after I told him just to see if they would do anything but they wouldn't.
Applejuiced
macrumors Westmere
That sucks.
I know my friends iphone 5 did not qualify either but his battery was terrible.
So after he brought it in and it failed their battery test they replaced it.
If it passes that test and the serial doesn't qualify then its going to be hard to have them replace it cause they don't have to.