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I have 4 Sprint iPhone 4s want to switch to Att iPhone 4s, what is the best way?

G

GadgetGeek407

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 26, 2009
994
61
florida
I have been a long standing customer of Sprint and bought 4 new iPhone 4s, the quality of the service in terms of data speed and converge are completely unacceptable and after over 10 years with sprint I will be going to att. I just bought all these phones and out of 14 day return.


Is there a way I can make these all work on att? cause I noticed ALL 4s are identical in terms of radios and things, the activation screen and sim determine the carrier logo on top

I would love to make these work on att so i can have my full eligibility when the new iPhone comes out in june for all my lines.

any luck or recommendations ?
 
No can do. The sim is locked domestically even if they unlock it. International use is where it applies for using any sim on Sprint.

I suppose the best thing you can do is sell them on ebay, craigslist, or gazelle. Sorry!
 
There has to be a better way around this. I mean, they're the same phone and it's not fair to the user that the same phone can't be brought over.
 
The only thing I can think of is selling the Sprint iPhones, using that money to pay for the Sprint ETF, and rebuying them on AT&T.
 
Wide opeN said:
There has to be a better way around this. I mean, they're the same phone and it's not fair to the user that the same phone can't be brought over.
Click to expand...

Sprint will not unlock an iPhone's SIM for domestic carriers. Neither with AT&T or Verizon. It's not a technical limitation of the phone, it's the carriers' policies.

I'm a little surprised that there has not been a legal challenge to these policies. It seems to me that the carriers are artificially crippling the capability of the phone that we own, even after our service commitment is met. But, so far (at least in the USA) the policy is very consistent and unwavering.
 
Wide opeN said:
There has to be a better way around this. I mean, they're the same phone and it's not fair to the user that the same phone can't be brought over.
Click to expand...

Blame the carriers (and the US Government for allowing such anti-consumer policies to exist). But you can't blame Apple for this one.

Sprint will not allow Verizon CDMA phones on their network (despite the fact that they will work). Same for Verizon and Sprint's phones.

AT&T won't unlock iPhones, even when the contract is up and paid in full.

The Verizon 4S's SIM slot in the US is locked out of using another domestic carrier's SIM, even if you have it unlocked for international use (i.e., Verizon will unlock the SIM slot for international travel if you're a customer in good standing) but it still won't work on AT&T or T-Mobile in the US. And they either won't or can't unlock it to use a domestic GSM carrier's SIM.

If I could, I'd only use an unlocked GSM phone. But unfortunately I'm stuck on Verizon domestically because it's the only carrier that works deep inside the building where I work. AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint don't penetrate deep enough into the structure; Verizon, on the other hand, has repeaters inside the building to provide full coverage everywhere including in every deep, dark corner. Why AT&T doesn't opt to do the same is disappointing.

Maybe AT&T's LTE will change this (700MHz should be better at penetrating buildings) but until then....
 
The ETF would be massive with four lines. I would sell them on ebay. You could get atleast 450/550 per phone. That would take care of the ETF per line then whatever is left put towards the new ATT phones. I have know idea what your situation is but thats what i would do.
 
yep I am guessing you bought these under Sprints terms of agreement. you would be spending around $2400-$3000 if you bought them out right.. so ETF fees and all will put you around this as well.. lots of people complaining about Sprint. I know when I left them years ago I never looked back.
 
AT&T network uses SIM card, Sprint network uses CDMA. Your Sprint iPhone don't even have a slot for SIM card as far as I know.

Why are you switch to AT&T, the data speed is not that much faster. Plus, AT&T have bad reception, throughout the East Coast, and in many rural areas on the West Coast. Their network map is misleading.

The on and off reception makes the SIM card malfunction. So, you will be calling AT&T for replacement every 3-5 months.

AT&T's 4g network is not available in most cities in U.S., last month I checked, it's not even in NYC. So, you are not at loss with Sprint.
 
there was talk that early sprint 4s's weren't locked. you could get an at&t pre paid sim and try it out on your iPhones and see if they work.

i have not seen or heard of this being done, but there might be a way of flashing the gsm firmware so that it would work.

----------
kulimer said:
AT&T network uses SIM card, Sprint network uses CDMA. Your Sprint iPhone don't even have a slot for SIM card as far as I know.

Why are you switch to AT&T, the data speed is not that much faster. Plus, AT&T have bad reception, throughout the East Coast, and in many rural areas on the West Coast. Their network map is misleading.

The on and off reception makes the SIM card malfunction. So, you will be calling AT&T for replacement every 3-5 months.

AT&T's 4g network is not available in most cities in U.S., last month I checked, it's not even in NYC. So, you are not at loss with Sprint.
Click to expand...

all versions of the iPhone 4s have sim slots, even the verizon and sprint versions.
 
Sprint's service has been fine for you to remain a customer for 10 years and to upgrade to 4 iPhones but now it's not good enough? I don't understand. I've had Sprint for a few years with various phones including the Evo 4g and the service didn't change one bit switching to the iPhone.
 
kulimer said:
AT&T network uses SIM card, Sprint network uses CDMA. Your Sprint iPhone don't even have a slot for SIM card as far as I know.

Why are you switch to AT&T, the data speed is not that much faster. Plus, AT&T have bad reception, throughout the East Coast, and in many rural areas on the West Coast. Their network map is misleading.

The on and off reception makes the SIM card malfunction. So, you will be calling AT&T for replacement every 3-5 months.

AT&T's 4g network is not available in most cities in U.S., last month I checked, it's not even in NYC. So, you are not at loss with Sprint.
Click to expand...

Actually AT&T is much faster. I switched to Sprint and came back because AT&T is so much faster.
 
kulimer said:
Why are you switch to AT&T, the data speed is not that much faster. Plus, AT&T have bad reception, throughout the East Coast, and in many rural areas on the West Coast. Their network map is misleading.
Click to expand...

This is not true. I have AT&T on my original iPad and Sprint on my iPhone 4s. The 3G on the iPad gets up to 2MBPS while the iPhone 4s gets 300K to 500K.

This is a function of Sprints network as I have always had poor data speeds since my first smartphone in 2005. I guess this is why they offer unlimited data as no one will ever be able to use it enough to jam their network.

I have been a Sprint customer since 2000, shoot me for having brand loyalty.
 
I can not speak for anyone else, but it has been slow.

AT&T is overloaded with customers which degrades their service sometimes. I am talking about the number of drop calls, and the bad receptions across the USA. I still give AT&T the credit for other things.
 
hahaha same for me except we had no iPhones when we switched but crappy broken androids I'm sure att wouldn't do this because they lose the sale of the phone

also u will be happy with arts fast data over sprint enjoy ur great new plan with att ;)
 
Smug Boy said:
This is not true. I have AT&T on my original iPad and Sprint on my iPhone 4s. The 3G on the iPad gets up to 2MBPS while the iPhone 4s gets 300K to 500K.

This is a function of Sprints network as I have always had poor data speeds since my first smartphone in 2005. I guess this is why they offer unlimited data as no one will ever be able to use it enough to jam their network.

I have been a Sprint customer since 2000, shoot me for having brand loyalty.
Click to expand...

The data is fast? My phone does not use at&t data, so, I would not know. As I mentioned in my post above, AT&T has dropped a lot of my calls.

Actually, this is not even what the OP is asking. Why am I replying?
 
Is it absolutely impossible to use a sprint phone on another domestic network? What if there was a jailbreak unlock in the future?

Excuse my ignorance, I still don't own an Iphone, I'm just surfing around because I'm getting one soon. :)
 
ptruong31 said:
Is it absolutely impossible to use a sprint phone on another domestic network? What if there was a jailbreak unlock in the future?

Excuse my ignorance, I still don't own an Iphone, I'm just surfing around because I'm getting one soon. :)
Click to expand...

Maybe jailbreak will make it work but who knows if att willl let you activated , the only way I see it possible is if you have a line and just switch the sim card, btw I have sprint sure there speeds aren't great but they work good enough for me , I also got an iPad and mostly use it at home so no problems there
 
Iphone 4s

I just received a iphone 4s 16 GB from a friend that just updated to a iphone 5 from AT&T. It is in very good condition He gave me the iphone 4s for my son. But I have Sprint. Do you still have the Sprint iphones and if you do, are you willing to swap one of them? rodolfo.morrison@yaahoo.com, thanks!
 
Last edited:
rmorrison said:
I just received a iphone 4s 16 GB from a friend that just updated to a iphone 5 from AT&T. It is in very good condition He gave me the iphone 4s for my son. But I have Sprint. Do you still have the Sprint iphones and if you do, are you willing to swap one of them? is my cell nomber, and my name is Rodolfo Morrison, thanks!
Click to expand...

I would never put my cell phone Number out there on a public forum.
 
rmorrison said:
I just received a iphone 4s 16 GB from a friend that just updated to a iphone 5 from AT&T. It is in very good condition He gave me the iphone 4s for my son. But I have Sprint. Do you still have the Sprint iphones and if you do, are you willing to swap one of them? 272-641-1705 is my cell nomber, and my name is Rodolfo Morrison, thanks!
Click to expand...

You do realize that this thread is over a year old right? Doubt the op still has those phones. If you want to trade with someone you should post an ad on your local Craigslist offering to trade AT&T iPhones for Sprint.
 
Mr Hill said:
You do realize that this thread is over a year old right? Doubt the op still has those phones. If you want to trade with someone you should post an ad on your local Craigslist offering to trade AT&T iPhones for Sprint.
Click to expand...

Well, my comment that I was about to make about being able to unlock a couple of out of contract iPhones are now old news then :) I didn't catch that this was an old thread.
 
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