Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Question about at&t version of the SE
- Thread starter itsray
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
More than likely it is locked depending on where you purchased the SE. I would just do an unlock request with AT&T and it should be unlocked within a couple days (usually much faster). https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/
I purchased it from best buy. I just went in and said i would like to buy it full price but the at&t model. i forgot they had the sim free version. I did the unlock request. the only thing i tried is an old sprint sim but it said sim not supported (which i figured would happen anyway even if it was unlocked)
I was checking the receipt and it says ATT IPHONE ONLY- NO PLAN
I was checking the receipt and it says ATT IPHONE ONLY- NO PLAN
Last edited:
If you are getting a SIM not supported for a Sprint SIM it sounds like it is locked. If you purchased an AT&T version full price from BestBuy it would be locked to AT&T. My SIM free SE works fine with a Sprint SIM. AT&T should unlock it without any problems.
at&t just approved the unlock. do i need to restore from iTunes?
the instructions say just back it up. erase the phone and restore from the backup. i thought there was a few more steps than that.
[doublepost=1471196477][/doublepost]nevermind, i guess it was that easy. popped in an old sprint sim and sprint showed up where the carrier shows.
took less than 24hrs for the request to get approved.
the instructions say just back it up. erase the phone and restore from the backup. i thought there was a few more steps than that.
[doublepost=1471196477][/doublepost]nevermind, i guess it was that easy. popped in an old sprint sim and sprint showed up where the carrier shows.
took less than 24hrs for the request to get approved.
Don't know why thy still say to restore since it is no longer needed to complete the unlock.
buy direct from apple at full price and it will be factory unlocked, some have more 4g bands than others. Choose carefully.
Both iPhone SE models work the same on AT&T and T-Mobile. One has support for Sprint's high frequency band and the other has support for Verizon's low frequency band.
Honestly, the non-Sprint model is the one to get unless you travel out of the country a lot. Missing the high frequency band on Sprint isn't going to give you worse service, but missing Verizon's low frequency band will. And if you ever roam on Verizon or there's even a slight possibility you'd ever use it on Verizon, you don't want to miss out on better Verizon coverage.
I bought an iPhone SE to use on RingPlus (uses Sprint's network) and I bought the AT&T model full price and unlocked, since it was the only one available at the time. Works great on Sprint.
I'm thinking about getting an SE soon when my I return my 6 (lease). I am on Sprint. If I get the SIM free model from Apple will I be able to use that? I have heard no. But also heard Sprint relaxed their rule. Or would buying the AT&T unlocked model be better? This **** confuses me to no end lol.
You can use any unlocked iPhone SE on Sprint. If you don't get the Sprint model, you won't get band 41 which is what Sprint uses for Spark/LTE Plus. You'll get the same coverage regardless of which one you get, but the Sprint model will just be a little faster in some places.