Carrier Question about swapping SIMs

[rsmith83]

I've been with AT&T for about 13 years but recently their service in my (mostly rural) area tanked. It used to be decent but now it's impossible to stay on a phone call and LTE constantly switches to 4G, or Edge, then No Service. It's not a phone issue -- everyone in my family has an AT&T phone and we've all had problems.

I'm considering ditching AT&T and switching to something prepaid, either Straight Talk or Cricket. I know Cricket is still going to be the same crap service, but at least I won't be paying ~$350 a month for it. I'd like to start out by testing a few of the prepaid services before I cancel my AT&T account and port my number.

Is it possible to get a new SIM from, say, Straight Talk or Cricket, and test it out using my unlocked iPhone? Or will putting a new SIM in the phone somehow invalidate/remove it from AT&T's network and cause my current SIM to stop working? Will activating my phone's IMEI with another carrier disrupt my AT&T service?

Thanks.

 

[XTheLancerX]

I've been with AT&T for about 13 years but recently their service in my (mostly rural) area tanked. It used to be decent but now it's impossible to stay on a phone call and LTE constantly switches to 4G, or Edge, then No Service. It's not a phone issue -- everyone in my family has an AT&T phone and we've all had problems.

I'm considering ditching AT&T and switching to something prepaid, either Straight Talk or Cricket. I know Cricket is still going to be the same crap service, but at least I won't be paying ~$350 a month for it. I'd like to start out by testing a few of the prepaid services before I cancel my AT&T account and port my number.

Is it possible to get a new SIM from, say, Straight Talk or Cricket, and test it out using my unlocked iPhone? Or will putting a new SIM in the phone somehow invalidate/remove it from AT&T's network and cause my current SIM to stop working? Will activating my phone's IMEI with another carrier disrupt my AT&T service?

Thanks.

As long as your iPhone is unlocked, removing your SIM or putting in another SIM won't do anything. Even putting your SIM in another phone won't do anything. The service follows the SIM card, and doesn't have anything to do with the device it's in. The SIM will adapt to new IMEIs just fine without causing any issues.

I'm on Verizon, so all 4G LTE phones bought from them are unlocked. I've moved my Verizon SIM from my iPhone 6 into an old iPhone 5 that no longer is used, I've moved a prepaid T-Mobile SIM into my current iPhone 6... All is well.

 

[vietalogy]

Well cricket uses same towers as At&t so you'll be getting same service.

Maybe try Verizon mnvo? You can just pop in a sim and use nothing shouldn't happen with your current carrier. Boom.us is a Verizon prepaid service and has good prices.

 

[Newtons Apple]

I've been with AT&T for about 13 years but recently their service in my (mostly rural) area tanked. It used to be decent but now it's impossible to stay on a phone call and LTE constantly switches to 4G, or Edge, then No Service. It's not a phone issue -- everyone in my family has an AT&T phone and we've all had problems.

I'm considering ditching AT&T and switching to something prepaid, either Straight Talk or Cricket. I know Cricket is still going to be the same crap service, but at least I won't be paying ~$350 a month for it. I'd like to start out by testing a few of the prepaid services before I cancel my AT&T account and port my number.

Is it possible to get a new SIM from, say, Straight Talk or Cricket, and test it out using my unlocked iPhone? Or will putting a new SIM in the phone somehow invalidate/remove it from AT&T's network and cause my current SIM to stop working? Will activating my phone's IMEI with another carrier disrupt my AT&T service?

Thanks.

What is costing $350 a month at ATT.

 

[XTheLancerX]

It's very easy to have a $350/money bill if you're leasing all of your phones at the same time in a family of 4-5. Of course if you're leasing all your phones, ANY carrier will be extremely expensive.

Also, you never know. It could be a family of 10 or something.

We pay like $320/mo with Verizon. 16GB XL data, 5 lines. 2 lines are being paid for, 1 is on contract, 2 are off contract. We don't get an employer discount whatsoever, and we have like a $6.73 tax on every line because of the county we live in.

 

[vietalogy]

I had 7 lines and 2 iPhones on next and my bill was around $300 when I was with At&t. Now I'm paying only $100 now with 5 lines with cricket.