Sim-Free Activation?

[Gizmotoy]

I'm a current AT&T customer under contract with a locked iPhone 6. I plan to leave for T-Mobile in the spring. I'm thinking of purchasing a Sim-Free (unlocked) iPhone 6s Plus, which would make the transition to T-Mobile in a few months easy.

However, I am a bit concerned my AT&T SIM will result in a locking the new iPhone 6s Plus. Does anyone know if that's the case? I have pre-paid T-Mobile SIMs I've been testing with. Should I insert those into the device for the activation process? Or maybe the Sim-Free models don't require activation at all?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[comics addict]

All iPhones require activation but if you buy the SIM-free from Apple I don't believe that any carrier would be able to force lock it for you. Heck even the SIM card can be deactivated for all it cares it just needs to have an internet connection to activate.

 

[Gizmotoy]

Sounds great. As is probably obvious, I'm somewhat clueless about what the activation part does, exactly.

I just didn't want to end up in a situation where I paid for an unlocked, Sim-Free iPhone and ended up with a locked iPhone because I stuck an AT&T SIM into it first.

 

[baypharm]

For what its worth, I had a sim free 6s plus that I got from Apple. I successfully used it with AT&T, Verizon, and TMobile. All I had to do was insert the existing activated sim cards into the phone and it worked with no problems. If you are activating a new sim card, the answer is no - you won't get a locked carrier phone. Just make sure you purchase a sim free phone from Apple.

 

[Shadowbech]

Apple never locks a sim-free phone once activated. So you are free to change to any carrier you want when you need to.

 

[Gizmotoy]

The posts here were pretty confident, but if anyone had any doubts, they were right. Putting an AT&T SIM card for a line currently under contract into a SIM-free phone purchased at full price from Apple did not result in a locked phone. I can swap in a T-Mobile SIM and it fires right up. I did power the phone on and activate for the first time with the T-Mobile SIM installed as an extra precaution, but I'm reasonably certain it was unnecessary.

Thanks, everyone.