Subsidized phones really unlocked? Swapping sims verizon - att

[sojay]

I just bought a Verizon subsidized iphone5 and tried to put in an AT&T sim, but didn't have any success.

According to this article and thread it should work: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1453236/

Not sure what I am doing wrong. I have active lines on both carriers (that I plan to keep), and it was straightforward to go into an AT&T store and request a nano sim. Before activating the Verizon sim, I tried the AT&T one. No service. Then I activated the verizon sim. It was a little complicated but I got it done over the phone. Then I tried the AT&T sim. Still no service.

Wondering how to activate the AT&T sim - do I need to have that done in a store?

When I check on this site http://www.iphone-officialunlock.com/imei/
for whether it's unlocked, I get Activated status: no, and sim lock status: locked (iPhone lock). Could this possibly just be because I only activated today and it takes a while? Any suggestions?

 

[bogatyr]

My subsidized phone has no issue with an ATT nanoSIM. It took 3-5 minutes to fully switch and show ATT.

EDIT: Is your ATT nano SIM already active with a line? You say you have ATT service and just picked up a nano SIM. However, having a SIM and having it active on the line are not one in the same. It must already have service before putting in your Verizon phone.

 

[sojay]

thanks, that was my suspicion. Good to know yours works! I just don't know if I can activate it myself.

 

[sojay]

FYI, I managed to activate it over the phone with ATT, but in their system, my IMEI number didn't show up as an iphone (but as some unknown 2g unit), so they couldn't place the iphone data plan on it. They were able to keep my grandfathered unlimited plan on it, but now I'll have to wait and see if the throttling starts at 3g or 5g, I guess.