I have an iPhone 6 with AT&T that my business paid for but we closed and now it is suspended with an amount due of nearly $500 which is ridiculous. Can I just go to T-Mobile and buy a nano SIM card and install it and set up a prepaid plan?
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Switching iPhone 6 to prepaid plan
- Thread starter patseguin
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You can unlock the phone using 3rd party unlock services like cellunlocker.net And then use it on any gsm carrier other than AT&T
The bill may be so high because it includes payment of the phone. If that is the case, ATT blacklist the phone if it is not paid.
The $500 due is probably the cost of the phone. You do realize that the low end iPhone 6 costs $650, right?
That's correct.
The third party unlock may be an option. Those run abot $70 or so.
I've heard different things about whether ATT actually blacks lists unpaid devices. In personally unsure. I've never had experience and have yet to find official information straight from Att saying either way.
The balance does sound like it's what is owed to pay off the phone.
If you bought it outright then it's unlocked. You can just swap any sin in you want. That was incredibly pertinent information you omitted until now lol.
How on earth you're oaying $500 for three lines is beyond me though.
From what I read, you need to have it unlocked before you can use another carrier sim. Is that not true?
If you paid full price then it should be unlocked. If you have not then you need to unlock it through a third-party.
You asked was there a way to check if it's unlocked and that is to insert a GSM SIM or you could restore your phone via iTunes and if it's unkocked you'd get an unkock message.
Ah OK I misunderstood. I checked and it is listed as locked so I tried a third party. We'll see what happens...
Just an update. I used theunlockingcompany.com last Saturday and I got my unlocked email yesterday. I now have the phone on T-Mobile prepaid. Being it was originally on AT&T, are there any carrier specific settings I need to change on the phone for T-Mobile?
Do you talk on the phone much? I'm using T-Mobile's $30 plan which gives me 100 minutes of talk, unlimited texts, and 5GB of data. The additional data is more important to me.
No, actually I us data way more than talk also. I don't recall seeing the plan you mention.
Not sure there is a $30 prepaid plan anymore. Only see these plans now http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans
Yeah I didn't think so or I would have picked it. I opted for the Simple Choice plan because I think it throttles after your allotment whereas Simple Prepaid just cuts off.
Oh wait, I see this when you scroll down to other monthly plans on the link I gave.
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I tried switching plans online (like I activated it) but it said to call. I guess you can't do it online because they are going to give me all kinds of **** about going to a cheaper plan.
Also, I checked the phone settings and there appear to be T-Mobile settings in there. However, I seem to be having intermittent "No Service" display in the upper left corner. I haven't had a long enough call yet to see if I lose connections though. This in Buffalo, NY. Do I maybe have to manually change something since it was on AT&T?
You shouldn't need to change anything on the phone. Carrier version (under Settings > General > About) should be T-Mobile 18.1 on an iPhone 6. Did you check coverage in your area, either by using T-Mobile's Test Drive option or by checking with others in your area that have T-Mobile? Their signal in some areas really sucks.
As far as the $30 plan goes, you can ONLY set that up on a brand new SIM activation online. You can't easily switch to it from another plan, nor can you go back to it if you've given it up previously unless you're willing to switch to a new SIM. It's screwy, but that's been the way they've done it for quite some time now. You can try to call and get it switched; I think a few people have managed to talk a rep into giving it to them according to the thread we have on that plan. It's a great option if you don't need a whole lot of minutes and IF coverage in your area is adequate.
As far as the $30 plan goes, you can ONLY set that up on a brand new SIM activation online. You can't easily switch to it from another plan, nor can you go back to it if you've given it up previously unless you're willing to switch to a new SIM. It's screwy, but that's been the way they've done it for quite some time now. You can try to call and get it switched; I think a few people have managed to talk a rep into giving it to them according to the thread we have on that plan. It's a great option if you don't need a whole lot of minutes and IF coverage in your area is adequate.
It might be easier to get on this plan than you think. I managed to get set up with it after I bought my iPhone 6 from an Apple Store and asked for a T-Mobile SIM, which was free. I had no idea I was actually supposed to buy a Starter Kit. I first tried to get setup online, but I was really confused and it wasn't working right (because I didn't have a code that comes with the Starter Kit), so, for the heck of it, I called T-Mobile (expecting to get an automated system), but a customer service rep answered and got me activated fairly easily. I was actually a little surprised when the phone actually started working.# However, maybe I just got lucky and got a very knowledgeable and patient rep.#