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Unlocked AT&T 5S, can be used with Verizon?

zzoomp09 said:
I have an unlocked AT&T 5S, can I use it with Verizon? Will their LTE work and CDMA won't?
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According to people on the forum who bought ATT/T-mobile versions of the iPhone 6/6+, as long as you had an already activated Verizon SIM card you would get both LTE and CDMA on the iPhone 6.

Not sure why it would be any different for the 5s.

Gonna go find those threads now and update this post when I do...
 
Hal~9000 said:
According to people on the forum who bought ATT/T-mobile versions of the iPhone 6/6+, as long as you had an already activated Verizon SIM card you would get both LTE and CDMA on the iPhone 6.

Not sure why it would be any different for the 5s.

Gonna go find those threads now and update this post when I do...
Click to expand...

It is different with the 5S. The GSM 5S doesn't report an MEID, which is a sign of the CDMA being disabled. Apple decided to change things with the 6/6+
 
terraphantm said:
Again, wrong. If your theory was correct, the Genius Bar would differentiate between Sprint and Verizon iPhone 4s and 4Ss (they don't). It's not a whitelist issue; the issue is the GSM phones do not have the CDMA part enabled.
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So at what stage in the manufacturing process would they disable the radio, and how would it be disabled? Do they disconnect some wires or something?
 
terraphantm said:
It is different with the 5S. The GSM 5S doesn't report an MEID, which is a sign of the CDMA being disabled. Apple decided to change things with the 6/6+
Click to expand...

Very cool, thanks for the reply & good information as always terraphantm :)
 
Unlocked AT&T 5S, can be used with Verizon?

terraphantm said:
Again, wrong. If your theory was correct, the Genius Bar would differentiate between Sprint and Verizon iPhone 4s and 4Ss (they don't). It's not a whitelist issue; the issue is the GSM phones do not have the CDMA part enabled.
Click to expand...


Okay, not to keep punching holes in your theory either, but I have discovered there are four different variants of the iPhone 4S, which supports that the CDMA 2000 radio is manually blocked on iPhone 4Ss not destined to CDMA 2000 networks. I was wrong in thinking there was one universal iPhone 4S. Here is the breakdown:

MC918LL/A is the order number for the 16 GB configuration in black locked to AT&T with a two-year contract. With 32 GB or 64 GB of storage, in black, locked to AT&T, the order numbers are MC919LL/A and MD269LL/A. With 16, 32, or 64 GB of storage, in white, locked to AT&T, the order numbers are MC920LL/A, MC921LL/A and MD271LL/A.

Locked to Verizon, in black, the order numbers respectively are MD276LL/A, MD278LL/A, and MD280LL/A. Locked to Verizon, in white, order numbers are MD277LL/A, MD279LL/A, and MD281LL/A.

Locked to Sprint, in black, the order numbers are MD377LL/A, MD379LL/A, and MD381LL/A. Locked to Sprint, in white, order numbers are MD378LL/A, MD380LL/A, and MD382LL/A.

The order numbers for unlocked 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB models are MD234LL/A, MD241LL/A, and MD257LL/A in black and MD237LL/A, MD244LL/A, and MD260LL/A in white, respectively.

Finally, the 8 GB model introduced September 10, 2013, in black and white, is MF257LL/A and MF258LL/A locked to AT&T, MF269LL/A and MF270LL/A locked to Sprint, and MF259LL/A and MF260LL/A, locked to Verizon. Unlocked and contract free, the 8 GB model is MF261LL/A and MF262LL/A, in black and white if bundled with a T-Mobile SIM (but no obligations to use it) and MF263LL/A and MF264LL/A without a SIM.


http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/iphone/specs/apple-iphone-4s-specs.html
 
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Winona Northdakota said:
Apple would have to maintain separate inventory to comply. You wouldn't be able to activate an AT&T network destination iPhone 4S, because it would not be whitelisted to Verizon's network. Only phones that have been pre-entered into Verizon's whitelist have been able to be activated on Verizon's network. The phone needs to be whitelisted first to get in the door, not after.

Regarding the Anand Tech article:

"Apple got up on stage today and announced the iPhone 4S, and alongside it confirmed that the smartphone will have a reworked cellular architecture complete with dual-mode HSPA+ and CDMA2000 compatibility, making it a world-phone device."
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That is false. The cdma tech is just not active on that specific 4s gsm device.
No whitelisting would make any difference.
 
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Winona Northdakota said:
Okay, not to keep punching holes in your theory either, but I have discovered there are four different variants of the iPhone 4S, which supports that the CDMA 2000 radio is manually blocked on iPhone 4Ss not destined to CDMA 2000 networks. I was wrong in thinking there was one universal iPhone 4S.
Click to expand...
Given there's only one model number (A1387), I reckon there is one universal iPhone 4S, at least as far as actual hardware is concerned. I believe terraphantm's theory is correct that the CDMA radios are disabled on the "GSM-only" 4S versions. Apple may give different SKU numbers to the different variants for inventory purposes (e.g. based on pre-installed SIM, status of CDMA radio, etc) but I reckon for warranty replacement purposes, there's only one 4S SKU for Verizon/Sprint and one 4S SKU for GSM. You can't use an AT&T 4S on Verizon because the CDMA hardware is disabled. You can't use a Sprint 4S on Verizon because the ESN/MEID is not whitelisted. There's nothing from your link that actually disproves terraphantm's theory. Even refurbs of the same model get different SKU numbers from the original.
 
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Hal~9000 said:
According to people on the forum who bought ATT/T-mobile versions of the iPhone 6/6+, as long as you had an already activated Verizon SIM card you would get both LTE and CDMA on the iPhone 6.

Not sure why it would be any different for the 5s.

Gonna go find those threads now and update this post when I do...
Click to expand...

Is this right? If I have an active Verizon LTE SIM I could pop it in an ATT iPhone 6 and it'll work.

Interesting. I may have to try that with my wife's phone (she's on VZW, I'm on AT&T).

Only thing stopping me is the colossal PITA with iMessage grabbing the phone # off the SIM and registering it with one's account (don't want to screw up our messaging).
 
xraydoc said:
Is this right? If I have an active Verizon LTE SIM I could pop it in an ATT iPhone 6 and it'll work.

Interesting. I may have to try that with my wife's phone (she's on VZW, I'm on AT&T).

Only thing stopping me is the colossal PITA with iMessage grabbing the phone # off the SIM and registering it with one's account (don't want to screw up our messaging).
Click to expand...
Take note, this will only work if your AT&T iPhone is unlocked.
 
Winona Northdakota said:
I am not debating this.

Of course, Verizon didn't just have a epiphany of kindness. I am just suggesting that Verizon can and could change their policy. I think they should, of course. I doubt Verizon ever will. I think Verizon has loved the money from the proprietary hardware sales game and will squeeze every last dime that they can get away with. I don't mean to pick on Verizon. All carriers are guilty. The iPhone 4S is a carrier agnostic device.
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They won't and I don't even see this as an issue.
 
Night Spring said:
So at what stage in the manufacturing process would they disable the radio, and how would it be disabled? Do they disconnect some wires or something?
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This I'm not sure about. It could be a different configuration of resistors or jumpers somewhere, or it could be some embedded firmware that cannot be altered easily.
 
Unlocked AT&T 5S, can be used with Verizon?

rui no onna said:
Given there's only one model number (A1387), I reckon there is one universal iPhone 4S, at least as far as actual hardware is concerned. I believe terraphantm's theory is correct that the CDMA radios are disabled on the "GSM-only" 4S versions. Apple may give different SKU numbers to the different variants for inventory purposes (e.g. based on pre-installed SIM, status of CDMA radio, etc) but I reckon for warranty replacement purposes, there's only one 4S SKU for Verizon/Sprint and one 4S SKU for GSM. You can't use an AT&T 4S on Verizon because the CDMA hardware is disabled. You can't use a Sprint 4S on Verizon because the ESN/MEID is not whitelisted. There's nothing from your link that actually disproves terraphantm's theory. Even refurbs of the same model get different SKU numbers from the original.
Click to expand...


What's your point? It has already been established there are two physical hardware models of iPhone 4S: one for China and one for the rest of the world. It has already been established that the iPhone A1387 has 4 distinct variations in the US with the CDMA 2000 radio manually blocked on iPhone 4Ss destined for non CDMA 2000 carriers. My point all along is that there is one hardware model of iPhone 4S, A1387, which has physically identical hardware.
 
We all know they're the same hardware. But the point is, something was done to configure the basebands a little differently and disallow CDMA on the GSM 4S (and therefore whitelisting wouldn't make a difference).

I would be curious to see if CDMA could be enabled with some hacking, but to date I haven't seen it done
 
terraphantm said:
We all know they're the same hardware. But the point is, something was done to configure the basebands a little differently and disallow CDMA on the GSM 4S (and therefore whitelisting wouldn't make a difference).



I would be curious to see if CDMA could be enabled with some hacking, but to date I haven't seen it done
Click to expand...


That makes total sense.
 
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