Okay so long story short I purchased an iPhone 5 cheap and I want to use it on my tmobile plan. After arguing with the tmobile rep for 30 minutes she finally gave me a sim card. (She told me it wouldnt work because all verizon phones were CDMA and then I told her they were unlocked according to the internet and then she replied by saying well your believing the internet thats your first problem) Yada yada it was a NIGHTMARE. Anyways Im running 8.1.2 and Ive tried everything and itunes even had me do a carrier update and now im on carrier Tmobile 18.1. The phone is saying no service and will ocasionally search but go back to no service. Any help guys? Model is ND105LL/A
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Verizon iPhone 5 will not work with tmobile nano sim
- Thread starter jakobkay
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The Verizon iPhone 5 is unlocked, but it doesn't support LTE over the bands that T-Mobile uses. T-Mobile is repurposing a lot of its 2G and 3G spectrum to LTE, so perhaps you are in an area that lacks coverage. The 5c, 5s, or 6 work with T-Mobile's LTE bands.
the t-mobile rep is confused and is thinking about version 4s iPhones or earlier
you should email your experience to john legere and maybe he will write you back. i wrote him a couple times. he never wrote me back!
my verizon iPhone 5 worked up to hsdpa 4G speeds on t-mobile in the san francisco, san jose bay area.
john.legere at t-moble.com or twitter @johnlegere
this is why you just use the web site and enter your IMEI # and order the sim online and do not talk to people at the retail level
i still see posts all over the internet that bring up this CDMA issue with LTE and they tell people it won't work. trying to tell everyone on earth that the whole CDMA vs GSM does not matter any more when it comes to LTE device is almost as futile as trying to destroy every last copy of the star wars holiday special
you should email your experience to john legere and maybe he will write you back. i wrote him a couple times. he never wrote me back!
my verizon iPhone 5 worked up to hsdpa 4G speeds on t-mobile in the san francisco, san jose bay area.
john.legere at t-moble.com or twitter @johnlegere
this is why you just use the web site and enter your IMEI # and order the sim online and do not talk to people at the retail level
i still see posts all over the internet that bring up this CDMA issue with LTE and they tell people it won't work. trying to tell everyone on earth that the whole CDMA vs GSM does not matter any more when it comes to LTE device is almost as futile as trying to destroy every last copy of the star wars holiday special
I know that the 5 didn't have all of the bands the 5s and kater phones had. For the brief time (about two weeks) that I had a TMobile I tried in an unlocked launch day ATT 5. I was informed that the bands were an issue (here in MR) so I had apple swap it out under warranty (they were happy to do it when explaining to then what the issue was). Long story short, reception is still crap (lol) but I was able to at least get signal with that unit.
Unfortunately I think you are going to get very limited connectivity with a Verizon iphone 5 on TMO. The rep may have been right, but not for the right reasons.
Unfortunately I think you are going to get very limited connectivity with a Verizon iphone 5 on TMO. The rep may have been right, but not for the right reasons.
there is a iPhone 5, model 1428 that works on band 4 for t-mobile ( that i believe that is LTE but I don't know) , but the others work just at slower 4g speeds
I have a buddy who moved from Verizon to T-Mobile. They had a 5 and got a 5s when they switched. He decided to activate the phone on a new line (on TMO) with the iPhone 5 for his sister. It worked just fine, but it didn't have LTE. IIRC, it would only work on HSPA+ "4G" and 3G.
The TMO rep didn't give him any problems. I'd try going else where and telling them it's an unlocked iPhone and not a Verizon model. Since, really, it is. I'm thinking she may not have fully activated the SIM for you trying to prove it wouldn't work and try to get you to buy a new phone.
The TMO rep didn't give him any problems. I'd try going else where and telling them it's an unlocked iPhone and not a Verizon model. Since, really, it is. I'm thinking she may not have fully activated the SIM for you trying to prove it wouldn't work and try to get you to buy a new phone.
You sure its not blacklisted?
Here is the simplest thing you need to know:
Locked iPhone = Display's "Invalid SIM" Gray screen
Blacklisted / Barr'd / Bad IMEI iPhone = "No Service" with any SIM in the phone, if this "No Service" doesn't go away even after restoring the iPhone then might want to make sure its not blacklisted as that is the only reason it would display the "No Service" even after restoring.
All Verizon iPhone 5 / 5C / 5S / 6 / 6 Plus = Factory Unlocked, Having owned each model to-date I can confirm this 100% (Currently using a 6+ Verizon on AT&T) plus with friends in the mobile unlocking business.
All iPhone 5C / 5S / 6 / 6 Plus from Verizon support 100% T-Mobile 1700 AWS 4G and LTE out of the box identically with 0 difference when compared to the ones purchased from AT&T / T-Mobile
All iPhone 5C / 5S / 6 / 6 Plus from Verizon support 100% AT&T 4G + LTE out of the box identically with 0 difference when compared to the ones purchased from AT&T / T-Mobile
iPhone 5 (A1429*) from Verizon = 3G/4G on AT&T and 3G / 4G on T-Mobile (In 1900MHz Refarmed areas only = usually within city limits)
*iPhone 5 A1429 = Sold by Sprint and Verizon and Sprint one will always say "Invalid SIM" as its not possible to unlock it and use it on domestic carrier's --- international unlock = next to impossible as well.
Hope it helps, remember guys when your iPhone constantly displays "No Service" -- #1 thing to look at is blacklist status don't jump to conclusions about lock status because again...no locked iPhone will just display "No Service" it will clearly state "INVALID SIM"
All I know is that I couldn't get anything but edge, if that, with whatever model I had. I was able to get (still very limited) 4G (HSPA+) with the other model. No LTE.
Beinf that the OP is getting a "searching" at all times, the only think I can think is either a malfuntioning phone, or something similar is happening to him as what happened to me.
We'll I called t mobile and things went smoother this time. The guy told me that the employee never even activated the sim and turns out it was a bad SIM card too. I'm going up there tomorrow and we shall see what happens. I will keep you guys updated and thanks for the advice!
They can activate the Sim over the phone. I have had them do that before. Just read the numbers off the Sim card to them and they activated it. Not sure why it would be a bad Sim card. Doesn't make sense that the rep would give you a hard time giving you a Sim card. I have gone into T-Mobile to get a different size Sim for a phone and it was given to me free with no problem. Did they try to activate it with the numbers off the card?
Sounds like she was doing it to disprove you.
Believing the internet was right and she was wrong tell her
Believing the internet was right and she was wrong tell her
Well mission accomplished guys! Turns out the girl gave me a SIM card for someone else's account and that's why it wouldn't work. Other than the guy trying to charge me again for the SIM card it worked right off. I'm getting H+ as well which is good enough for me. Thanks for the help guys! I'm enjoying my jail broke iPhone 5 now