iPhone What should I do with this Sprint iPhone 6 Plus on 8.3?

[antonehenry]

I'm trying to sell my gf's Sprint iPhone 6 Plus (a1524) that she updated to 8.3 when wiping it. I'm trying to sell it for her.

A customer service agent at Sprint performed the Domestic SIM Unlock, but it's financially locked until she is billed for the Early Termination Fee and pays it. So in about a week, it should be unlocked completely. (Verizon SIM does not work in it at the moment.)

I have jailbroken, rooted, and unlocked many phones in the past. It seems as if you can't downgrade to iOS 8.2 and jailbreak the phone... is that right? Is my only hope for this phone to be worth anything for sale is for it to be unlocked? Thanks for anything you know!

Whiner's Note: The information is really spotty here and a mod should really be trying to organize it into something useful. (This forum used to be great for finding good answers to questions, quickly)

 

[eyoungren]

I'm trying to sell my gf's Sprint iPhone 6 Plus (a1524) that she updated to 8.3 when wiping it. I'm trying to sell it for her.

A customer service agent at Sprint performed the Domestic SIM Unlock, but it's financially locked until she is billed for the Early Termination Fee and pays it. So in about a week, it should be unlocked completely. (Verizon SIM does not work in it at the moment.)

I have jailbroken, rooted, and unlocked many phones in the past. It seems as if you can't downgrade to iOS 8.2 and jailbreak the phone... is that right? Is my only hope for this phone to be worth anything for sale is for it to be unlocked? Thanks for anything you know!

Whiner's Note: The information is really spotty here and a mod should really be trying to organize it into something useful. (This forum used to be great for finding good answers to questions, quickly)

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1644014/

Yes. For this phone to be worth anything to a non-Sprint user you will need to wait until it's fully unlocked.

That said, the Sprint model iPhone 6/6+ is the only model between all four carriers that has all of the bands of the other carriers. Hence it is the most desirable. The SIM free iPhone 6/6+ you buy from Apple is the Sprint model.

 

[antonehenry]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1644014/

Yes. For this phone to be worth anything to a non-Sprint user you will need to wait until it's fully unlocked.

That said, the Sprint model iPhone 6/6+ is the only model between all four carriers that has all of the bands of the other carriers. Hence it is the most desirable. The SIM free iPhone 6/6+ you buy from Apple is the Sprint model.

Thanks so much for the info! I read your post about the Sprint unlocks and went ahead and started the process. So thanks for giving me hope I can actually sell this for a decent price.

Follow up question: this model is a1524 and has a SIM. Is that the one you're talking about being the most desirable?

 

[eyoungren]

Follow up question: this model is a1524 and has a SIM. Is that the one you're talking about being the most desirable?

Yes. The only difference between the model sold by Sprint and the SIM free model is that the SIM free model comes unlocked from the start.

Once you unlock your Sprint phone it will be exactly the same as the SIM free model.

 

[antonehenry]

Yes. The only difference between the model sold by Sprint and the SIM free model is that the SIM free model comes unlocked from the start.

Once you unlock your Sprint phone it will be exactly the same as the SIM free model.

Great news! You rock! Thank you!

 

[C DM]

Yes. The only difference between the model sold by Sprint and the SIM free model is that the SIM free model comes unlocked from the start.

Once you unlock your Sprint phone it will be exactly the same as the SIM free model.

Is that true when it comes to using it on Verizon, for example? Meaning that an actual unlocked SIM-free model is supposed to be such that Verizon will activate it and allow you to use it, while an unlocked Sprint model might be one that Verizon won't just activate.

 

[eyoungren]

Is that true when it comes to using it on Verizon, for example? Meaning that an actual unlocked SIM-free model is supposed to be such that Verizon will activate it and allow you to use it, while an unlocked Sprint model might be one that Verizon won't just activate.

I don't know. That's a good question I don't have an answer for.

Verizon I understand won't activate unless it was meant for the Verizon network, but I cannot imagine being unable to activate the SIM free phone you just bought on Verizon.

The workaround, of course, if one is needed is to use an already activated Verizon SIM.

 

[MsRandall]

Is that true when it comes to using it on Verizon, for example? Meaning that an actual unlocked SIM-free model is supposed to be such that Verizon will activate it and allow you to use it, while an unlocked Sprint model might be one that Verizon won't just activate.

Verizon will not activate but it will technically work on their network . A person who really wants it can use an already activated Verizon sim in your unlocked iPhone without an issue

 

[C DM]

Verizon will not activate but it will technically work on their network . A person who really wants it can use an already activated Verizon sim in your unlocked iPhone without an issue

But isn't the unlocked SIM free version from Apple supposed to work with any carrier essentially, including Verizon, without any workarounds? That's how Apple seems to be selling those phones, and if that wasn't true that wouldn't really reflect well on Apple for at the every least being misleading in that case.

 

[MsRandall]

But isn't the unlocked SIM free version from Apple supposed to work with any carrier essentially, including Verizon, without any workarounds? That's how Apple seems to be selling those phones, and if that wasn't true that wouldn't really reflect well on Apple for at the every least being misleading in that case.

The IMEIs of the SIM free iP6/6+ are whitelisted on Verizon so you can activate a Verizon SIM card in those.

So to summarize, the Sprint iP6/6+ is the exact same device as the SIM free iP6/6+. However, the IMEIs of the Sprint iP6/6+ are not whitelisted by Verizon whereas the SIM free are. What that means is that you can use a Sprint iP6/6+ on Verizon but you need to have an already active Verizon nano SIM card to put in it. The IMEIs of the SIM free iP6/6+ are whitelisted by Verizon and so you can get Verizon to activate a Verizon SIM card in those.

 

[eyoungren]

The IMEIs of the SIM free iP6/6+ are whitelisted on Verizon so you can activate a Verizon SIM card in those.

So to summarize, the Sprint iP6/6+ is the exact same device as the SIM free iP6/6+. However, the IMEIs of the Sprint iP6/6+ are not whitelisted by Verizon whereas the SIM free are. What that means is that you can use a Sprint iP6/6+ on Verizon but you need to have an already active Verizon nano SIM card to put in it. The IMEIs of the SIM free iP6/6+ are whitelisted by Verizon and so you can get Verizon to activate a Verizon SIM card in those.

Thank you for this concise clarification!

I'll make use of that the next time the question comes up.