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Carrier When buying carrier free/sim free option. How to activate?

T

t76turbo

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 20, 2012
304
706
Never bought sim free phones. Or carrier free. Whatever they are officially called.

When I get the new phone, is there a procedure you are supposed to follow? I know all the stuff about going from one phone to another. Turn off 'Find my phone', back up, restore from backup, etc....

But regarding the sim and getting the phone to work. Going from XS Max to 12 Pro Max on tmobile. Staying with tmobile. Do you just pop the sim out of the old phone and into the new one?
 
Should work by simply putting your old SIM into the new phone.
It's always fascinating reading about how seemingly complicated US wireless carriers make things look like. :D
 
If you pay in full at T-Mobile the phone will be unlocked and have a T-Mobile sim card pre-installed. Put your old card in it and it works right away since its already activated. To activate the new card you need the new ICCID number under "about" in the settings.

A sim free phone is also unlocked. Use your old sim and it works right away. You will have to buy a new sim if you want to use a new one.

both options you can switch sim cards from any carrier as long as the sim is activated.
 
A simple SIM swap between the two phones is all that is needed. However T-Mobile & Verizon phones require 5G SIM to take advantage of the full functionality of 5G. For T-Mobile you will need a R15 SIM to take advantage of Standalone 5G access. For Verizon a 5G SIM is required to take advantage of future enhancements to 5G. And if you put an older 4G sim in 5G phone you get texts about needing to use a 5G SIM. Verizon you can request a 5G sim online or in store once you get the new phone. It will be free either route. For T-Mobile you need to go to store to pick one up or you can request one through customer care just make sure you specify T-Mobile SIM 2020 for the R15 one. For T-Mobile they will want to charge you $10 for one requested from customer care but you can get the fee credited depending on the rep you get. In store it is usually free.
 
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It may vary by carrier. Whenever I have ordered through Sprint, I had to have someone activate it (either online or via phone). Just moving the sim card from my old Sprint phone to my new one didn't work.

I don't know if that's the case if you order through Apple or not. I've always ordered through the carrier in the past for a perk or two from them. Isn't there an option to by a carrier phone from Apple? Never have gone through Apple directly before for iPhones.
 
Can I purchase a paid in full T-Mobile phone from Best Buy - and the simply switch in my Verizon sim during activation? I don’t want to purchase a Verizon phone from Best Buy as it gets locked to Verizon for 60 days upon activation.
 
My phone activated without sim. It wasn’t until after I had restored everything from backup that I transferred my eSIM plan.
 
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