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Why is there a "Verizon" and AT&T iPhone SE at Best Buy if they are the same phone?
- Thread starter Sampple
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Well the AT&T one is locked to AT&T. Verizon one isn't so theoretically you couldn't get a AT&T iPhone for Verizon unless it's unlocked. Verizon one is so in theory they could but perhaps a legal reason why?
I'm guessing Verizon would want it's own phone, as well as att. Besides the Verizon phone comes with a Verizon sim and att with att sim.
Because of my Verizon unlimited data plan and the Best Buy upgrade method I've used the same sim for over 3 years lol
It is called marketing and branding. The average customer does not know the difference between a SIM-free iPhone and a carrier branded iPhone with a preinstalled Nano-SIM. Hey most customers don't even care to know even 10% of what is discussed here in the forums.
Once the average customer buys a phone on a carrier they just assume that it only works or works best on that carrier. The carriers like it this way as it helps them reduce or limit customer "Churn rates". A key measurement in the business.
Dave
No, the carriers don't buy the iPhones and sell them to dealers or retailers like Best Buy. Best Buy orders directly from Apple just like the carriers. Best Buy is paid by the carriers based on activations, just like dealers are paid for activations on a given carrier. 
Dave
Dave
Probably so they don't have to spend time explaining that to people. It's just easier for people to think one carrier, one phone.
It all abut IMEI numbers and carrier's databases of those IMEIs. iPhones are identical work the same on both carriers. SIM card inside is the one difference. Verizon is unlocked and att too if you pay full price and request instant unlock on att website. One day maybe all people will start to buy sim free iPhones and pay full price then carriers may eliminate the branding. But it's highly unlikely. Or maybe there will be law that requires carriers to finance sim free IPhone and ban any locking of any cellphone to particular carrier and finally all iPhones will be sim free only.
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This is no longer true for recent versions of the iPhone. For example for the iPhone 5S/5C, 6/6+, 6S/6S+ and the iPhone SE: the AT&T version and the Verizon version have the same LTE Bands.
source: http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/
Dave
Not with the SE, or the 6S at least. The AT&T version is the same as the Verizon one. My guess as to why they have seep rate ones has to do with their contracts with the cell carriers. Verizon doesn't want to lose out on new customers because the first people to the store bought them all up as AT&T phones, and AT&T feels the same way about Verizon. Most likely you could buy them full price without a contract and use it on either carrier, but most people use financing which means you are stuck with a phone intended for the carrier you use.
This is no longer true for recent versions of the iPhone. For example for the iPhone 5S/5C, 6/6+, 6S/6S+ and the iPhone SE: the AT&T version and the Verizon version have the same LTE Bands.
source: http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/
Dave
But going by the URL provided, you can see that not all channels on the AT&T are on the Verizon.
For the SE? Seems like the same model (with the same channels) is listed for both AT&T and Verizon.
First they are still 100% interchangeable, this thread is concerning the iPhone SE if you need a reminder.
Dave
[doublepost=1460561290][/doublepost]
Correct, the lack of band 30 support for the iPhone SE was covered in the Apple announcement. No, they did not call out band 30 but in listing the features there was mention that the iPhone SE did not support the highest LTE speeds.
Here is the thread where we discussed band 30 and the iPhone SE: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/no-lte-band-30-on-iphone-se.1963918/
Here is my post on band 30:
AT&T is still rolling out Band 30 aka the WCS spectrum to only a few Metro areas even today. It will be part of the long-term network. Apple made it clear at the iPhone SE announcement: the iPhone SE will not support LTE Advanced (300 Mbps) only LTE at 150 Mbps.
Band 30 part of the overlay of it's national 700 MHz deployment, so you would expect to see urban areas benefit the most. Offloading traffic from the 700 MHz and also 2100 MHz AWS for LTE spectrum. Oh, and in some markets AT&T is also using carrier aggregation to combine 700 MHz and 2100 MHz.
Summary: Band 30 is a nice feature addition but not a world ender for 99.95% of AT&T customer.
Note: LTE Advanced offers a range of benefits over standard LTE support in addition to higher theoretical throughput. For instance, LTE Advanced offers smoother "handoffs" when travelling between cell towers. This allows your smartphone to not drop the connection so much.[/QUOTE
Dave
First they are still 100% interchangeable, this thread is concerning the iPhone SE if you need a reminder.
Dave
And I'm telling that they're not.
Go to the section for the SE and compare the two models for yourself. Not the same channels are on both phones.
Doesn't anyone know how to read anymore?
PS. Neither are the 6s/6s+ interchangeable
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when you buy an iPhone, and picking a carrier.not only does it come with that carrier's sim card, but it is put in a book of imei numbers that belong to that carrier. in order to activate a sim card for a new line of service, the iPhone must be in their book. if it is not in their book of iPhones they will not sell you service.
the iPhone 6 was sold for " AT&T / Verizon and T-mobile " and "AT&T Verizon T-mobile and sprint" if you bought the unlocked version like i did on launch day, you had to wait about 60 days for the imei number to be added to the phone companies book. Verizon took 1 year before they white listed all unlocked iPhone 6 and 6+ phones on august of 2015, prior to this date the phone worked on verizon, but only if you used a pulled pre-activated sim card from another phone.
here is an old post
https://www.reddit.com/r/verizon/comments/3gw0kw/psa_verizon_just_whitelisted_the_iphone_6_and_6/?
the 6s and 6s+ is being sold now as "Verizon Sprint T-Mobile " and " AT&T " , the AT&T has 1 extra band. AT&T will not sell you a sim card online if you have the wrong model. they treat it like a black listed phone. i know this because i had a blacklisted amazon fire phone that i got from eBay, and i hit the same wall when i called them on the error i was receiving.
when i purchased my 6s+ , sprint told me my iPhone was not one of their devices, despite it being one, on september 27 2015. i had to wait until November 17 2015 , for it to be listed as compatible
on the same day september 27 2015, Verizon also told me my iPhone would not work, and they could not guarantee it.
for a while there, i wanted to return it for the sim free version, but i couldn't get one in stock by the return date on the receipt
from my experience if you buy the unlocked phone ( T-Mobile ) , it will eventually be white listed. ( with the exception of iPhone 6 on sprint they continue to want bands 38,39,40,41 or whatever )
if you buy the "sim free one" then i think it is white listed out of the box
this year apple changed the LTE page and now says "sim free" contains all the bands and carriers from the other phone
it looks to me when iPhones are sold , there is a 70 day waiting period for " carrier exclusivity " where the phone carriers refuse to activate each other's handsets
the only real difference between ' unlocked ' and ' sim free ' is the imei device list that the carriers have.
[doublepost=1460562493][/doublepost]it was about 90 days between ' unlocked ' and ' sim free ' on the 6
[doublepost=1460563110][/doublepost]looking at the iPhone lte page. if you buy A1662 and unlock it . sprint will probably not sell you service.
the iPhone 6 was sold for " AT&T / Verizon and T-mobile " and "AT&T Verizon T-mobile and sprint" if you bought the unlocked version like i did on launch day, you had to wait about 60 days for the imei number to be added to the phone companies book. Verizon took 1 year before they white listed all unlocked iPhone 6 and 6+ phones on august of 2015, prior to this date the phone worked on verizon, but only if you used a pulled pre-activated sim card from another phone.
here is an old post
https://www.reddit.com/r/verizon/comments/3gw0kw/psa_verizon_just_whitelisted_the_iphone_6_and_6/?
the 6s and 6s+ is being sold now as "Verizon Sprint T-Mobile " and " AT&T " , the AT&T has 1 extra band. AT&T will not sell you a sim card online if you have the wrong model. they treat it like a black listed phone. i know this because i had a blacklisted amazon fire phone that i got from eBay, and i hit the same wall when i called them on the error i was receiving.
when i purchased my 6s+ , sprint told me my iPhone was not one of their devices, despite it being one, on september 27 2015. i had to wait until November 17 2015 , for it to be listed as compatible
on the same day september 27 2015, Verizon also told me my iPhone would not work, and they could not guarantee it.
for a while there, i wanted to return it for the sim free version, but i couldn't get one in stock by the return date on the receipt
from my experience if you buy the unlocked phone ( T-Mobile ) , it will eventually be white listed. ( with the exception of iPhone 6 on sprint they continue to want bands 38,39,40,41 or whatever )
if you buy the "sim free one" then i think it is white listed out of the box
this year apple changed the LTE page and now says "sim free" contains all the bands and carriers from the other phone
it looks to me when iPhones are sold , there is a 70 day waiting period for " carrier exclusivity " where the phone carriers refuse to activate each other's handsets
the only real difference between ' unlocked ' and ' sim free ' is the imei device list that the carriers have.
[doublepost=1460562493][/doublepost]it was about 90 days between ' unlocked ' and ' sim free ' on the 6
[doublepost=1460563110][/doublepost]looking at the iPhone lte page. if you buy A1662 and unlock it . sprint will probably not sell you service.
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Yes I did since I posted it and both of the versions discussed in this thread as listed in the thread title: "Why is there a "Verizon" and AT&T iPhone SE at Best Buy if they are the same phone?"
A Verizon iPhone SE and an AT&T iPhone SE have exactly the same LTE bands! They are both listed as the iPhone SE Model A1662.
Sorry but you are the one that is having trouble reading today, it appears that you are confusing the A1662 with the A1723/A1724.
Dave
the lte page says that the 6 includes all the other bands. but there is no such claim for A1662 and a1723
[doublepost=1460563548][/doublepost]
they are interchangeable. but like i said. AT&T and verizon might not want to activate it for the first 70 days or so, because its not in their book
buy the sim free phone
have the imei checked for free on all the carriers.
keep checking carriers once a month until they white list it
[doublepost=1460563759][/doublepost]this is a pet peeve of mine. i got really upset at macrumors, 9 to 5 mac, bgr and cult of mac reporting price lists from companies like gazelle with them knocking off $100 of an iPhone 6 because it was sold as "unlocked" and not "verizon" and not realizing , why wait a minute. they are the same exact model, why is there any price difference?
[doublepost=1460563548][/doublepost]
Yes I did since I posted it and both of the versions discussed in this thread as listed in the thread title: "Why is there a "Verizon" and AT&T iPhone SE at Best Buy if they are the same phone?"
A Verizon iPhone SE and an AT&T iPhone SE have exactly the same LTE bands! They are both listed as the iPhone SE Model A1662.
Sorry but you are the one that is having trouble reading today, it appears that you are confusing the A1662 with the A1723/A1724.
Dave
they are interchangeable. but like i said. AT&T and verizon might not want to activate it for the first 70 days or so, because its not in their book
buy the sim free phone
have the imei checked for free on all the carriers.
keep checking carriers once a month until they white list it
[doublepost=1460563759][/doublepost]this is a pet peeve of mine. i got really upset at macrumors, 9 to 5 mac, bgr and cult of mac reporting price lists from companies like gazelle with them knocking off $100 of an iPhone 6 because it was sold as "unlocked" and not "verizon" and not realizing , why wait a minute. they are the same exact model, why is there any price difference?
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Your statement was a bit confusing because even though this is an SE thread, you precluded it with "6S/6S+" in addition to SE... and the link you provided doesn't support that (for obvious reasons). You may want to remove the other models if you're intending to support the thread topic. As it stands it seems a little unfair to accuse someone of having trouble reading.
Seems like you aren't replying to the person you think you are replying to.
And that would be aside from you still specifically talking about the SE not being the same, which isn't the case.
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