Will Sprint Whitelist a T-Mobile/Verizon or AT&T iPhone 6S?

[KPOM]

I know it will work with an active iPhone 6/6S Sprint SIM, but my mother currently has an iPhone 5 with an incompatible Sprint SIM. The store didn't have any Sprint models left for walk-ins, so she took the "extra" T-Mobile iPhone 6s that my sister reserved this morning. I'll find out when she tries to get a Sprint SIM, but wanted to see if anyone here had any issues getting Sprint to whitelist a non-Sprint branded phone. Things are supposed to change with the February 2015 "voluntary" agreement in place, but I'm not sure how it is progressing.

 

[KPOM]

So the short answer is no. At least not the two stores my parents tried today (one corporate, one reseller). It's very frustrating. They are thinking of switching to Verizon anyway. I'll see if they will whitelist the iPhone 6S.

 

[eyoungren]

Your post is a little unclear.

You state your mother currently has an iPhone 5, then you say she took the "extra" T-Mobile phone that your sister reserved this morning?

Is that a 6s?

Which phone are you asking about using on Sprint? If it's the iPhone 5, then probably not. But it's not a matter of getting Sprint to whitelist and IMEI. When it comes to Sprint phones, the part number for the SIM on the iPhone 5 and the part number for SIMs on the 5c and above are different. You can't insert a SIM from anything newer into a 5 and expect it to work. Likewise you can't insert an iPhone 5 SIM into anything higher and expect it to work.

Furthermore, the T-Mobile phone/AT&T phone must be unlocked first. If they are you should just be able to call Sprint and tell them you want to activate an unlocked phone from a different carrier. Don't deal with store reps. They usually know nothing.

But even if you could get a T-Mobile 5 to activate on Sprint you have to understand that probably the best speed you will get is 3G. The bands for T-Mobile LTE and the bands for Sprint LTE are different.

 

[KPOM]

She was trying to activate the iPhone 6s. It was unlocked because it was purchased for full price from Apple. I knew the iPhone 5 SIM from Sprint wouldn't work, so they were trying to get a Sprint iPhone 6/6s SIM to use in the T-Mobile iPhone 6s. I already confirmed that my AT&T iPhone 6S works on Verizon so I knew that the CDMA radio works. Sprint still gave them the "our phones run on a different network" line. So the February 2015 agreement doesn't seem to be working very well right now.

Anyway, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. They are switching to VZW. I don't know whether they will whitelist the T-Mobile iPhone 6s since the Apple Store in the mall was able to give them a Verizon iPhone 6s (they didn't have the Sprint in the right color or size).