Verizon iPhone on AT&T

[JerryBob]

I have a Verizon iPhone 6 that I purchased through my employer. The phone is on the company's large Verizon contract. I never see the bill.

I am eligible for full retirement in 3 months, after working there for 32 years.

It is my understanding that most phones will accept a SIM card now, and that I might be able to use this with AT&T or T-Mobile. Will I be able to convert this phone to our AT&T family plan, or I am stuck with Verizon (or other CDMA carriers)?

 

[bdcardinal]

Not sure if the 6 is different, but my Verizon 4S has no spot for a SIM card the I can find.

 

[beast3300]

Originally Posted By: JerryBob
It is my understanding that most phones will accept a SIM card now, and that I might be able to use this with AT&T


Looking around on Google it looks like this will work.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Not sure if the 6 is different, but my Verizon 4S has no spot for a SIM card the I can find.


It's located on the right side of the phone, about midway along the length of the metal band. It's very flush...you wouldn't even know it was there!

 

[aa1986]

Apple uses nano sims.

 

[Trav]

The phone might be locked onto one network, your employer can call and have it white listed meaning you can use it on any network.
I change SIM cards when i go to Germany, no problem at all.

 

[Donald]

I am unsure about your IPhone. Make sure to get it unlocked. But GSM in this country is different than GSM in Europe. I had a Droid 2 Global phone. Got a GSM card from T-Mobile and it did not work on T-Mobile. Did a lot of reading and found out I had to unlock the baseband so the GSM in the USA would work. I guess Verizon did not mind me using the phone on GSM in Europe but set it up to I could not use GSM in the USA.

I got it to work. Took some work. Not saying Verizon does this on all phones, but they might.

 

[michaelluscher]

Verizon iPhone 6 should move over to a AT&T Nano SIM just fine.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Not sure if the 6 is different, but my Verizon 4S has no spot for a SIM card the I can find.


It's located on the right side of the phone, about midway along the length of the metal band. It's very flush...you wouldn't even know it was there!


I'll check it out next time I do a cleaning on it with the OtterBox off. I have only had Verizon phones so the SIM card thing is foreign to me.

 

[redhat]

Starting with the 4S, Verizon iPhone's have SIM cards as they are Global phones. Usually they'll have a Verizon/Vodafone SIM.

The Verizon 5S and up are 100% unlocked from the factory phones. You can go on any GSM carrier you please, just pop in a SIM.

 

[MalfunctionProne]

Originally Posted By: redhat
Starting with the 4S, Verizon iPhone's have SIM cards as they are Global phones. Usually they'll have a Verizon/Vodafone SIM.

The Verizon 5S and up are 100% unlocked from the factory phones. You can go on any GSM carrier you please, just pop in a SIM.


They then lock to the first SIM you put in there.

I went through this once. Got a new iPhone 5 under warranty - pretty amazing. They then put my old SIM in it, IN the store, and it was no longer unlocked.

The 6 makes the 5 look stupid, and the 4S soldiers on. I bet many 4S people will go straight to 6.. or wait for 6S.

 

[redhat]

Like I said, the 5S and up.

The 5S is a great phone, first 64-bit, more LTE bands, and not the size of a frying pan.

 

[PandaBear]

My understanding is the baseband processor on the iPhone are different based on the non LTE part of the network. What it means is the CDMA vs GSM part of the phone (2G and maybe even 3G) are different between these chips. So if I were to purchase, I'd stick with the same type of network just in case (i.e. between ATT & TMO, between Sprint and Verizon, etc).

 

[redhat]

The Verizon iPhone 5S and up can be used on any GSM provider that you pop in a SIM card from as long as that GSM carrier runs on the same UTMS/HSPA/HSPA+/LTE frequencies and/or bands.

Verizon iPhone 5S is an A1533 (CDMA):
Model A1533 (CDMA): CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 17, 19, 20, 25)

A lot of CDMA/LTE Verizon and Sprint phones use their 3G CDMA for the calls, even though many of these can take a SIM and pump their 4G LTE data through a GSM carrier (which is similar to what's done anyways with VZW), calls won't work -- that will and probably is changing with VoLTE becoming more prevalent. The iPhone is different in this aspect as the VZW 5S and up can pump calls through the CDMA or the GSM. Must be a feature of the fancy Qualcomm chip inside.