Bought iPhone Abroad at Apple Store IMEI Won't Work in US

Question

Level 1

8 points

Bought iPhone Abroad at Apple Store IMEI Won't Work in US

Hello,

A few weeks ago I bought an iPhone 11 abroad at an Apple store. I asked for it to be unlocked, which it was. For the past few weeks I used my international SIM card abroad with no problem. However, once I was back in the states, I needed to get a new plan. I come to find out that the IMEI is supposedly not compatible with US carriers. Has anyone faced this problem and what was your solution? I'd really not prefer not to sell my phone and I feel like the advice I've been given hasn't been completely accurate because this isn't a common issue.

iPhone 11, iOS 13

Posted on Dec 13, 2019 5:56 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Lawrence Finch

Level 10

229,894 points

Dec 13, 2019 6:00 PM in response to Zack2788

It depends on the carrier. The phone is compatible around the world. However, Verizon won’t activate it because the IMEI is not in their database. If you call Verizon’s tech support and escalate to a level 2 tech they can add the IMEI to their database and the phone should then work on Verizon. It will work with all other US carriers out of the box, however.

Reply

Answer 2

Dec 13, 2019 6:17 PM in response to Zack2788

Don’t go to a store. Call them. Stores are staffed with sales people. They don’t know anything (or not much). You need to call, navigate to tech support, then, if the person you talk to doesn’t know how to do it, ask to be transferred to tier 2.

Reply

Answer 3

deggie

Level 10

167,525 points

Dec 13, 2019 5:58 PM in response to Zack2788

Who told you the IMEI is not compatible? If it was someone from Verizon or Sprint they mean it is not in their system.

Reply

Answer 4

Zack2788 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 13, 2019 6:14 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Okay, so I need to go to the stores and ask them to manually add it to their systems if I want to join their network. That makes sense. it's not coming up on the IMEI check online for the different network websites and both people for Sprint, AT&T I called said it's not in their system and they couldn't really do anything...but I just found that to be really surprising b/c it's a brand new phone from an Apple store, how could it not work, regardless of what country I bought it from? I called apple twice and got two different answers, one said there was nothing to be done because it was a foreign made phone, the other said that this wasn't an apple thing so much as it was a network problem and only the carriers could "fix" this.

Reply