Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
simple question; but yet even Googling this yields no real answers to the question--just conjecture by fake "news" sites that regurgitate facts from Endgadget. If the iPhone 4S truly works with either/or; why can you not use it with either/or?
modular, your tone is rather defensive/rude. I am asking questions, not arguing. Put away your ego please
I found this in another thread:
The GSM only version of the iPhone 4s (either sold with an AT&T plan or if purchased from Apple directly as an unlocked phone) do NOT have CDMA capability. While physically they may have the CDMA radio components, those are disabled unless the iPhone 4s was initially sold for and activated on a CDMA network like Sprint or Verizon.
If you bought the offically unlocked (and thus GSM ONLY) or an AT&T locked (and thus also GSM ONLY) iPhones, you are never going to get them to work on a CDMA network.
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This makes more sense. There is only one actual hardware profile for iPhone 4S but carrier "provisioning/activation" deteremines how the phone functions thereafter.
I have a GSM (unlocked) iPhone 4S and had always wondered if i could ever take it to Verizon...this is why I've been trying to figure out if it was possible and/or why if it wasn't. that's all
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Your question is answered.
You cannot take an AT&T phoe to Verizon or Sprint.
You cannot take a Sprint or Verizon phone to AT&T.
Why? Becasue that is how the iphone is designed.
Your original question: "If the iPhone 4S truly works with either/or; why can you not use it with either/or?"
The iphone does not truly work with either or. You cannot use it with either or, becasue that is the way that the iphone has been designed and implemented.
I know that you do not like this answer, but it is the answer, none the less.
Maybe if you had put in as much effort reading what was already posted in this thread instead of defending your ignorance, you would realize that I said the same thing here already.
I was told by an Apple store employee today that I could bring my unlocked AT&T iPhone 4s to the Apple store and have it transferred to Verizon. I have an express lane ticket in for a call back tomorrow to verify. This seems to counter the strong and quite rude responses to the original question. Perhaps policies have changed or this employee is just incorrect. I will soon see.
They probably thought you were asking if you could exchange the phone for a Verizon CDMA phone.
After a couple of weeks of searching; I've been able to find the specific reasons for all of the confusion and hopefully this might help.
Hardware
Apple only manufactures 2 versions of iPhone 4S. This is referring to hardware-only (no programming yet)
The "normal" iPhone 4S (A1387)
The China CDMA version of iPhone 4S (A1431)
Programming
During the final stages of distribution, the Modem Firmware (or "baseband" as it is often referred-to online) is programmed with specific instructions. This is what determines the capabilities of the phone and to where the phone will be shipped (either to a carrier distribution center or to Apple directly who then stocks it accordingly)
1) GSM Unlocked (available in the rest of the world as the standard, and availalbe in the US as a full-price purchase)
2) AT&T Locked
3) CDMA locked (with an option enabled on carrier-end to accept 'certain' GSM SIMs with restrictions)
There doesn't currently exist a way for consumers to "change" the Modem Firmware on their phones to switch providers via an option in the UI. So unfortunately, this means a new phone must be purchased to carrier-hop succesfully in the US. The US CDMA carriers have their own artificial barriers currently to prevent the phone from being "brought to" their network from another CMDA carrier and also disallow the GSM functionality if intended for the use with AT&T or T-Mobile in the US. Furthermore, the "unlocked" iPhone is GSM-only so it has no functionality AT ALL to talk to CDMA networks which is why it can't be "brought to" Verizon or Sprint.
Since all of this is really confusing to consumers, it is not exactly advertised, but that is essentially how it works.
Currently, there arent any phones manufactured that truly can use all of the big 4 US carriers via a UI-enabled process. And as others have said, both Sprint and Verizon disallow BYOD for Smartphones. While some of us find those restrictions rather oppressive; it is most likely done for the purposes of protecting the interest of carriers since in the US; we have the unique practice of a carrier offering subsidies (paying for your phone so you can pay less for it at purchase-time)
I have not been able to determine if the push for LTE will mean that in the futre, all of the major US carriers will use the same technology but just on differing frequencies--which may increase the chances that we'll see less restrictions like this in the future. Who knows.
julienpdx wrote:
Programming
During the final stages of distribution, the Modem Firmware (or "baseband" as it is often referred-to online) is programmed with specific instructions. This is what determines the capabilities of the phone and to where the phone will be shipped (either to a carrier distribution center or to Apple directly who then stocks it accordingly)
1) GSM Unlocked (available in the rest of the world as the standard, and availalbe in the US as a full-price purchase)
2) AT&T Locked
3) CDMA locked (with an option enabled on carrier-end to accept 'certain' GSM SIMs with restrictions)
just wanted to restate and to clarify some things you said:
1) (GSM) Factory Unlocked -- available everywhere in the world, as a full-price purchase (no need to specify this as US)
2) (GSM) Carrier-Locked -- 4S are sold carrier-locked to carriers in other countries too (again, not specific to the US)
3) (CDMA) Carrier-Locked -- I've talked to Sprint+Verizon employees about this, and depending on your account standing (or who you speak with) they will unlock the iphone for international GSM networks only, but absolutely won't accept AT&T or T-mobile (the CDMA Gevey Ultra S will allow you to accept AT&T + T-Mobile tho)
By default, all GSM iphone 4S are sold unlocked by Apple. It is only at the point of purchase that they add it to their database as either locked or unlocked -- note when you restore/upgrade your iphone in itunes, the last step is verification of this. This is why if you buy an AT&T iphone 4S from Apple at full price (unsubsidized) *without* a 2 year contract, it is factory unlocked. No matter how many times you update/restore your iphone 4S, in the final screen in itunes it will say congrats on activating factory unlocked iphone. The only difference between buying a Factory Unlocked model vs a full-priced Carrier-locked model, is that the former comes with a free sim remover pin.
Message was edited by: fiio28 -- don't do illegal stuff guys :)
(the CDMA Gevey Ultra S will allow you to accept AT&T + T-Mobile tho)
Geveys are ILLEGAL in the US, and all countries.
modular747 wrote:
Geveys are ILLEGAL in the US, and all countries.
ok, noted. the rest of my comment still stands though.
Apple got back with me and corrected their statement that they in fact cannot change an iPhone 4S to Verizon from AT&T or vice versa.
This is all very interesting.
It is also my understanding that you can in fact unlock an ATT iPhone 4S (not below the 4 or below) and use it on Verizon - or any other carrier for that matter. I'm not sure if the situation is different because AT&T unlocks them internally - that is they allow the phone to be "reprovisioned" on the Verizon network.
According to AT&T there should be no problem doing this.
According to Verizon there should be no problem doing this.
I have 2 friends that tell me they currently have it working. So, I'm planning on doing it in the near future.
FWIW, Verizon did say, that sometimes there is a problem with some specific Verizon service when using a phone that was designed to run on a SIM card (AT*&T version uses a SIM card), on their network (Verizon version doesn't use a SIM card). Anyway, they said some services may be "odd."
My friends that claim to have it working, have said they have not noticed any of the major services Talk/Text/3G Data - not working as expected.
I'd suggested trying it out.
I think what many on this thread have been saying (including the Apple store people), is they can't reprovision an iPhone 4S once it is set to work on their network. However, if AT&T (or via some external software), does it themselves, it will allow the card to be cleared and thus reprovisioned for Verizon's network (or any other carrier's network).
Anyway, I'd suggest calling AT&T, asking them to unlock the phone. Then taking to a Verizon store.
It is also my understanding that you can in fact unlock an ATT iPhone 4S (not below the 4 or below) and use it on Verizon - or any other carrier for that matter. I'm not sure if the situation is different because AT&T unlocks them internally - that is they allow the phone to be "reprovisioned" on the Verizon network
Incorrect. Unlocked AT&T iPhone 4S (or Apple factory unlocked) work only on GSM carriers. They can't be used on CDMA carriers such as Verizon or Sprint.
Verizon and Sprint phones (not just iPhones) have to be provisioned at the factory to use on their networks. They don't accept unlocked phones, even if technically capable of being used on a CDMA network (which the unlocked iPhone 4S isn't, even though labeled as a "world phone").
Hi how to unlock my phone? My phone iphone 4s Sprint
Help please.
Did you not bother reading ANYTHING in this thread? Or searching the forums at all?
ONLY the carrier can unlock the phone. If you have Sprint 4S, it can only be unlocked for current Sprint customers in good standing, and then, only for use while roaming outside the US. I can never be used in the US with any carrier other than Sprint. It can not be unlocked if you are not a Sprint customer.
Why doesn't the unlocked iPhone 4S work with Sprint or Verizon?
