Can i use my unlocked Sprint iphone 4s on AT&T's $25 prepaid plan?

The Apple Support Communities are an international user to user technical support forum. As a man from Mexico, Spanish is my native tongue. I do not speak English very well, however, I do write in English with the aid of the Mac OS X spelling and grammar checks. I also live in a culture perhaps very very different from your own. When offering advice in the ASC, my comments are not meant to be anything more than helpful and certainly not to be taken as insults.

The phone doesn't sound like its unlocked.

No. You can not use a SIM from ANY U.S. carrier in a Sprint (or Verizon) iPhone 4S, even if the SIM slot has been unlocked. They will only accept SIM cards from foreign carriers.

Then are the reports of Verizon 4S iPhones running on an AT&T SIM a myth? I have seen a number of reports of them doing so here in the ASC. Or is that only on the locked Verizon phone?

As provided, Sprint/Verizon iPhone 4S's will only work on the Sprint or Verizon network in the US, regardless of whether the sim slot has been unlocked or not.

Actuually the issue is that Verizon is lying to folks. Verizon is not fully unlocking the phone. Verizon leaves a lock on the unlocked phones from using SIM cards from other US carriers. You can use a non-US SIM and roam all that you want on AT&T with an "unlocked" Verizon iPhone.

Verizon isn't lying to anyone. They have never stated that they would unlock their phones for use on US carriers. There is no such thing as a CDMA iPhone (including 4S's that were sold for use on any of the CDMA carriers in the US) that is 'completely' unlocked. They can be unlocked for International roaming only.

Anyone who thought differently, misunderstood.

They can be unlocked for International roaming only.

Perhaps that is a fine pont that is lost on many, especially if Verizon poorly trained lackeys don't really explain that.

Your Sprint iphone can ONLY be used in the U.S. with Sprint.

You cannot use it with any other U.S carrier at all.

No. You can not use a Sprint iPhone, regardless of model, with ANY carrier in the U.S. other than Sprint.

jojothemonkey22 wrote:

So I can't use my iphone 4s for any prepaid service? Could I use it for Verizon prepaid? I really just want to keep my iphone 4s and not have the big monthly bill.

The only way to use a Sprint CDMA phone with Verizon's CDMA network would be to entice Verizon to reflash the firmware on you phone. And they will not do that, for anyone with any phone - you must purchase a Verizon phone to use the Verizon network.

You cannot use your CDMA Sprint phone with AT&T because AT&T does not operate a CDMA network. They use GSM, which is a different network than CDMA.

You forget that the 4S is GSM capable, but it has been stated in this thread that it is restricted to non-US carriers.

Dah•veed wrote:

You forget that the 4S is GSM capable, but it has been stated in this thread that it is restricted to non-US carriers.

I figured I'd just not mention that, as making the GSM side of a Verizon or Sprint phone work with AT&T in the USA is not really a discussion suitable for these forums..

See I'm of the opinion that being less than honest about the specs is what has made this topic so confusing. Better to state the truth of the matter and why, IMO. The Sprint & Verizon CDMA iPhone models are GSM capable, but only with foreign (non-US) carriers. Period. Then folks understand and know the truth.

You have a point, But then someone sees one of the several youtube videos of someone using a Verizon 4s with an AT&T SIM and starts asking why they cannot do that with their phone, and then gets upset when they are told we cannot help them with that? So I just figure why bring up the possability at all, stick to what the phone is natively capable of in the network region it was sold for, and let sleeping dogs lie, as it were.

But I can see the other side of the coin, as you mention.