Text Message From ATT after moving SIM Card from 5S

To follow up on my post yesterday,

Today I talked with an ATT rep stationed for the weekend in an Apple Retail Store and they said I needed a secure SIM to be compatible with Apple Pay. He swapped the SIM and said there would be no change with my plan.

Just for the record, at an AT&T store yesterday I asked about purchasing a full-priced i6 with no contract. They said that it would be locked, but that they could/would unlock it. The clerk also suggested I just wait until the unlocked phones are available, directly from Apple, rather than getting AT&T to unlock it.

I just got off a chat with AT&T Tech support. I mentioned to him that I just used my iPhone 5 SIM to activate the phone. He told me I needed to use the SIM that came with it for VoLTE. When I told him I didn't have it, he said just go to AT&T get get a new one.

I also asked about Apple Pay since the store I was at earlier seemed to think that there was a sim for that. The agent said with the new VoLTE SIM and iOS 8.0 I should be good to go when Apple makes it available.

Following up on my earlier post regarding my difficulty getting DATA working properly after I moved my AT&T SIM from my iPhone 5 to the new iPhone 6 (contract-free):

I now have it working. I visited an AT&T store and they inserted a new SIM. Alas, data still didn't work. The prevailing theory is either AT&T has yet to properly provision service for PREPAID accounts (or what they have in place is broken) specifically for the iPhone 6. All services including data works on the iPhone 5 PREPAID account just fine however. The store rep offered to change my AT&T account from PREPAID to a standard POSTPAID (no contract). The POSTPAID is $5 more per month, but by trying this we could see if that would fix my no-data problem or point to a possible bad radio in my new iPhone 6. After confirming that there would be NO ADDITIONAL FEES, we altered my AT&T account and voila: I now have full data (LTE) working. We also verified MMS (e.g. texting pictures) also worked correctly. The rep said that once AT&T has the PREPAID accounts provisioned to work properly with the iPhone 6 that I could return to that without any fees as well as retain my phone number. So, for now, I'll endure the extra $5/month so I have a fully functional, contract-free iPhone 6 on AT&T's network.

I have the same issue with my iPhone 6 (unlocked) + iPhone 5S SIM. Visited a local AT&T Corp. store but they are super busy (45 mins.) wait, so I go there again this evening to check. Will report back.

I got the new sim, I saw somewhere on how to tell if it works for VoLTE but now I can't find it, Everything is working, but I not sure how to tell if I'm using VoLTE and I'm in the Chicago market where AT&T is testing..

Ok, I got back from the AT&T Corp store and got a new nano SIM. I can hardly tell anything is different. They did took down my IMIE number and gave me some BS excuse about how a new SIM will be needed for Apple Pay (in the back of my mind was, "whatever bro, Apple Pay is something between Apple and Big Banks...") but I didn't say anything.

They did try to sell me device insurance plan which I politely declined (why would I buy an insurance plan with you when I already paid full for the device at Apple?), so I start to think these SMS messages are just marketing messages to drive savvy uses into their store again. It has no technical merits at all....

I believe VoLET will basically sounds like voice over wifi -- not sure if you have tried that yet -- I believe you can tell by simply the sound quality....

I made a couple of calls, not sure if I heard a difference since they were short.

I wasn't sure if the LTE logo stayed on.. the calls I made switched from LTE to 4G... Not a huge deal, but curious....

I go the same message from AT&T and ….

• The new SECURED SIM cards are part of Apple’s new security layers(Apple Pay)
• Unlocked phones have always been available from any Apple Store, just buy any phone at Full Price.
  • It is already unlocked.
  • If you purchase at any of the carrier’s stores even if you pay full price the phone is not unlocked.

    You can submit an “Unlock” request to AT&T "https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/client/en_US/"

  • I always buy my iPhones at the Apple Store at full price since I travel internationally much and need the freedom to use any carrier.

    Just got my New iPhone unlocked at the Apple Store.

How did you get Apple to unlock it? Do you mean they restored it as a new iPhone for you?

I did make a longer call yesterday. And the call quality was good. Also, the LTE logo stays on during the call. I did a speed test during the call and I was pulling 30mb/s down. Do not too shabby.

OK, so I spoke with a friend at AT&T technical and got this answer in summary:

1. Has nothing to do with Apple Pay.

2. Not solely about VoLTE, but related (see below):

The updated nano-SIM gives the iPhone 6 access to more LTE towers on the AT&T network, thus switching to the new SIM after seeing that message will give you full access to all the current LTE towers instead of ones limited to the older iPhone 5/5S nano-SIM [It is related to rolling out VoLTE on AT&T nationwide soon, related to the new chip in iPhone 6 with more signal bands, related to new LTE technology and the ability to access LTE during a call]. Features not fully available on the iPhone 5/5S.

Did anyone mention signing in to your provider account & updating the IMEI? You might look up "bring your own device". You should be able to swap between devices just by updating the IMEI in your account (or having customer service do it).

International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number is a 15-digit serial number that identifies your wireless device. It is important that you have the correct IMEI number for your device registered with [AT&T] to ensure that you can access certain features and/or plans.

The IMEI number can be found on your device beneath the battery of your device. The IMEI number is also located on the original box that came with your device. If you have trouble finding the IMEI number, dial *#06# on your device and the IMEI number will be displayed on the screen.

All smartphones and iPhones require a data plan. If you order a new SIM or use one you already own, you'll need to add a data service plan for the device or add it to a Mobile Share plan. If you don't have a data service plan, one will be added automatically after device activation.

I'm in a similar situation. I moved my AT&T SIM from an iPhone 5 to an unlocked iPhone 6. My service worked fine. Two days later, I got the text. I went to the store and was told that I wouldn't be able to make mobile payments without a new SIM, but they were out of that kind so they couldn't give me one. The rep said that I would be fine as long as my cell and data service continued to work.

As a couple people mentioned, the new SIM must be more than that, since as far as I know Apple Pay doesn't require a special SIM.