How do I activate an iPhone 6 with T-Mobile without going to a store.

You said you have a T-Mobile SIM card already as well as a Verizon one that you wish to get rid of.

What I suggest is putting the T-Mobile SIM card into the iPhone and contacting your local T-Mobile company that you wish to activate your phone. Let them know that you already have a SIM card and have them walk you through it. If you wish to find any contact/store information in your area, go to www.t-mobile.com and hover your mouse over the "Coverage" tab, put in your information, and check through there. Once you find a phone number, you can contact them that way, or if you find a store near you and wish to physically go there, you may do that as well.

I'm switching from AT&T to T-Mobile and too received my iPhone 6 with T-Mobile nano SIM installed. It took three calls to at least get to the point where over the phone, I could get credit approved for a plan BUT still ended up having to buy and have shipped to me, a new nano SIM for $10. I still can't believe that they don't have the capability to activate the installed SIM but I did challenge the rep. He did check and responded that I would indeed be able to activate my current SIM but later in the call, reverted back to that the data plan needs to be installed on the SIM and shipped. To save the shipping time, I asked what if I just went to a store? He said it'd cost $45 to have it done there. Again, this was three calls, each varying so YMMV.

So if you too feel resigned that you need to have a SIM shipped to you and skip the frustrating phone call, just go here, order the nano SIM and complete your credit info during the process: http://www.t-mobile.com/bring-your-own-phone.html

Not a great way for a technology company touting fastest data speeds to win over switchers while relying on a centuries old delivery. Good luck.

I have the same problem too! I finally decided to upgrade my phone from an IPhone 4 to an iPhone 6 with T-Mobile.😢 I bought it without contract and just want to transfer my cell number from the iPhone 4 to 6. The phone came with a SIM installed and it shows that I am getting a signal from T-Mobile and have LTE coverage but no instructions on how to finish the installation process. Yeah, no luck getting a rep on the phone; "high call volume". I really don't understand what the 'hiccup' is when I'm just upgrading to a new hardware; everything transferred beautifully from my ITunes backup so all my apps and data are on my IPhone 6 but the cell number. Somebody dropped the ball on that one and I'll blame Apple.😠 Btw, I wanted to avoid going to a store completely!! 😕

Thanks to fluxbot's lead, I too went to the T-Mobile store vs waiting until next week for a SIM card to come in the mail. I had to start the process over again and they had to charge me a $1 for the activation. As it turns out, my phone number was not transferred so now I need to get back on the phone to make that happen.

You go to tmobile.com/sim. Then you login with your phone number and password. When promoted you have to enter the sim card number from your new iPhone 6 device. You can find this by opening the small slot on right of the iPhone (where sim card tray is) and type in the number on the sim card (starting with 8901). Put an f at the end of the number (required). Before you hit submit put the sim back in the phone. Worked for me and in 20 seconds my iPhone 6 was ready to use. ENJOY.

> You go to tmobile.com/sim.

This only works if you already have t-mobile sim. It doesn't work when switching from another network.

This whole activation process is incredibly confusing and profoundly dumb. You would expect you could register with a T-Mobile sim pre-installed, but T-Mobile is insisting I need to go to a store! Totally crazy!

I had the same exact issue - set it up through iTunes last night but couldn't make calls/send texts today. I called Customer Service during the day but I didn't have the box with me at work and was told to call back. Just called back and, after about 7-8 minutes of waiting, the CSR just had me read off the SIM card number (long ICCID number that starts with "89012601" according to him) and he was able to confirm the SIM card number. He told me to power down my phone, that it COULD take up to 2 hours to fully connect but that it should be activated. When I turned my phone back on 20 seconds later, voicemails and text messages started pouring in. Overall, I had a pretty good experience, WITHOUT having to go to T-Mobile. Good luck!!

I just took the old SIM out of our 5S and swapped it with the one in the new 6. Worked like a charm, with no issues. If you're a new customer, it should have shipped with a SIM kit. It's a pain, but the fastest way to get through right now with them is by going into a store. Trying to get through over the phone for the past week has been rather crazy.

I was an existing T-mobile customer, switching from a Windows phone to an iPhone6. T-mobile should be ashamed of themselves - they really hide the information about how to activate this phone. Apple store guy said we could "just go to the tmobile site and activate it."

I logged into my tmobile account and clicked the PHONES tab. Then found a link for "Change SIM Card". Wasn't clear it was going to work but was able to get the SIM card ID number from Settings General About on the iPhone. I entered it in and within a few minutes the iPhone was active (and my old phone was not).

I then changed the phone by clicking the "not your device?" link. Which is lame because doesn't tmobile "know" what device I'm using? But anyway I switched to the iPhone 6 model I have. I think I'm done. NEEDLESSLY COMPLEX. Both Apple and T-mobile should exert a little bit of effort here.

Your response just helped me to get my iPhone 6S activated. I logged into my account (new user but had the account set up after I pre-ordered the phone), changed the sim number, then turned off the phone. Shortly thereafter the phone was activated and I had finally LTE. Thank you for posting this.

I have exactly the same issue. I called back a number of times too. It's totally dumb.

im going to a tmobile store tomorrow, doubt they have much iphone 6 stock, so hoping the line is short.

Did u buy the t-mobile contract phone on online store??is it unlocked?? Can we use with any other sim In usa and outside usa??