not only is the iPhone 6 unlocked, but the t-mobile phones work on verizon!

Shaunbh wrote:

Got a T-Mobile iPhone 6 from T-Mobile, waited 40 days, requested unlock. Unlock instructions from T-Mobile did not work as indicated--iTunes never indicated that the phone had been unlocked. T-Mobile support said that the instructions come from the manufacturer, and it's out of their hands. Went to Apple to get it unlocked and a Genius tried an unactivated Verizon SIM to prove that it was unlocked. They gave me the SIM in case I wanted it, since it was already punched out of its card.

Went to Verizon store and tried to activate it, but they were largely unhelpful. They said they had no iPhone 6 that could be used to activate my SIM. New ones in the package were not an option. Adding this device's IMEI to the Verizon database was also not possible. They suggested I find someone with an iPhone 6 on Verizon or even try an iPhone 5 because it uses the same size SIM. I'm thinking I would want to activate it on someone's Verizon iPhone 6 and not a 5 to ensure all the services are activated properly in Verizon's systems (e.g. Voice over LTE, etc.).

You can activate the SIM on any Verizon phone. I activated my SIM on my daughters old Moto X phone and as soon as the the number ported over I swapped the SIM into my iPhone 6 and it worked perfectly. The SIM is hardware independent, so as long as the SIM is the same size, you can activate it on any verizon phone.

I just ordered a Verizon Iphone 6 plus 64GB (unactivated - full price) from Best Buy. According to different forums and reviews in best buy, the phone comes unlocked.

This will be my first iphone ever.

I'm from Argentina, i'll be in a few days in USA with my local GSM sim and i'll be receiving my phone there.

I have a few questions....

- In order to have the phone unlocked i have to remove the Verizon sim before turning it on for the first time, and turn it on with my my country's sim?

- Will it cause any configuration issues turning the phone on with my sim on roaming? Mi local carrier uses AT&T or T-Mobile networks in USA for roaming. Will it be convenient to restore factory settings once i get back to my country or it wont be necessary?

I am having some issues with visual voicemail. Initially it always used to call the voice-mail number whenever I tapped visual VM. After I talked to a verizon rep, he reset by voicemail and I reset my network settings. Then I could tap VVM and it was no longer calling the Verizon number. But whenever I have a new voice mail, I started getting a message from 900080006202. Only if I restart the phone, I see a VVM waiting for me.

It would help if you share what phone you have, is this a Verizon phone. What network are you having problems with visual voice mail?

Voice mail notifications work by sending a specialy crafted text message to the phone, but unlike a normal text message your not supposed to see the number it comes from. It's supposed to activate the sound and badge icon. In the old days it may have turned in a flashing LED to let you know of a waiting voice mail.

If your phone is a contracted or on the network it belongs to then you may want to try a restore. It sounds like for some reason the phone is not decoding the hiden text message like ot should be.

After reading lots of mis-information in this thread about Verizon unlocked iPhones, I was confident that a Verizon iPhone 6 Plus purchased from Apple directly would be unlocked out of the box. I had an extra upgrade on one of my Verizon family plan lines and ordered a 6 Plus through Apple on Oct 27. It was delivered yesterday. I immediately removed the Verizon SIM card before powering it on and put in my AT&T SIM from my currently active and in use iPhone 6. When I turned it on, it would ONLY take me through the activation process for the Verizon number I had the upgrade for. So I connected it to iTunes to restore it from a backup of the iPhone 6. Again, no go, iTunes wanted to take me through the activation process for the Verizon number I used my upgrade for. I can unequivocally say that Verizon phones purchased from Apple ARE NOT ONLY LOCKED TO THE VERIZON NETWORK, BUT TO A SPECIFIC VERIZON TELEPHONE NUMBER. I can return it to Apple for a full refund so my experiment only cost me time and aggravation (thanks entirely to bad information from the "experts" in this forum.

nnot sure who you thought were the "experts" in this forum or who is able to relate much more than personal experience about an ever-changing set of variables between VZW shipping policies, VZW store policies, VZW activation proceedures, Apple iOS versions, etc.

Thank you for the additional data point which may also already be regarded as misinformation.

To follow up on my earlier set of experiences. I was finally able to activate my unlocked T-Mobile on Verizon and inactivated Verizon SIM. Verizon Chat didn't help much (and mentioned earlier, the store didnt help much). Also, it didn't work to try to activate my Nano SIM in my older android phone using a SIM adapter to get it to fit. Verizon's systems wouldn't allow it because the SIM was "incompatible".

However explaining my situation to a support rep on the phone got me an immediate transfer to a Tech Support person who updated the IMEI number of the phone and SIM ID in Verizon systems and it activated right away with Verizon, then LTE, and enabling VoLTE in Settings seems to have worked as well.

jackfromcamarillo wrote:

... ordered a 6 Plus through Apple on Oct 27. It was delivered yesterday. I immediately removed the Verizon SIM card before powering it on and put in my AT&T SIM from my currently active and in use iPhone 6. ... I can unequivocally say that Verizon phones purchased from Apple ARE NOT ONLY LOCKED TO THE VERIZON NETWORK, BUT TO A SPECIFIC VERIZON TELEPHONE NUMBER. I can return it to Apple for a full refund so my experiment only cost me time and aggravation (thanks entirely to bad information from the "experts" in this forum.

6/6+ iPhones purchased full-price "device only" (no service plan/activation) at an Apple Store are unlocked. The same applies to T-Mobile ones online. But there is no way to buy a Verizon (or AT&T) 6/6+ full-price online.

As previously indicated in this thread,I bought a Verizon 6 device-only full price at an Apple Store, removed the Verizon SIM, took it to a T-Mobile store for SIM and activation, and have been using it since.

Sorry Jack, but my experience is exactly the same as Brett's. My Iphone 6, which came from the Apple Store with a Verizon SIM card, is working perfectly on H2O.

jackfromcamarillo wrote:

After reading lots of mis-information in this thread about Verizon unlocked iPhones, I was confident that a Verizon iPhone 6 Plus purchased from Apple directly would be unlocked out of the box. I had an extra upgrade on one of my Verizon family plan lines and ordered a 6 Plus through Apple on Oct 27. It was delivered yesterday. I immediately removed the Verizon SIM card before powering it on and put in my AT&T SIM from my currently active and in use iPhone 6. When I turned it on, it would ONLY take me through the activation process for the Verizon number I had the upgrade for. So I connected it to iTunes to restore it from a backup of the iPhone 6. Again, no go, iTunes wanted to take me through the activation process for the Verizon number I used my upgrade for. I can unequivocally say that Verizon phones purchased from Apple ARE NOT ONLY LOCKED TO THE VERIZON NETWORK, BUT TO A SPECIFIC VERIZON TELEPHONE NUMBER. I can return it to Apple for a full refund so my experiment only cost me time and aggravation (thanks entirely to bad information from the "experts" in this forum.

I just want to be the fourth person to emphasize that you are the one posting misinformation.

jackfromcamarillo wrote:

I had an extra upgrade on one of my Verizon family plan lines and ordered a 6 Plus through Apple on Oct 27. It was delivered yesterday.

That was your mistake. The information in this thread clearly states many times that it is imperative that you purchase a Verizon phone at full price, in person, directly from an Apple Store In order for it to be unlocked and useable with other carriers in addition to being fully compatible with Verizon. Nowhere in this thread did anyone claim that a Verizon iPhone 6/6+ purchased online through Apple's website was unlocked. This is mainly because you are forced to use an upgrade in order to purchase through Apple's website, and by using this upgrade, you are locking the phone into a 2 year contract and thusly, locking it to Verizon.

jackfromcamarillo wrote:

I can unequivocally say that Verizon phones purchased from Apple ARE NOT ONLY LOCKED TO THE VERIZON NETWORK, BUT TO A SPECIFIC VERIZON TELEPHONE NUMBER.

This statement is simply not true. A Verizon phone purchased using an upgrade and signing a 2 year contract will indeed be locked to Verizon no matter who you purchase it from. However, even if it is locked to Verizon it is not locked to a specific phone number. You can very easily remove your SIM card and put another Verizon SIM card into the phone and it will work just fine.

Just because you either didn't fully read the information in this thread, or didn't properly understand the information doesn't mean that you have the right to be mad at the folks that are kind enough to post their experiences in hopes of helping someone else.

Hi Jack,

Im not sure were you read that buying a Verizon upgrade account phone would be unlocked. My experience was buying a FULL cost Iphone Verizon phone OUT of contract from the Apple Store, not using an upgrade on an account. And as I mentioned I removed the sim before starting the phone, put in my Att sim and it been working great.

ALL new LTE capable devices sold by/for Verizon are GSM unlocked. This is legally required as a condition of Verizon winning an FCC spectrum auction several years ago.

I'm afraid I don't understand the subtleties of what that means? I thought I did but after trying to use my AT&T SIM card in a "Verizon" iPhone 6 Plus, I must say I'm confused.

It means that the GSM portion of all new "Verizon" phones that are capable of using an LTE network (the iPhone 5 and higher as well as all LTE capable Android and Windows smart phones) is unlocked. You can put a SIM from any compatible GSM carrier such as AT&T, T-Mobile, etc. in them and use it without issues. The only potential catch is whether the LTE bands supported by the phone will work on the new carrier you want to use.

KiltedTim wrote:

ALL new LTE capable devices sold by/for Verizon are GSM unlocked. This is legally required as a condition of Verizon winning an FCC spectrum auction several years ago.

Are you sure that this is true for domestic GSM carriers? I know it to be true for international GSM use, but I'm reasonably sure that an in-contract Verizon phone will not work with domestic SIM's to prevent an in-contract phone from being used with AT&T or T-Mobile.

That's exactly what I thought. But my AT&T SIM card will not work in this Verizon iPhone 6 Plus. My impression was that if the phone was never turned on with a Verizon SIM that is could be used with any SIM. I can't get past the Verizon activation that Apple has built into this device. I assume that the LTE bands supported by Verizon will work on AT&T.

Any ideas on how to get around the Apple/Verizon activation screen on the device and on iTunes?