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Cannot add long distance to T-mobile unlocked phone on Verizon.

Hi all,


I have a T-mobile "branded" iphone that was purchased from the Apple Store when the iPhone 6 first came out. I have never had a contract with any US carrier. I have used the T-mobile service for a while, but decided to switch to Verizon. Verizon was able to get my phone working on their network and all features are functional, including VoLTE. However, I have wanted to add on a 1000-min long distance calling to Canada package and for *this* feature they seem unable to add it. They claim it is because my phone is not a Verizon phone, and after trying, can not add it to their Verizon database.


Any advice? I'm not sure how they cannot add this package despite everything else working. It seems really odd. They have long dist./intl. calling enabled on my line, but can not add this particular package????


Thanks - any help appreciated.

iPhone 6, iOS 8.3

Posted on May 6, 2015 11:13 AM

Reply
7 replies

May 6, 2015 11:20 AM in response to cdeleeuw

Verizon does not support non-Verizon devices, and Verizon's official position is that if you bring your own device they won't guarantee that all features work. Typically Visual Voicemail may not work, and SMS/MMS may work intermittently. If you are ever in an area that does not have LTE the phone will not fall back to CDMA. Thus, non-Verizon iPhones work (sort of), but the phone's IMEI is not in their database, so they have no way to add features to it.

May 6, 2015 12:51 PM in response to cdeleeuw

Their network only knows about phones that are registered in their database by MEID or IMEI, and only phones sold as Verizon branded are in the database. So if they go to add a feature to a phone, if it isn't in the database they have no way to add it. They can still add features to accounts, but not to individual phones. This is presumably a management decision, because AT&T and T-Mobile are happy to add IMEI's to their database if you bring your own device. Verizon has always had this policy; it isn't just for iPhones. Verizon-branded phones also have Verizon-specific programming in the phone, including adding tracking "super cookies" to all of the phone's data communications.

May 6, 2015 3:53 PM in response to cdeleeuw

This discussion keeps coming back to the same point, you have an unlocked T-Mobile iPhone that you want to use on the Verizon system. Providing all services to that iPhone is entirely in Verizon's hands, Apple has no part in providing services over a carrier's network. We are all fellow users on ASC so even if it was an Apple issue, there is nothing we could do to get those services added. Only Verizon can handle this issue for you.

Cannot add long distance to T-mobile unlocked phone on Verizon.

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