Can I use an ATT iPhone 6 on Verizon's network? If so, How?

It's not a technology issue. All iPhones from the 5 up are dual mode and support both CDMA and GSM/LTE. So if the phone is legitimately unlocked (not hacked) from a technical perspective it will work on Verizon's network - partially. (See Tim's post below.) The issues involved are:

• It will only work where there is LTE coverage; if you are in an area with CDMA only it won't work
• You must have a previously activated Verizon SIM. A virgin SIM will not activate
• Some features may not work correctly (e.g., visual voicemail)
• You will not be able to configure special features on your account, such as International roaming plans, parental controls, etc.

The reason is that Verizon's network only knows about devices whose MEID is already in Verizon's database. And a phone brought from a different carrier, even if unlocked. will not be. Verizon could add a "foreign" MEID, but so far they have shown no interest in doing so. Maybe that will change now that they no longer offer a phone subsidy as an incentive.

Its not possible, no. An AT&T phone is a GSM phone. It cannot be used on a CDMA network. Both Verizon and Sprint are CDMA networks.

Bobokins12 wrote:

Its not possible, no. An AT&T phone is a GSM phone. It cannot be used on a CDMA network. Both Verizon and Sprint are CDMA networks.

That is not true. Actually READ my post. the iPhone 5, 5C, 5S, 6 and 6+ support BOTH CDMA and GSM. Any of them, whether purchased for a GSM or CDMA carrier can be used on CDMA networks. There are people actually doing it. And ALL iPhones from the 5 on support LTE, which is the same technology for AT&T and Verizon (and every other carrier in the world that follows the LTE standard). The only problem is that Verizon and Sprint refuse to activate a phone purchased unlocked or unlocked by a carrier on their CDMA network. They could if they chose to. The phones have GSM, LTE and CDMA radios in them.

Lawrence, you seem to be one of the few guys who knows what they are talking about on the forums, at least from some of your posts I read. You are very correct that the iphones do carry both radios. Let me enlighten you on the activation for Verizon. Verizon DOES accept the Iphone 6 and 6 Plus for sure on their network. They used to accept only Sprint branded models on their network, (since the Iphone 4) but now they do accept at least the 6 and 6 plus from ATT since they are actually, the same phones, with different model names. The Apple website has misinformation on it, or at least "misleading" information on it when it comes to the specs of the phone. All this is just a confirmation of what you said. Now....how do I know the ATT works on Verizon? Because I use an ATT iphone 6 on verizon! Gets both CDMA and LTE. The "official" Verizon website also says the ATT iphone 6 and 6 plus are valid to activate on Verizon. If you check the activate device page, you will see it is a valid device. Finally, the phones are now very portable. Sprint is a bit more painful, as most of the Sprint employees don't realize that you can do the same thing. You just need to talk to the right rep, and they simply add the IMEI into the database, but they need to submit a ticket. Many will insist that they don't do that, but that is because they just don't know the rules. I have done it 3 times already! But at least for Verizon, it officially supports the phone right on their website.

I found information on the Verizon website that says that Verizon WILL NOT activate a non-Verizon iPhone of any model (including the 6 and 6+) on their network if the MEID is not in their network database. I've also seen many, many posts from users who tried and failed, or found that only some features worked. And the ones who got it to work at all had to use a previously activated SIM card. Features that did not work included fallback to CDMA if LTE was not available, usage on partner networks, Visual Voicemail, and the ability to add features such as international calling and data plans.

Yes, Verizon can accept "foreign" phones by adding the MEID into their network database, but most Verizon CSRs and store staff either refuse, do not know how, or do not want to be bothered. That may change now that Verizon no longer subsidizes phones.

Some real answers from Verizon: https://community.verizonwireless.com/message/1190553#1190553

https://community.verizonwireless.com/message/1251803#1251803

Lawrence Finch wrote:

I found information on the Verizon website that says that Verizon WILL NOT activate a non-Verizon iPhone of any model

Verizon is now accepting the iPhone 6, 6+ and Nexus 7 if they are unlocked. This is very recent.

(And, Verizon does still offer subsidized phones to existing customers who wish to keep old price plans.)

aturboz, Congratulations for getting it working!

Anything on the internet that says "no", is really a maybe, because most people don't find out the truth, but only listen to "no, it doesn't work", then take that as fact. I look for things that say, "yes, and this is how I did it", but many times you have to really dig for those answers. If you call the carriers, and talk to a live person, you will also get a LOT of no's. Once I find a "yes" answer, I then experiment and prove it is true. I will tell you that EVERYTHING works with an ATT iphone 6 on Verizon. EVERYTHING. Visual voicemail, international calling, and data, and you do not need a previously activated sim card. The reason people have trouble is that their settings are not correct. If they have "account" issues, like being able to activate a sim card, that is a Verizon employee issue. There are "some" features that don't work on Prepaid Verizon, such as the newer LTE calling. That is a Verizon issue though, and has nothing do with the phone being from ATT. That is right in their documentation they don't support that feature on Prepaid. So for prepaid people it doesn't work, but it does work on a postpaid account. That is just an example of why some people have working phones, and others have trouble. The visual voicemail has had LOTS of problems with Verizon phones, and those have nothing to do with the phone being ATT either. The problem is, that none of the Verizon employees know that the ATT works on Verizon, so they would of course immediately point to the problem saying it is because it is an ATT iphone. So far, I have found nothing that doesn't work using an ATT iphone 6 on Verizon.

For people who read this down the road, if you want to know if your phone is "officially" supported on Verizon, simply go to this webpage on verizon:

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/nso/enterDeviceId.do?zipRdr=y

Put in your imei or meid.If your phone is compatible, you will get:

"

Your Device is compatible with the Verizon Wireless Network.

Just a little more information is needed to identify eligible plans."

Verizon "qualifies" phones to work on their network. If Verizon "tests" a phone to work on their network, and it passes all of the feature requirements, they "add" that phone to their database of accepted BYOD (Bring your own Device). The Iphone 6 and 6 Plus from ATT are on that list, and are supported to work on Verizon. If it isn't supported, you will get a message stating that. Before, Verizon only tested "some" phones, but they have finally broadened their range now that the phones are basically identical. But of course, they want to sell phones, so they don't advertise any of this.

Its funny, because I have had several Verizon employees still deny it won't work, even after showing them this website, as they don't even know it exists, and has for several years now. The Sprint Iphone 4 works on Verizon, and passes this website, although not one single employee will tell you that it does. I activated two of them in the past!

Good luck to you all. Your Unlocked 6 and 6 plus ATT iphone will work on Verizon!!! If you need to unlock your iphone, you can do it for $1 on ebay, or do it yourself right on the ATT website for free!

Also, SPRINT IPHONE 6 AND 6 PLUS ALSO WORK TOO!!!! Must be unlocked of course.

borregaurd wrote:

They used to accept only Sprint branded models on their network, (since the Iphone 4)

Verizon hasn't accepted Sprint branded phones for years. Now that they will accept the above mentioned 3 models, that may change.

Well, my AT&T phone is eligible, thanks! Although I would never switch to Verizon, considering how they have treated me in the past.

borregaurd wrote:

Also, SPRINT IPHONE 6 AND 6 PLUS ALSO WORK TOO!!!! Must be unlocked of course.

The only problem there is that Sprint refuses to unlock phones for domestic use, only for international.

Meg, unfortunately, you are actually VERY incorrect on that one. They HAVE accepted Sprint Iphones for years! Starting with the Iphone 4. I have personally done this. I wouldn't say its true unless I have personally done it. However, Verizon will not help you "flash" a Sprint phone over. But in reality, you don't need to flash anything at all. ;-) I won't go into all that, since its all old stuff now, and people made lots of money by "flashing" phones over, when in reality, its all straight forward. Only recently they began to accept ATT model phones, even though some earlier models "could" have worked. Now days, there is no need to flash a phone, no need to manually update the network settings, thanks for Apple finally automating that. Pop in a sim, and everything updates automatically and works.

borregaurd wrote:

Meg, unfortunately, you are actually VERY incorrect on that one. They HAVE accepted Sprint Iphones for years! Starting with the Iphone 4. I have personally done this. I wouldn't say its true unless I have personally done it. However, Verizon will not help you "flash" a Sprint phone over. But in reality, you don't need to flash anything at all. ;-) I won't go into all that, since its all old stuff now, and people made lots of money by "flashing" phones over, when in reality, its all straight forward. Only recently they began to accept ATT model phones, even though some earlier models "could" have worked. Now days, there is no need to flash a phone, no need to manually update the network settings, thanks for Apple finally automating that. Pop in a sim, and everything updates automatically and works.

Really, no, I'm not. If you got the phone "flashed" yourself (in other words you hacked it), and you got it to work, great. However, Verizon did not officially accept Sprint phones (or any other phones). It was sometimes possible to get unlocked phones to work on Verizon's 4G LTE network. However, the chances were better that it would not work.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

The only problem there is that Sprint refuses to unlock phones for domestic use, only for international.

Lawrence, Sprint DOES unlock phones for domestic use!!!!!! In Feb of 2015 several of the carriers changed their policies for unlocking. I have personally unlocked over 300 iphones for Sprint since then. I will tell you that on August 1st, they did tighten up their policies, and it is a bit more difficult, but there are very straight forward ways to contact sprint and get your phone unlocked. I will not divulge those here, but I can tell you they do.

Let me tell you something else. If Sprint unlocks an Iphone 4s, 5, 5c, 6 or 6 plus for "international" use, it also works domestically. They will all tell you it doesn't, but remember, I know the truth, because I have done it 300 times, and they ALL work domestically. They always have worked domestically, but Sprint has always lied to their customers to discourage them from unlocking them. Before Feb 2015, it was a nightmare to get a "domestic" unlock from Sprint, but an "international" unlock was much much easier, if you called the right department. Sprint would tell you they don't work domestically, but always have worked. Unlock comes from Apple, not Sprint. Sprint only requests Apple to unlock a phone. Apple doesn't control domestic or international, they simply unlock the sim slot. There is no special software in a sprint phone which will prevent it from working inside the usa.

borregaurd wrote:

Lawrence Finch wrote:

The only problem there is that Sprint refuses to unlock phones for domestic use, only for international.

Lawrence, Sprint DOES unlock phones for domestic use!!!!!!

Then why is there a constant stream of posts from users saying that Sprint would not unlock their iPhones for domestic use? Or even unlock them at all? And some of these are after Sprint agreed to comply with the policy of unlocking among US carriers. I'm willing to believe that it is incompetence among Sprint's customer support staff, but it is still a real problem. The most common post says that the Sprint CSR gave them an unlock code, and they need to know how to use it. As you know, iPhones are not unlocked with a code. But whether it is by design or incompetence, Sprint customers are frequently left holding the bag.

And it is quite possible for phones to be locked in some geographical areas, and unlocked in others. iPhones purchased from Carphone Warehouse in the UK are a case in point - they will only work with UK carriers. And in past years Verizon would unlock the iPhone 4S for international, but not domestic, use.

Lawrence, here is the Scoop on Sprint. Like most of the telecom hotline/sales/tech support employees, they are simply uninformed. From Feb 2015 until August 1st of this year when Sprint tightened up their policy, all you had to do was call them and request an unlock. Yes, it was that simple, and your phone would unlock instantly. They press a button, send a request to Apple, and the phone was unlocked. This was no where to be found on the internet, and guys were making money at unlocking phones. (like me). I think my record was about 38 seconds on the phone with one guy. I gave him the MEID, and he put it in, and said ok, your phone is unlocked. ;-) Even during that time, many Sprint employees were still working off the "old" policy of needing account information to unlock the device. If you had that, they would do it. The criteria is, the phone needs to be in good standing, which means all the bills paid on the PREVIOUS or existing account had to be up to date. Also, previously activated on Sprint. So if you buy a phone from ebay, if the previous owner left a balance due, they wouldn't unlock it. It was possibly still a 'clean esn", and you can activate it on Sprint, but they wouldn't unlock it. About 50% of the hotline would unlock your phone by simply requesting it, and the other 50% insisted they needed account information to unlock it. The reason is, that 50% their employees don't know how to use their own in house tools to check the account information. So they claimed they couldn't check to see if the phone was "clear" to unlock. They would always ask for the phone number, and pin number of the previous account if you had an inactive device. If you had that info, they would gladly unlock it for you. The same is true today too. If you have the phone number, and pin number of the previous account, they will unlock it as long as the account was/is in good standing. Now days, people buy used phones from CL or Ebay, and don't have that info, so it is more difficult for them to unlock. However, the "official" policy is that if you walk into a Sprint store, and the phone is clean and not active, they will unlock it for you. The problem is, that most of the Sprint store employees don't know this either. :-) If you have a Sprint iphone 4s, 5, 5c 5s, 6 or 6 plus, and the previous account it was on is clean, meaning no unpaid balance, the phone isn't lost or stolen, and the phone is not on an existing account, and you have the phone number associated with the device, as well as the pin or password for the account, Sprint will happily unlock your device. One thing though, you need to call tech support, not customer service. ;-)

By the way, one more thing. Its stupid, but this is how it works. Sprint unlocks Iphone 4s and 5 for "international" only. They unlock iphone 5c, 5s, 6, and 6 plus for both international and domestic. However, ALL of them work domestically and internationally, even though you have to go through the "international" processing for unlocking iphone 4s and 5, which takes 1-3 business days. You actually need to call a different phone number. ;-)

As far as the Verizon Iphone 4s, if it is unlocked, it will work domestically. I know what they tell you, but it just isn't true. I have used probably 3 or 4 Verizon 4s on ATT in the past. We got them unlocked "internationally" directly through Verizon with a valid Verizon account, and they worked on ATT domestically. You and I know that the Verizon 4s has both radios and can work on ATT.

I can't comment on UK phones, because I have no experience with them at all. :-)

"NEVER believe what you read, only believe what you test".