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User profile for user: clowdnyne
clowdnyne Author
User level: Level 1
6 points

Are all iPhone 5s compatible with BOTH GSM and CDMA networks?

Are all iPhone 5s compatible with BOTH GSM and CDMA networks? I am getting conflicting information from different sources about this from service technicians and carriers even after checking the IMEI number of the phone.

The phone came originally with AT&T. After a few years of use, I asked and they unlocked it. Now I want to switch to Sprint.

Is the only way to know if my phone will work with a different carrier, to buy one of their Sim Card and put it into my phone? There must be another less expensive way to know for sure.

iPod touch, iOS 6.1.6, null

Posted on Oct 3, 2017 11:09 AM

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7 replies
User profile for user: Phil0124
Phil0124
Community+ 2024
User level: Level 10
199,233 points

Oct 3, 2017 12:16 PM in response to clowdnyne

Yes. All iPhone 5s have both GSM and CDMA hardware.


Unlocking only Applies to the GSM portion of the iPhone.


To use Sprint, Sprint would still need to activate the CDMA portion of the iPhone on their network for 3G and lower network access, and they are known to reject earlier iPhones.


Beyond that, you can use a a sim card from any carrier, at all, to test it is truly unlocked. It doesn't even need to have active service.


If it has been unlocked, it wil accept the sim card correctly, and you can then remove it.


If it has not been unlocked, then it will issue a "Sim not Supported" error.

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User profile for user: madra31
madra31
User level: Level 6
9,940 points

Oct 4, 2017 12:59 PM in response to clowdnyne

As noted above there may be a problem with Sprint itself but Sprint MVNOs will activate the 5s.


Unlike GSM or Verizon CMDA sims all sims on the Sprint network are purely for LTE.


The Apple Store provides the needed sim free of charge on request.


In fact three different sims work on the 5s and the Apple Store usually provides SIMGLW436C.

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User profile for user: clowdnyne
clowdnyne Author
User level: Level 1
6 points

Oct 6, 2017 4:17 PM in response to clowdnyne

Hi,

Thank you for your help. I went to Best Buy and they checked to see if Sprint would activate my phone and Sprint would not. the tech never actually put the nano card into the phone but he entered the Sprint Sim Card SimGLW436C number into sprint's system and it would not work in my Iphone 5s. Even if the phone would have accepted the test Sim Card, the Sprint would not activate my phone based on the IMEI number, for whatever reason. So the bottom line now is that no way Sprint will accept my phone. Everyone thinks it is because it is an older iPhone 5s that was set up with AT&T's GSM and that's the way it will stay forever.

Thanks everyone for your help, I do appreciate it.

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User profile for user: Phil0124
Phil0124
Community+ 2024
User level: Level 10
199,233 points

Nov 15, 2017 10:36 AM in response to clowdnyne

Being set up for AT&T's GSM network originally has no real bearing on whether it can be activated on a CDMA carrier later. 2 different sets of hardware that are not related to each other.


It comes down to whether or not Sprint is willing to activate it, that's it. There's no technical reason for not being able to activate it really. It comes down to their willingness to do it. The iPhone 5s has both GSM and CDMA hardware inside.

But to activate the CDMA portion to be used on Sprint, Sprint must add the MEID number to their Database, and configure some things internally for activation. Most of the time they are simply not willing to do this.

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Are all iPhone 5s compatible with BOTH GSM and CDMA networks?

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