Unable to Connect To Sprint Network with iPhone SE

I have bought an iPhone SE from India. The phone Model is A1723. Now I have come to US and switched to Sprint. But there is no service once I inserted the Sprint SIM. Sprint has done a compatibility check and found my device is compatible. Is this a problem with the SIM itself or the phone is not compatible with Sprint network?

From the website I had bought the phone, I checked the compatible bands and they are as follows

Operating Frequency

GSM - 850, 900, 1800, 1900; UMTS - 850, 900, 1700, 1900, 2100; 4G LTE (TD) - Band 38 / 39 / 40 / 41

I have read in the internet that Sprint also sells the same A1723 model. Also Sprint works on band 41. So it should work. So can I be sure that this is a problem with the SIM card itself and not with the phone?

iPhone SE, iOS 11.0.3

Posted on Oct 31, 2017 11:56 AM

21 replies

Nov 1, 2017 6:44 AM in response to KiltedTim

It doesn't help, the OP much, though.

Biki1988s Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 1, 2017 9:04 PM in response to KiltedTim

Different customer care told different things. But nothing helped. So finally they told me to visit the nearest sprint corporate store.

Biki1988s Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 1, 2017 9:05 PM in response to madra31

Yes. I cant agree more. I shall try to solve it step by step

Nov 9, 2017 8:37 PM in response to Biki1988s

Hi, was this successful. Funny enough I finally found a thread that exactly replicates my issue which has thus far confounded Sprint and Apple Geniuses!

madra31

Level 6

9,946 points

Nov 1, 2017 3:05 AM in response to Biki1988s

Sprint operates differently than other carriers.

Did you activate the IMEI and ICCID together at the same time?

Go to Settings-General-About and scroll down to Model and examine the string there.

Phones that work properly on Sprint normally require that the string start with "M" end end in "LL/A." If your phone does not have that string that is likely to be the problem. If it does not, contact Apple and ask what the activation policy on the phone is. That will let you know whether the phone will provision as opposed to activating on the Sprint network.

The Sprint sim, unlike Verizon or GSM, sims is only for LTE and does contain any actual account information.

Is the sim you got a new unactivated one since activated Sprint sims cannot be swapped between phones by the user without deactivating both the IMEI and the ICCID first.

If you do have a string that starts with "M" and ends in "LL/A" and you are sure you have a new unactivated sim make sure you are connected to WiFi, go to the Dialpad, dial ##CLEAR# and press the Call button. That will perform a carrier reset. Then dial ##UPDATE# and press the Call button and you should have service.

Nov 1, 2017 6:35 AM in response to KiltedTim

KiltedTim wrote:

Sprint is a CDMA carrier. You won't be able to use an iPhone purchased in India on the Sprint or Verizon networks in the US or their MVNO's. Your only options will be AT&T or T-Mobile (and MVNOs that use their networks).

Verizon will allow activation of any unlocked iPhone starting with the iPhone 6 (unless the phone was originally intended for sale in China).

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Unable to Connect To Sprint Network with iPhone SE