IPhone – Activate Used iPhone 4

iphone

If I were to buy a used iPhone 4 (e.g. from eBay), which carrier(s) would allow me to activate it without a contract? Is there an activation fee? Anything else I should be aware of?

UPDATE:
It seems there is less knowledge as to what Verizon's policy is, and as luck would have it they're my current provider. I would like to know what their policies are also, if anyone happens to know.

Best Answer

So long as it's an unlocked iPhone, you can use any SIM card to activate the unit. It doesn't actually have to have a plan attached to it. I'm not aware of any carrier on the world that only supplies contracts and foregoes monthly plans, so there should be no issue with your carrier of choice. Contacting Verizon is a wise idea with respect to their policies, as without further details your question is pretty broad.

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IPhone – How to use a iPhone 4S (that was activated on a CDMA carrier) with a local GSM network

The answer to this question is slightly complicated and in essence becomes: it depends which CDMA carrier device you purchased and which GSM carrier you want to switch to.

First the facts - there are three "models" of iPhone 4s sold according to the model number on the back cover:

A1431: iPhone 4s (GSM model China)
A1387: iPhone 4s (CDMA model)
A1387: iPhone 4s (GSM model)

People wanting to use models A1431 and A1387 on CDMA networks are basically out of luck as there seems to be no support from Apple to reprogram the device to even work on CDMA. I don't know if it's a hardware issue or just drivers/software, but it's clearly stated in the Technical Specifications as footnote 3:

3. CDMA available only if iPhone 4S is sold and activated for use on a CDMA network.

There is no indication that GSM is not available on CDMA phones, however my experience is that CDMA carriers Verizon and Sprint won't unlock the GSM sim slot until between 30 and 90 days after you have initiated service on that line.

Additionally, I have heard reports that the unlock is smart enough to prevent a GSM carrier that competes with the CDMA carrier from taking over service of the device. So, in the USA - a Sprint or Verizon phone would not be expected to work with AT&T or T-Mobile USA cards, but would be expected to work with any European, Asian, or other non-US based GSM carrier. I do know of many people that have travelled internationally with Sprint or Verizon iPhone 4S and had no problem once they unlocked, but I've not heard that any GSM card works - either while the phone is under contract with the original CDMA carrier or after that contract period expires.

IOS – Why won’t an SMS go through in certain geographical areas on the iPhone 5s if it contains exactly 148 or 149 characters

It looks to me like your texts are approaching a length where the phone needs to send a concatenated SMS. Judging from your success with 3G and not on LTE I would guess at this being an operator problem with supporting concatenation on LTE in some scenarios.

EDIT: The test you ran with your friend connected to the same tower obviously puts this to some doubt.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

IPhone – How to use a iPhone 4S (that was activated on a CDMA carrier) with a local GSM network

IOS – Why won’t an SMS go through in certain geographical areas on the iPhone 5s if it contains exactly 148 or 149 characters

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