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I have a T-Mobile iPhone 6S, will it work on Metro PCS if it's not unlocked?

D

DrewQuinz

Lurker
Sorry I know you guys probably got this a lot, so I bought myself an iPhone 7 from Apple while I still had my iPhone 6S, it's financed and still being payed off monthly. (I did T-Mobile jump) I wanted to keep it to give to my girlfriend who has Metro pcs. Do I need to have it unlocked for her to be able to use it? Or can we just go to a Metro store, tell them it's unlocked (since Metro and T-Mobile are the same company) and be good to go? Thanks guys
 
DrewQuinz said:
Sorry I know you guys probably got this a lot, so I bought myself an iPhone 7 from Apple while I still had my iPhone 6S, it's financed and still being payed off monthly. (I did T-Mobile jump) I wanted to keep it to give to my girlfriend who has Metro pcs. Do I need to have it unlocked for her to be able to use it? Or can we just go to a Metro store, tell them it's unlocked (since Metro and T-Mobile are the same company) and be good to go? Thanks guys
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Is the 6S still being paid for? If so, I think it won't be able to be brought to Metro. If it's fully paid for then yes it can be brought over, even if it's not carrier unlocked. I have personally brought a locked T-Mobile phone to Metro with no issues.
 
alfick3 said:
Is the 6S still being paid for? If so, I think it won't be able to be brought to Metro. If it's fully paid for then yes it can be brought over, even if it's not carrier unlocked. I have personally brought a locked T-Mobile phone to Metro with no issues.
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Yeah it is still being paid for, but phones that are locked and financed are they set up differently in the system vs phones that are just regularly locked? I asked a Metro pcs rep but he told me it had to be unlocked but I know that's just what they are told
To say.
 
DrewQuinz said:
Yeah it is still being paid for, but phones that are locked and financed are they set up differently in the system vs phones that are just regularly locked? I asked a Metro pcs rep but he told me it had to be unlocked but I know that's just what they are told
To say.
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I think if it's still being paid, for the provider being paid (T-Mobile), can mark it as black listed and no other provider (including Metro) will allow it to be activated. That happened with me. I was given a T-Mobile LG G Stylo for my daughter to use. We had it activated on Metro for a couple months and then one day the service just cut off. Come to find out that that exact thing happened; I found out the previous owner was had stopped paying on it. Now it's just a Wi-Fi device at the house for over of my boys to play games on.
 
alfick3 said:
I think if it's still being paid, for the provider being paid (T-Mobile), can mark it as black listed and no other provider (including Metro) will allow it to be activated. That happened with me. I was given a T-Mobile LG G Stylo for my daughter to use. We had it activated on Metro for a couple months and then one day the service just cut off. Come to find out that that exact thing happened; I found out the previous owner was had stopped paying on it. Now it's just a Wi-Fi device at the house for over of my boys to play games on.
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Hmmm so it originally did work. The phone is mine and I'm the one paying so I know I won't to worry about the payments stopping. Thanks for all the help I'll take my chances and go into Metro with it. If they ask if it's unlocked I'll just tell them yes.
 
They won't ask you. And telling them it's unlocked won't help anything, as they don't run off of the honor system for activation. They will just run the IMEI number before activating it. If it has a remaining balance to be paid, they won't let you activate it. IIRC, a newly financed phone is blacklisted from other networks the moment it's sold to you and when paid up, it's lifted.

EDIT--- You may be able to run the IMEI yourself on MetroPCS on the activation page, and possibly save a trip. I can also confirm that carrier locked TMO phones will work fine with MetroPCS SIM cards, odd how it does not work the other way around. I recently switched to T-Mobile from MetroPCS, had to fork over $30 to unlock my Zmax Pro because I jumped ship before the 90 day service rule. Bummer...
 
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Spec2nirvash said:
They won't ask you. And telling them it's unlocked won't help anything, as they don't run off of the honor system for activation. They will just run the IMEI number before activating it. If it has a remaining balance to be paid, they won't let you activate it. IIRC, a newly financed phone is blacklisted from other networks the moment it's sold to you and when paid up, it's lifted.
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Thanks
 
Spec2nirvash said:
They won't ask you. And telling them it's unlocked won't help anything, as they don't run off of the honor system for activation. They will just run the IMEI number before activating it. If it has a remaining balance to be paid, they won't let you activate it. IIRC, a newly financed phone is blacklisted from other networks the moment it's sold to you and when paid up, it's lifted.
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So basically I'm out of luck
 
Spec2nirvash said:
Not just yet. I edited my post above ^^^ You can try MPCS website, they have IMEI checker on activation page. Or you could still go to a store and see if it can be activated. Just don't bring it to them expecting a guaranteed successful activation.
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So I'm assuming this is the page https://www.metropcs.com/content/metro/en/desktop/Account/Activation.html I'll have to check it when I get home because I know my girlfriend has to log in to check. Thanks a lot.
 
Yes, that. The next page will ask for the IMEI. It may come back with 'this phone can not be activated online, please bring to us blah blah' because it's considered a BYO device. Doesn't mean that it can't be activated, you may just have to call them to confirm it.
 
Spec2nirvash said:
@alfick3 ---- Holy crap I think last time I saw you on AF was in LG Connect forums? lol been a while
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Yeah, I mostly lurk now. I watch the Metro forum, and a couple of others. A couple of years ago I went with the unlocked 1st gen Moto G and put it on Metro as a BYOD. I was no longer using a Metro branded phone (the last one I had was the LG Motion) and the Moto G forums weren't as active as they were (actually still are) over on XDA. Now I'm using the Nexus 5X as my primary phone and again the forums over on XDA are just more active.
 
Spec2nirvash said:
Yes, that. The next page will ask for the IMEI. It may come back with 'this phone can not be activated online, please bring to us blah blah' because it's considered a BYO device. Doesn't mean that it can't be activated, you may just have to call them to confirm it.
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Just trying to click the links to activate and the links aren't clicking now so I'm unable to even check
 
Spec2nirvash said:
Yes, that. The next page will ask for the IMEI. It may come back with 'this phone can not be activated online, please bring to us blah blah' because it's considered a BYO device. Doesn't mean that it can't be activated, you may just have to call them to confirm it.
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Just checked and it said it can't be activated online but I also tried my unlocked iPhone 7 and got the same message so I guess I have to take it in
 
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