The Verizon iPhone 5 is GSM unlocked, tested with AT&T

By , Sep 21, 2012

I can confirm that the Verizon iPhone 5 is indeed GSM unlocked. Even though I bought an iPhone 5 from Verizon under contract, I was able to cut down my AT&T Micro SIM, and use it in my Verizon iPhone 5 to pick up an AT&T signal. By doing so, I was able to hop onto AT&T’s HPSA+ network, or “4G” as they so ridiculously name it.

AT&T’s so-called 4G speeds are nothing like true LTE speeds, but they are a bit better than typical 3G speeds. But the big news here isn’t about speed. The big news here is that we have confirmed that you can use a Verizon iPhone 5 on AT&T or T-Mobile, freely, even if you’re a brand new customer under contract.

Obviously, I can’t recommend cutting your own SIM, or even worse, cutting your SIM and placing a piece of tape on it and sticking it in your brand new iPhone 5, with a paper clip no less (I’m cray cray like that), but you should be able to pick up a Nano SIM from AT&T or T-Mobile, and use it on one of those respective networks.

Funny thing is, is that AT&T’s HSPA+ speeds were actually similar to my tests with Verizon LTE on upload. Obviously this isn’t a scientific test, but it just goes to show how each technology can vary from one area to the next.

I did reach out to Verizon via phone, and they confirmed to me that the phone was unlocked, and that I could use it with another SIM, even though I’m under contract, and just signed on as a customer today. That’s great news for travelers, and a big win for customers. Let’s just hope things stay this way.

Have you tried your Verizon iPhone 5 with an AT&T or T-Mobile Nano SIM? What were the results?

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003685107203 Charles Manning

    I’ve been out of the country for awhile and miss some news sometimes, but I thought the Verizon and Sprint phones didn’t use SIM cards? Also, doesn’t the signal reception differ from the different phones? I thought I saw different frequencies listed on the Apple website for the AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint phones?

  • attiphoneunlocking.com

    — Guys! We can help you unlock your att iphones even if they are still on contract or you did not paid full price. Our unlock is permanent, your phone will be like a factory unlocked one.

  • http://www.facebook.com/cestradapaiva Carlos Estrada

    Tested both, If you put the AT&T SIM in the Verizon phone, the wireless connection is 4G not LTE, back to my AT&T iPhone, and it went straight to LTE. At least that was my case

  • http://www.facebook.com/thanh.trinh.378 Thanh Trinh

    anybody know if I can active an unactive Verizon iphone 5 to ATT?

  • http://www.facebook.com/hidayat.khan.94009 Hidayat Khan

    Hi avery one I wana ask all of you that if someone buy Iphone 5 with verizon contract will it support GSM sim card. Since I have heard that with verizon you don’t need sim it works without sim. Or in easy way Does Iphone (verizon) also suppor GSM SIM option?

  • kushal gevaria

    Hey can we cancel our verizon account within the time of buying iphone5 without giving the payment of my account!!
    coz i stay in india and so verizon would be of no use to me and so can work it with my gsm sim card!!!Pls help me!!

  • Lucy Steele

    Hi guys, right so I have no idea what this article is saying or means, but I’m from the UK. If I was to purchase the iphone 5 from the US apple store, does this mean it would not work in the UK? I’m just really confused and don’t understand any of these technology terms. Thanks for the help anyway.

  • http://twitter.com/Dhatnaijaboi ®Bosco™

    can verizon iphone 5 be unlocked to any gsm network?like straight talk? plseas i need an urgent response asap jeff

  • Animesh Swain

    will the iphone 5 verizon unlocked work in india??????

  • http://www.facebook.com/cestradapaiva Carlos Estrada

    I have both, my personal iPhone and also a company one, my personal is AT&T and the Company one is Verizon, it is true, the Verizon one is unlocked, however, when I insert the SIM, the verizon phone shows 4G not LTE (the AT&T with the AT&T SIM shows LTE) also, in the verizon phone with the AT&T SIM, the browsing speed is slower than the IPhone in LTE. I have not been able to get my verizon Iphone to get the LTE network, however, it picks up 4G.

  • attiphoneunlocking.com

    <—— We can help you unlock any AT&T iPhone permanently. We provide a professional and super fast unlocking service.

  • sonta

    Hello. now i want to use GSM iphone 5 service. How i can unlock it? AT&T from USA

  • randomguy48

    Wonder Why he says it’s GSM unlocked when he admits to using HSDPA. That is UMTS and not GSM. I am an RF engineer at a cellular company and we have both GSM 2g and UMTS. Maybe he is referring to their frequency bands?

  • Emperor1126

    I am using a Verizon iPhone 5 with AT&T, the only complaint I have is that it does not pick up LTE only 4g

  • http://twitter.com/cwangosu Chris Wang

    I went to AT&T to get a nanosim for my Verizon iPhone 5, but they couldn’t get it to work. Do you know if your AT&T account has to be set up for iPhone 5, too? My current AT&T account is set to an iPhone 4.

  • Ricky

    I travel a lot internationally because of my work and was wondering if I’d take my Verizon contracted iPhone to Japan and switch to a Japan’s number, it will work?

  • http://www.facebook.com/ridhem.mehta Ridhem Mehta

    hi i live in india i hav come to us for vacation i just wanna ask tat this will work in india if yes plz rply as fast as possible so i can buy iphone 5 with a verizon contract

  • Loc Tran

    Hey man, I wonder that if I buy verizon ip5 then I travel to another country such as Vietnam, am I able to use Vietnamese sim card? I got unlocked ip4s GSM, and it worked when I have summer vacation in vietnam.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000700631459 Lekly Ka

    iphone 5 – SPRINT*** IS SHIT .., do not work !!! , you will be very Sorry …

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000700631459 Lekly Ka

    BEST IPHONE 5 = *** VERIZON *** , unlocked ready …..

  • http://www.facebook.com/emad.alzahrani.71 Emad AlZahrani

    I’m thinking to get iphone 5 from verizon wireless before going back to Saudi Arabia ,but the question is , Will it work on Saudi networks ?

  • http://www.facebook.com/ScottTF Scott Thomas-Fitch

    Has anyone got visual voicemail to work with a Verizon phone on AT&T? I am having trouble and AT&T says it can’t be done.

  • http://www.facebook.com/kiaya.makar Kiaya McFadden Makar

    so if i were to jail break my droid 3, which is on verizon and switch it with my friends ipone 4 that is on at&t would we be able to use them?

  • http://www.facebook.com/PChefKJM Katie Mendez

    I won an iPhone 5 at a school raffle event. The IME number showed it was a Verizon phone, i took it in to at&t since I am already on contract with my android and they switched my service to my new iphone 5. After playing with it a while, I learned I was unable to use the internet unless I was on wifi, i called at&t and they told me because it Verizon phone, I cannot attach a data plan and will only be able to use wifi. I see online different articles conflicting information. I hate that i will not be able to use this phone if I wantti use the internet outside of wifi areas.

  • ali

    will it work on other countries careers?
    im in india,bangalore

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001153057807 Natsagaa Andy

    I have tried with AT&T nano sim and it works without problem.

  • emanuel cruz

    my verizon iphone 5 runs on tmobile 3g data is there a way i can get 4g working

  • ashish

    just wanted to conform that will i phone 5 with verizon also work in india with a GSM network.because i am frequent flyer to India. so will i able to use i5 here in india with indian GSM network.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jay.bird.1441810 Jay Bird

    Cellular and WirelessGSM model A1428*: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 4 and 17)
    CDMA model A1429*: CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5, 13, 25)
    GSM model A1429*: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5)
    802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz and 5GHz)
    Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology

  • http://www.facebook.com/jay.bird.1441810 Jay Bird

    GSM model A1428*: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 4 and 17)
    CDMA model A1429*: CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5, 13, 25)
    GSM model A1429*: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5)
    802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz and 5GHz)
    Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology

  • Yuvraj

    plz let me know that i have a iphone 5 made in uk
    and not supporting indian networks

  • http://www.facebook.com/kooolaj Anuj Mali

    can verzion iphone used in India , with any other sim cards ?

  • Permanent Unlock

    Is there any latest release for iphone. I am looking to check before going to boy it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/linda.ok.37 Linda Ok

    What about the Walmart/Straight Talk iPhone5. I’ve had Walmart ‘techs’ tell me at one store that they are all GSM/att and another told me they are all CDMA/Verizon. I was also thinking of getting an unlocked iPhone 5 at Apple, but Apple states that all unlocked phones are GSM. Anyway to get a Verizon iphone 5 without the slave plan?

  • ricky jr

    I have used the att micro sim that att sent me for free in the Verizon Iphone 5 for about couple months. I have to say that the att 4G is pretty quick sometimes faster that verizon lte but not always. The problem I am having with this method is that I seem to have lots of dropped calls. When I am in a building and lose my signal with att it does not always want to switch back to 4G when I am back in coverage zone. So to fix this I have been having to restart the phone to get it back into signal. So I am not sure as to why this would be because I used att iphone 4s and did not run into this problem except for losing signal sometimes at work.

  • Eugene Hong

    Hi, I have a Verizon Iphone 5 and i want to switch carrier to AT&T but when i switch just the sim card, the data would not go through ( as in data plan). So is there anyway I can make this work?

  • Eugene Hong

    Do you know anyone who would be able to do this?

  • John

    If I cut a SIM card, and I want to stop that SIM card at some point, do I have to pay phone retailers like panelty fee because I cut simcard?

  • ralph esposito

    great info. what do you think about net10wireless ? I’ve got terrible service with my Verizon thunderbolt and I am looking for a contract less wireless company. Net10 seems to be cheap enough w/o a contract but, I’m just not sure about spending $650 on an iPhone 5 and then the service stinks when i can get a 5 with a contract for $199.

  • RJ Nitram

    this same exact process…is it also possible with a 4s?? (verizon CDMA iphone 4s able to be GSM unlocked to use with AT&T) if so how????

  • http://twitter.com/HECTORPILIER hector pilier

    Hi all;
    I have an iphone 5 new acquisition and is usa verizon, verizon supposedly has it rdes gsm desbloquado for 3G and LTE. I’ve put a sim card in clear and orange Dominican Dominican everything goes well and gets 3g but when I make a call fails, and then the signal falls within seconds again gets full signal and 3g .

    If you have any data alguine that or you just happened and please notify us if you have a better solution.

    thanks

  • Dawn

    I’m an expat with an unlocked iPhone 4 and am in the market for a 5. I live overseas but travel frequently to the US and want to use my phone when I’m at our house in Montana. Verizon is the main carrier in Montana. Before I purchase one from Verizon, I want to be sure I can use it with a nanosim purchased overseas. Has anyone had success with this?

  • ljm54

    You all do realize, with all of your “wow! So like I could use an iPhone on all 3 or 4 major carriers! How cool…” That you’d actually have to be maintaining an account with each of those carriers, right? Do you think AT&T (or any other carrier for that matter) is just going to hand you a SIM? Go ahead – try walking in to your AT&T store and tell them you just need a SIM without having an account/phone number. Hope your ego can stand a healthy dose of raucous guffawing as the rep laughs you out of the store.

  • jerry

    For the people who wanna unlock ATT phones, go check attiphoneunlocking, they are no doubt the fastest I have used

  • William Tooley

    My Data will not work….Why?

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  • Ashley Garza

    I’m going on a trip next week does this still work? just popping in and out the sims? Because my Verizon network gets nothing where I am going for a 50 mile radius, but AT&T has 4G in that area and I need my mobile hotspot.

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