iPhone How to unlock Sprint iPhone5s with no active account

[tobe1424]

I bought an iphone 5s ( sprint locked) from a friend of mine who switched over to verizon. Although he was fed up with the service, he left in good terms. However, he ported his number and at the moment sprint has no trace of him..

So i call sprint for them to unlock the phone and they said it cannot be done since there is no number to associate with the phone..

This is the most ridiculous thing I have heard. the IMEI is clean - everything is legit!!

If they can't unlock it - or maybe they can Im going to call them now and see if i can escalate this by talking to a supervisor/manager but i have a feeling this isn't going to get me any where..


Any advise as to how I would be able to unlock the phone? Perhaps via jailbreak or third party - but I don't want to overspend on a simple unlock!

Or perhaps anyone else can shed light who have been in my situation with sprint

p.s. i have tmobile

sprint phone is running 8.1.2

 

[Jtludwig]

Not gonna happen. You can't unlock a Sprint iPhone for use on another carrier in the U.S.

 

[tobe1424]

I found this on T mobile's website:

Can my Sprint iPhone 5 work on T-Mobile’s network?
Yes, the Sprint iPhone 5 is compatible with T-Mobile’s nationwide 4G LTE network once you have unlocked your phone.

 

[IrishVixen]

I found this on T mobile's website:

Can my Sprint iPhone 5 work on T-Mobile’s network?
Yes, the Sprint iPhone 5 is compatible with T-Mobile’s nationwide 4G LTE network once you have unlocked your phone.

They aren't exactly lying. It theoretically would be possible, as it has many of the same radio bands...IF Sprint would unlock it. A search of these boards will lead you to literally dozens of threads about this; here's the best known one: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1644014/

The TL;DR version: Sprint doesn't unlock phones for domestic use. There's no jailbreak way of unlocking from any carrier, and hasn't been since the early iPhone 4 days. And unfortunately, most third party unlock services don't unlock Sprint. The ones that claim they will want to charge you more than the phone is worth to do it (one site this fall wanted $1000 to do it, and wouldn't promise you an ETA of when it would actually happen.)

Probably best to sell off the phone to someone who will actually use it on Sprint.

 

[Applejuiced]

I found this on T mobile's website:

Can my Sprint iPhone 5 work on T-Mobile’s network?
Yes, the Sprint iPhone 5 is compatible with T-Mobile’s nationwide 4G LTE network once you have unlocked your phone.

That's false.
They're mistaken or misinformed.
Sprint iphones will not ever work with any other US carrier and cannot be unlocked to do so. If Sprint unlocks them they can be used only outside the US with international carriers.

 

[eyoungren]

I found this on T mobile's website:

Can my Sprint iPhone 5 work on T-Mobile’s network?
Yes, the Sprint iPhone 5 is compatible with T-Mobile’s nationwide 4G LTE network once you have unlocked your phone.

I really don't know why this information is allowed to remain posted on T-Mobile's site as it's completely untrue.

Sprint will only international unlock and only if you follow their policy.

Perhaps, T-Mobile is trying to offer false hope to Sprint users to encourage them to come to T-Mobile, I don't know. But even in their own forum threads T-Mobile employees acknowledge it can't be done.

 

[Truefan31]

Sim interposer?

 

[Jtludwig]

I bought an iphone 5s ( sprint locked) from a friend of mine who switched over to verizon. Although he was fed up with the service, he left in good terms. However, he ported his number and at the moment sprint has no trace of him..



So i call sprint for them to unlock the phone and they said it cannot be done since there is no number to associate with the phone..



This is the most ridiculous thing I have heard. the IMEI is clean - everything is legit!!



If they can't unlock it - or maybe they can Im going to call them now and see if i can escalate this by talking to a supervisor/manager but i have a feeling this isn't going to get me any where..





Any advise as to how I would be able to unlock the phone? Perhaps via jailbreak or third party - but I don't want to overspend on a simple unlock!



Or perhaps anyone else can shed light who have been in my situation with sprint



p.s. i have tmobile



sprint phone is running 8.1.2

Unfortunately you have an expensive paperweight.

 

[eyoungren]

Sim interposer?

About the only thing you can do. No guarantee the phone would be able to use T-Mobile's frequencies though.