Hello Terri, The bottom line on the answer to your question is that, all things being equal, your phone is most likely locked to T-Mobile until you pay off the balance of your phone.
As a general rule, however, T-Mobile devices, when paid-in-full, purchased from the Apple Store are not locked to any carrier. After you pay-off your phone, you will then contact T-Mobile, and instruct them to unlock your device. It's very simple as they will send you an email containing the unlock instructions. Having said this, it is quite possible that your phone is already unlocked. The easiest way to determine this is to simply insert a SIM card from another Wireless provider into your device and see if you can make and receive calls. Were I you, I would take my phone to an A T & T Store and ask them to insert one of their SIM cards as a test. Or, you may know someone who has an A T & T or Verizon Wireless account; if so, they may be willing to assist you, as well. If memory serves, while Sprint SIM cards should work in your phone, I wouldn't use them as a test option. What concerns me, though, is that you stated that you want to keep your current T-Mobile number while switching to an A T & T Prepaid account. I'm not certain if this is possible. Were you to switch to a standard A T & T Wireless account, this would definitely not be a problem. but the rules governing telephone number portability are slightly different when it comes to prepaid accounts. You will have to contact A T & T Wireless and ask them if it is possible to port your current number to a prepaid account. Do not be surprised if they say no. Mark -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Terri Stimmel Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2018 4:36 PM To: [email protected] Subject: A bit confused with knowing rather my iPhone is unlocked Hello everyone, I am a bit confused about rather or not my iPhone SE is already unlocked, or not. I want to switch carriers, as I just have poor coverage with T-Mobile. So I was thinking I would just use AT&T's pre-paid service. So last night I called T-Mobile. I'm not in a contract. I am just paying off my phone. I asked the man I spoke with what I would need to do, if I wanted to switch carriers, and still keep my number. He told me that I could switch, but that only the other carrier could tell me what they needed. So then I asked him how much I still owed on my iPhone, and if it was unlocked. He told me that it couldn't be unlocked from their network, until I paid it off. Can anyone tell me, is this correct? I only want to check, because I get told differing things with T-Mobile sometimes. So if anyone can answer this for me, I would appreciate it. Thank you, Terri -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
