Check if your iPhone will work on another Network

If you want to start using your iPhone with other Network(s), there are a few things you need to check before rushing to buy a new SIM-Card.

Your iPhone must:

Be able to accept different SIM-Cards
Be allowed to operate in all countries
Support specific band frequencies

If all the above requirements are met, then the iPhone will be able to work on any network you want, without restrictions.

How an iPhone can accept different SIM-Cards?

Those iPhones that can use more than one SIM-Card, they are called “Unlocked“.

This does not mean that they can operate with ALL networks worldwide, since there are some compatibility issues (We will explain more to the frequencies section).

The good news is that most of the Networks will allow you to use their network without any problem.

How do I know that my iPhone is Unlocked?

There are two simple ways to find that out:

With the use of two different SIM-Cards (From different networks)
By checking its “locked-unlocked” status with an iPhone IMEI Unlock check

With the first method, you cannot be 100% sure of the lock status, since you might run into some compatibility issues, but you will get an idea of what is going on with your iPhone.

With the second method, you will receive a detailed report which will explain you if the iPhone is Locked or Unlocked, which network is locking it, what is the model number of that iPhone (In order to find out about its frequencies and compatibility), its Blacklist status, its iCloud status, and much more.

The iPhone IMEI Unlock Check report is what we recommend, since it is the only way to know with 100% certainty what is going on with your iPhone and how to fix any possible issues.

How can I unlock an already locked iPhone?

There are plenty of methods to unlock a locked iPhone.

We covered this topic to another post, so we suggest you to read our “How to Unlock a Locked iPhone – An Easy to Understand Guide for 2020“.

Is my iPhone allowed to operate in all countries?

An iPhone that has no restrictions, is able to operate inside all countries worldwide, since each country has a variety of networks that also operate to a large spectrum of frequencies (More on that to the following section).

But, if an iPhone was reported as Lost, Stolen or Fraud by a Mobile network, it will not be able to operate inside that country and most likely to a few neighboring ones. There are also some cases that a Blacklisted iPhone in UK was not able to operate inside India, so you need to be careful.

The iPhone IMEI Unlock Check service, includes a detailed blacklist section which checks and explains all the above.

So, make sure to get that report, it will save you a lot of time and money.

What frequencies my iPhone supports?

We will not going to list what frequencies and bands each iPhone model support, since other websites already done it very good.

FrequencyCheck.com have a very detailed database about the number of frequencies each iPhone model supports – You can also check the frequency compatibility per Mobile Network if that suits you better (Mobile Device Compatibility details).

If you want to focus only on US carrier frequencies, Wikipedia also did a great job – United States Carrier Frequency use.

For more countries, we suggest checking out Techwalls.com. Based on your iPhone model (you can find it through your iPhone’s settings), you can check with what Mobile networks is compatible to over 17 countries.

So, is it necessary to check if your iPhone will work on another Network?

If you are about to buy an iPhone, especially a used one, then checking it BEFORE buying it is highly recommended.

If something is wrong with it, an iPhone IMEI Unlock check service will find it and report it back to you.

That way, you will have 100% accurate and up to date information about that iPhone and you will be able to check with that Mobile Networks is compatible.

Also, in the unfortunate event that you end up with a Locked or Blacklisted iPhone, the report also includes available methods and services that will fix it.

We can conclude that an iPhone in order to be able to work with as many as possible networks should have the following characteristics:

Should be Network Unlocked (be able to operate with more than one network)
Should NOT be reported as Lost, Stolen or Fraud (must be CLEAN, not blacklisted)
Should have compatible frequencies (be able to operate in the same bands) with the network you want to use it

You can find all the above with an iPhone IMEI Unlock check service.