“If I have T-Mobile as my current carrier, can I buy the iPhone 12 Pro as Sprint? Will it be compatible?”
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Yes and no... I spent three hours today unfortunately discovering this myself. I am sharing with everyone so they don't have to go through the same process as me and hopefully some BestBuy manager will read this and the Sales people will be educated on Sprint. Here's what happened: 1) Called T-mobile before going to BestBuy to confirm I could use the sprint iPhone on T-mobile account. The representative told me yes, just bring the phone to a local T-mobile store and they can give you a sim to work, even if the phone is locked to Sprint. As they are one company now, either can work on each others networks. 2) Once I arrived at BestBuy and explained to them I wanted to purchase a Sprint iPhone they asked if I was upgrading or creating a new account. I explained to them T-mobile told me I could purchase the Sprint phone and bring it to T-mobile (since they are one company now). The BestBuy salesperson told me this was considered a fraudulent purchase and he was unable to sell me the phone. 3) I then said, what if I just open a Sprint account and not change it to T-mobile. He called over a manager, they explained to me that if I swap it they are going to be billed $1000 and then I would have to pay the cancellation fee. I explained no... I am actually going to open a Sprint account and use it. The manager approved the purchase. The sales representative then went through with attempting to create a Sprint account for me. It was denied and he told me to call Sprint. 4) I waited on hold with "Sprint" for over an hour (I put Sprint in quotes because if you call Sprint you are actually calling T-mobile, Sprint basically no longer exists except in name). No one answered after an hour, so I left BestBuy and went to a Sprint store down the street. The store manager at Sprint explained to me the reason I was denied at BestBuy. Sprint will no longer allow ANYONE to open a new account. The only way you can purchase a Sprint phone is if you already have an account with Sprint. He understood my dilemma and said a lot of customers have been coming in asking the same question. He said down the road Sprint accounts and T-mobile accounts will be one in the same, but if you do not already have a Sprint account then you cannot purchase any Sprint phone unless it is an unlocked phone. 5) The work around is to find a friend with a Sprint account, go to BestBuy and be added to your friend/families existing line. This is the only way to successfully purchase the Sprint iPhone from BestBuy and eventually transfer it to T-mobile or stay on the Sprint line until it is successfully transferred to T-mobile. Or, to buy an unlocked phone. Lastly, I just want to clarify this post was meant for education for both consumers and BestBuy so that your employees are educated on the Sprint vs T-mobile issue. At a minimum I would think your employees are at least aware that they cannot open a new Sprint account... Probably explains why this BestBuy is the only retailer I can find within 250 miles that carried the iPhone 12 Pro I wanted...
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.I just spoke to a T-Mobile Customer Service representative with the same question and she confirmed that YES you can buy the phone under Sprint and activate it with your T-Mobile account since now the two carriers have merged together.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.So since there's a lot of misinformation on this post, I feel like it is necessary to clarify some of the information presented here. 1. If you are an EXISTING LEGACY SPRINT CUSTOMER, you can upgrade/add lines at Best Buy with no issue, just like you've been able to in the past. However, if you have signed up for TNX (T-Mobile Network Experience), you cannot upgrade your devices at Best Buy. 2. If you are a T-MOBILE CUSTOMER, as of right now, Best Buy does not support Upgrades or New Lines, meaning you cannot purchase iPhone devices from Best Buy. 3. No, you cannot purchase a Sprint iPhone and take it to T-Mobile and have them activated. That's not how activations work. 4. You can still sign up for NEW Sprint service within Best Buy, but if you are existing customers with T-Mobile you will not be able to port your numbers, or keep your numbers. If you cancel your service with Sprint you are subject to their cancellation policies and whatever closing costs are associated with the carrier. If you attempt to open an account with the intention to cancel, that is a form of wireless fraud.
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