Blacklisted SM-G900A -- won't work on T-Mobile, but full service on AT&T - GSM-Forum

jeffmax · 06-11-2014, 00:31

I am pretty confused.

I bought a used AT&T variant S5 from this lady on craigslist. I ask her questions about the phone, try and get a judge of her character, check the IMEI on Swappa, etc. The important parts checked out and the IMEI appears to be clean so I go ahead and purchase the phone. Since I use T-Mobile's prepaid plan, I have the phone unlocked and it works great - for a few days. Suddenly I get the MM # 6 Error and all network connections cease to work.I return to Swappa and check the IMEI and get the dreaded black box telling me the phone has been reported as lost or stolen. Bleh.

I am either victim to insurance fraud or I purchased a stolen phone from this lady BUT that is not why I am posting here. Fast forward a bit and it has been over 24 hours since the phone has been blacklisted and I am still obviously a little pissed off. I tried putting a GiffGaff sim in the phone but it's been ages since I have used that, so I get the SIM Not Provisioned Error. For some reason I thought I would try my wife's sim in the damn thing next just to see, obviously not expecting much better results (She has AT&T). I get full service. Taking the sim out of her iPhone 5S and putting it into my blacklisted AT&T S5 has returned full service to my phone somehow. I disabled Wifi and got full bars 4G LTE, successfully browse the internet, send text and MMS, and make a phone call.

Has anyone ever seen anything like this? I'm sure there is an explanation, but I haven't heard of this yet. I know when a T-Mobile phone is financed and blacklisted, it will still work with AT&T networks, but I haven't ever run into a scenario quite like the one I am having. Maybe there is a slight delay in AT&T having the device updated on it's blacklist vs T-Mobile, where the device is already not working. I did check the IMEI again and it is still blacklisted. Any thoughts?

06-11-2014, 00:31	#1 (permalink)
jeffmax Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2014 Posts: 1 Member: 2202132 Status: Offline Thanks Meter: 0	Blacklisted SM-G900A -- won't work on T-Mobile, but full service on AT&T I am pretty confused. I bought a used AT&T variant S5 from this lady on craigslist. I ask her questions about the phone, try and get a judge of her character, check the IMEI on Swappa, etc. The important parts checked out and the IMEI appears to be clean so I go ahead and purchase the phone. Since I use T-Mobile's prepaid plan, I have the phone unlocked and it works great - for a few days. Suddenly I get the MM # 6 Error and all network connections cease to work.I return to Swappa and check the IMEI and get the dreaded black box telling me the phone has been reported as lost or stolen. Bleh. I am either victim to insurance fraud or I purchased a stolen phone from this lady BUT that is not why I am posting here. Fast forward a bit and it has been over 24 hours since the phone has been blacklisted and I am still obviously a little pissed off. I tried putting a GiffGaff sim in the phone but it's been ages since I have used that, so I get the SIM Not Provisioned Error. For some reason I thought I would try my wife's sim in the damn thing next just to see, obviously not expecting much better results (She has AT&T). I get full service. Taking the sim out of her iPhone 5S and putting it into my blacklisted AT&T S5 has returned full service to my phone somehow. I disabled Wifi and got full bars 4G LTE, successfully browse the internet, send text and MMS, and make a phone call. Has anyone ever seen anything like this? I'm sure there is an explanation, but I haven't heard of this yet. I know when a T-Mobile phone is financed and blacklisted, it will still work with AT&T networks, but I haven't ever run into a scenario quite like the one I am having. Maybe there is a slight delay in AT&T having the device updated on it's blacklist vs T-Mobile, where the device is already not working. I did check the IMEI again and it is still blacklisted. Any thoughts?