Unlocked Nexus 5 will not recognize Tmobile Sim card

[Jacob Reilly]

Hi all,

I just received an unlocked nexus 5 via 3rd party amazon seller, and it will not recognize my tmobile sim card. I have contacted both google and tmobile who both say that it is possible that my nexus 5 is locked in to a specific carrier. When I checked the phone (power button + volume buttons) it said lock status - unlocked. Am I missing something here? I have used the nexus 5 in the past and loved it, which is why I bought another one but did not have this problem at all. Thoughts?

 

[Gekko]

Hi all,

I just received an unlocked nexus 5 via 3rd party amazon seller, and it will not recognize my tmobile sim card. I have contacted both google and tmobile who both say that it is possible that my nexus 5 is locked in to a specific carrier. When I checked the phone (power button + volume buttons) it said lock status - unlocked. Am I missing something here? I have used the nexus 5 in the past and loved it, which is why I bought another one but did not have this problem at all. Thoughts?

reboot?

 

[N4Newbie]

If you are referring to "Lock state: Unlocked" on the boot screen, that has nothing to do with carrier locking; it refers to the bootloader.

In my experience, the Nexus 5 will not recognize a SIM card unless you power off the phone, insert the SIM card, then reboot. Have you tried that yet?

 

[mrsmumbles]

Also you may have to manually add the APN. (I did, on Cricket.)

 

[AzAssassin]

Hi all,

I just received an unlocked nexus 5 via 3rd party amazon seller, and it will not recognize my tmobile sim card. I have contacted both google and tmobile who both say that it is possible that my nexus 5 is locked in to a specific carrier. When I checked the phone (power button + volume buttons) it said lock status - unlocked. Am I missing something here? I have used the nexus 5 in the past and loved it, which is why I bought another one but did not have this problem at all. Thoughts?

Like someone else mentioned, you might need to just power off the phone and turn it back on after you've inserted your T-Mobile SIM card; but, unfortunately, I think it's very possible that the phone has a blacklisted IMEI. It could also be that your SIM card is messed up, but that's seemingly less likely.

As soon as you check this thread again, you should immediately go to swappa.com/ESN and also check out the IMEI verification option on T-Mobile's website (Google "T-Mobile Verify IMEI") and check if the IMEI on that phone is blacklisted.

I hope I'm wrong about the phone's IMEI being blacklisted, but you should go check it out ASAP. Good luck!

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Jacob Reilly]

Looks like the IMEI is not recognized by t mobile, when I went on swappa it says it's clear for sprint. Bummer. Thanks for your help everyone.

 

[N4Newbie]

Looks like the IMEI is not recognized by t mobile, when I went on swappa it says it's clear for sprint. Bummer. Thanks for your help everyone.

T-Mobile should be able to fix that. Call their tech support.