How to Check Your Carrier and Switch Your Current Phone

How can you switch to a privacy phone? That’s an important question as some of the primary queries we get at Atsanik are “Will my carrier work with your phones?” and “How do I switch my current carrier to one of your phones?”. This page will help to answer those questions.

1. Check if Atsanik’s phones will work with your Carrier

The first thing to do is check if the phones we sell will work with your carrier. The phone’s hardware is independent of the operating system software (CalyxOS or GrapheneOS). Considering that, you need to know a two pieces of information:

Your service provider (for example, Verizon, T-Mobile, Bell, Telus etc.)
The specifications for the model of phone you wish to purchase (for example, Pixel 3a submodel G020G). Each phone we sell clearly indicates the model and submodel in the phone’s listing, as shown below, and on our Shop page.

After you’ve gathered this information, use a website called willmyphonework.net to determine if the phone model will function with your network carrier. For example, let’s say you are using Verizon and have a Google Pixel 3aXL (submodel G020G) phone you want to test. Enter the required information as show in the screenshot below.

After entering the required information (phone Brand, phone Model, phone Sub Model, Country and Carrier) on willmyphonework.net, click on the Search box and the results will come up.

In this example, with Verizon and a Google Pixel 3aXL submodel G020G, there is compatibility and the carrier will support the phone you may be interested in buying.

2. Switch Over The SIM Card from Your Old Phone to Your New One

Assuming the phone works with your carrier, and you have your new phone in your hands, you now have to place an activated SIM card into it. Note that the phones we sell do not come with SIM cards as those are specific to each carrier.

Exchange SIM’s between your old phone and new phone

First thing to remove the SIM card from your current phone and see if it fits in your new phone. For the most part, any device made since 2015 uses a Nano sized SIM including the Pixel 3, Pixel 3a and 3aXL. The image below shows the three SIM card sizes and their dimensions (not to scale). You can find more information on SIM sizes on this website – SIM card sizes: Standard, Micro and Nano explained.

The video below shows how to can remove and insert a SIM card into your Pixel 3a / 3a XL phone. Atsanik includes a SIM tool with each phone, as shown in the video.

If the SIM’s from your old and new phone are identical, you should be up and running with a minimum of fuss. It’s best, but not 100% required, to insert the your SIM before you boot the phone for the first time.

Get a new SIM from your Network Carrier

If the SIM sizes are not the same between your old phone and the new one, then you will need to contact your network carrier and request a Nano sized SIM.

Inform them you purchased a new phone with a different SIM size and want to transfer your plan and telephone number to the new SIM and phone. This is a standard request as people change and upgrade their phones regularly. Depending on your carrier, there might be a minimal charge for a new SIM and the transfer.