Is military deployment/international move unlock just international?

No, the unlock is not just for international. The phone is either locked or unlocked. Most likely Apple has not updated their activation servers yet. Make sure your phone is connected to WiFi when you insert a different sim. Otherwise, wait a day and try again. You may need call or put in another unlock request. Sometimes the communication from ATT to Apple to update their activation servers fails.

Thank you for that info. I had the phone on wifi when I inserted the other SIM card, and still got the error. Of note, I was unable to request the unlock via the traditional method of requesting it online. The online system did not recognize the IMEI for the phone. Could it be because it was bought at Apple, but for AT&T, and is too new? I had to email the unlock request to an email address I found on the forum, and they replied back. Thoughts? 

I’m sure that has something to do with it. I presume you used the email address of the military support team? I’d say email them again. 

Did you activate the new phone?  Unless it’s activated with AT&T, it won’t recognize the IMEI, so that might have been the problem with the unlocking portal.  As previously noted, AT&T can only request an unlock from Apple.  They can’t actually unlock the phone themselves.  Apple has to update their activation servers, which might take a few days, even if this wasn’t already a big weekend for activating new phones.

I did email the military customer support team. I’ll email them again. And yes, the phone was and is activated with AT&T currently. Maybe give Apple a call?

Calling Apple won’t help. If they haven’t updated their activation servers, they’ll just tell you only ATT can get them to do that.

You’re right. I’m on the phone with them (Apple) now. Not much help. Anyone have a number to AT&T Unlock Department? 😭😭

The “Unlock Department” isn’t going to do anything else any quicker.  I’ll say it again, AT&T can’t unlock the phone, Apple has to, and it’s highly doubtful that AT&T can make Apple move any faster if they’ve already submitted the request.

Thanks, all.

Honestly, I would wait a day or two to see if Apple updates their activation server.  If you got a confirmation from AT&T on Saturday, it’s not unusual for it to take more than 24 hours.  When AT&T sends an email that says that the phone is unlocked, all that means is that they’ve requested unlock from Apple, not actual confirmation that it is unlocked.

Alright, thank you. I’ll wait an actual business day. I appreciate the help.

I submitted the email request again to AT&T, and they submitted the unlock again and it was successful yesterday morning. Thanks for the assistance, guys and gals.

Glad it worked out for you. Thanks for the update.