Help with activating my craigslist Verizon iPhone 5

[caikose]

update: I just found (with some guy's notice) that iPhone I bought was actually a sprint model! dame it... I activated it with a sprint sim card. Was cheated...

Sprint iPhone 5 is locked to AT&T and T-Mobile. But it is unlocked to international sim card. I am planning to use it abroad so not a big deal for me. Hope people be more careful when trading on craigslist. It's sad there is always some dishonest guy around..

Thanks for all guys replies. Sorry to take your time to answer my questions


Hello folks,

Today I bought a verizon iPhone5 on craigslist (because everyone apple store is oos..) The sim card is not with it. Now I cannot activate the iPhone. I tried to used an experied AT&T and T-Mobile sim card (I cut them), and a dummy verizon micro sim card from Apple store, but none of them work.

It always says

Only compatible SIM cards from a supported Carrier may be used to activate iphone. Please insert the SIM card that came with your iPhone or visit a supported carrier's store to receive a replacement SIM card

My question is how I can get my iPhone activated and use it with my AT&T sim card? I learned Verizon iPhone5 was factory unlocked. But I didn't expect the difficulty of activating it... Can I open an account from Verizon and have them activate this iPhone?


I searched here and found people say Verizon can blacklist ESN of iPhone. If the seller failed to pay the contract, what would happen to my iPhone?

Thanks a lot for anyone who helps!

[m0no]

Was the phone activated? I think the phone needs to be activated first before it is unlocked. You could always call Verizon or go to a store for help.

[KoukiFC3S]

I also bought mine on Craigslist.

The apple store can give you a new Verizon SIM card. I would call first.

[caikose]

Originally Posted by m0no

Was the phone activated? I think the phone needs to be activated first before it is unlocked. You could always call Verizon or go to a store for help.

I did warranty check on apple.com and it shows it is under warranty. Is there any other way I can check if it is activated?

----------

Originally Posted by KoukiFC3S

I also bought mine on Craigslist.

The apple store can give you a new Verizon SIM card. I would call first.

Hi KoukiFC3S, thanks for your reply.

Actually I went to apple store and they found me a verizon sim card. But it didn't work... Is your craigslist iPhone is verizon? Does it come with the original sim card?

[fr4c]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but IIRC on Verizon you need to activate the phone with the original SIM that it came with.

[einmusiker]

I would try going to verizon and opening a new account and asking them to activate it. you can then cancel the account and use it with your att sim. (if they can activate it that is)

[m0no]

Originally Posted by einmusiker

I would try going to verizon and opening a new account and asking them to activate it. you can then cancel the account and use it with your att sim. (if they can activate it that is)

This is what I would do. Get a Verizon sim so it can be activated and open an account if necessary (just month to month) then cancel.

[caikose]

Originally Posted by einmusiker

I would try going to verizon and opening a new account and asking them to activate it. you can then cancel the account and use it with your att sim. (if they can activate it that is)

Originally Posted by m0no

This is what I would do. Get a Verizon sim so it can be activated and open an account if necessary (just month to month) then cancel.

Thanks einmusiker and m0no. That is what I am going to do...
Is there some possibility that Verizon needs the original owner's authorization to "unlink" this iPhone with his account? (I cannot dial through his phone. Seems he is using a google voice to contact me.)

And if I canceled it in one month, do I need to reactivate it when I restore it or upgrade it the new iOS next time?

I remember that I could activate my iPhone4s, iPhone4 and iPhone 3GS with any working AT&T card. Just don't know how things work in Verizon...

[caikose]

update: I just found (with some guy's notice) that iPhone I bought was actually a sprint model! dame it... I activated it with a sprint sim card. Was cheated...

Sprint iPhone 5 is locked to AT&T and T-Mobile. But it is unlocked to international sim card. I am planning to use it abroad so not a big deal for me. Hope people be more careful when trading on craigslist. It's sad there is always some dishonest guy around..

Thanks for all guys replies. Sorry to take your time to answer my questions

[aquadisiac]

Originally Posted by caikose

update: I just found (with some guy's notice) that iPhone I bought was actually a sprint model! dame it... I activated it with a sprint sim card. Was cheated...

Sprint iPhone 5 is locked to AT&T and T-Mobile. But it is unlocked to international sim card. I am planning to use it abroad so not a big deal for me. Hope people be more careful when trading on craigslist. It's sad there is always some dishonest guy around..

Thanks for all guys replies. Sorry to take your time to answer my questions

that sucks

[dontwalkhand]

You can take your phone into a Verizon for a new SIM card. Once the new card is inserted, restore the phone and then try to activate. I had the same issue with a Sprint iPhone 5 from Apple.

[caikose]

Originally Posted by dontwalkhand

You can take your phone into a Verizon for a new SIM card. Once the new card is inserted, restore the phone and then try to activate. I had the same issue with a Sprint iPhone 5 from Apple.

Hi dontwalkhand

Do you mean you can use your sprint iphone 5 on Verizon sim card? Is your iPhone 5 with contract or not? I have heard from people that only Verison has iPhone 5 unlocked. Sprint iPhone 5 is locked to ATT/T-mobile/Verison ...

[dontwalkhand]

Originally Posted by caikose

Hi dontwalkhand

Do you mean you can use your sprint iphone 5 on Verizon sim card? Is your iPhone 5 with contract or not? I have heard from people that only Verison has iPhone 5 unlocked. Sprint iPhone 5 is locked to ATT/T-mobile/Verison ...

No, The C-SIM (CDMA SIM or R-UIM card) portion of the phone is unfortunately locked (yes that means including the Verizon ones), only the U-SIM/SIM (GSM/LTE) SIMs will be accepted.

What this means:

Any GSM SIM will be accepted into a Verizon phone, including ones from other US Carriers.
Only Verizon SIM Cards will be accepted for CDMA service. You can NOT take a Sprint, or MetroPCS "C-SIM" card and use it in the Verizon iPhone 5....at least this is what I was told. You MAY have luck by inserting a Verizon SIM card, then restoring the phone and see if it would activate.

--- How a C-SIM works----
A C-SIM replaces the need to use *228 to activate a Verizon CDMA phone. However, the C-SIM portion of Verizon iPhones are locked to Verizon. Only the GSM SIM portion is "factory unlocked" - This is a Verizon CDMA network limitation, NOT an Apple one.

Verizon will not activate a phone whose ESN isn't in their database. Even though it utilizes the C-SIM, the iPhone still has an ESN that the C-SIM would report to the network, and otherwise reject from being activated.

You may also get it swapped out at Apple by doing the following: Put a Verizon SIM Card in it, and pretend you didn't know it was a Sprint phone, just play dumb and insist that it would not activate, and they would probably deem it a bad phone (or think it was a shipping mistake) and bring out a Verizon one for you to use.

Verizon SIM cards are combined cards, and are both C-SIM for CDMA usage, as well as U-SIM for international GSM roaming and LTE.

Also what I was trying to say in my post was that, I had an issue activating my Sprint iPhone, so I took it to the Sprint store to get a new SIM card and then restored the phone, and then I was able to activate.

Hope this helps!

[TheSandman2236]

Sorry to burst in here, but you're wrong dontwalkhand (I don't mean that in the tone you think it is) -- but the Sprint and Verizon iPhone are same model. The carrier lock happens in the factory or when you get a refurb from apple (it comes at the restore screen). You can pick either Verizon or Sprint to lock it to that carrier. This happened to me after my brand new Sprint iPhone from the store was scratched and Apple sent me replacements. The replacements gave me the option to lock it to Verizon or Sprint when they came fresh from the factory. You should be able to do a full DFU restore and be able to pick the carrier again.

Also -- to clarify

The SIM cards are technically tied to the phone but Sprint or Verizon should be able to migrate the SIM-ID and the IMEI ID together to the new phone. Spring is having a lot of trouble with this at the moment. The SIMs are only used for 4G Data, not voice.

[SenseiPhone]

Originally Posted by TheSandman2236

Sorry to burst in here, but you're wrong dontwalkhand (I don't mean that in the tone you think it is) -- but the Sprint and Verizon iPhone are same model. The carrier lock happens in the factory or when you get a refurb from apple (it comes at the restore screen). You can pick either Verizon or Sprint to lock it to that carrier. This happened to me after my brand new Sprint iPhone from the store was scratched and Apple sent me replacements. The replacements gave me the option to lock it to Verizon or Sprint when they came fresh from the factory. You should be able to do a full DFU restore and be able to pick the carrier again.

Also -- to clarify

The SIM cards are technically tied to the phone but Sprint or Verizon should be able to migrate the SIM-ID and the IMEI ID together to the new phone. Spring is having a lot of trouble with this at the moment. The SIMs are only used for 4G Data, not voice.

Simply with an IMEI number, Apple could make the iPhone locked to carrier.

[mckbulldog02]

Mine has been carrier unlocked since day 1. I have used it on Net 10, Simple Mobile, T-Mobile, H20 Wireless, Straight Talk, and AT&T. I have discovered that it needs to be jailbroken if your going to make it prepaid, prepaid carriers dont support MMS or visual voicemail unless jailbroken, Running it on a postpaid account with Verizon and AT&T everything works and you dont have to mess with the APN settings like you do with the prepaid side. Also in order to get visual voicemail to work with Verizons version on AT&T you have to have tech support at AT&T provision your line with visual voicemail and also throw on a AT&T branded dummy IMEI to an iPhone 5 so the plan can read it. IMEI starting with 99000 is Verizon and a 01 is AT&T.

When I tried to get service at AT&T I would always take in my Verizon phone to start service and almost immediately they wanted to start arguing with me how Verizon iPhone 5 wont work and how its CDMA and all that bs and its different network. I would always prove them wrong, Its thier excuse to make me get thier model and sign a 2 year contract. Why sign a 2 year agreement when its perfectly capable on thier network. I dont believe I would ever get LTE on AT&T as the bands are different

[MorphineSx]

Could help me with unlocking 4s? I can not use another sim except Verizon :-/