When the iphone 5 came out, i handed down my 4S to my fiance. The week prior to the 5 coming out, i did an OTA update of ios6 and had been using it like that without any issues.
After i got my 5, i did a factory reset of my 4S with my fiances sim card on it, and it refused to activate. It gave me a "only compatible sim cards from a supported carrier may be used to activate iphone..." message.
So i assumed she needed a new sim card, even though she had been using an iphone 4. so i got her a new sim. Same problem.
Plug it into itunes, you get ZERO options, it just gives you the same sim card message. So i did a DFU restore. But that didnt help.
I called at&t, and they were clueless. They told me to get new sim, which didn't help. The guy assured me that its the sim. So i went again to get ANOTHER new sim. This did not help.
So i made a genius appointment. Went in to apple, and the genius was stumped. He tried test sim's, even his own sim. will not activate.
So he swapped the phone. He brings out a 4S, that happened to have 5.1.1 on it. Boom, activated no problem. Then, just before we left, i asked "can you please update it to 6.0 for me to save me some time". He obliged. About 5 minutes later he comes back and says "you're not going to believe this". It was stuck on the activation error again after he updated it to 6.0.
He brings out another 4S, thankfully with 5.1.1 still, and i tell him that i'll be keeping it on that firmware until we can figure out the problem. Otherwise, my fiance will be phoneless.
So she used it for a couple months on 5.1.1. And i know those replacements only have 90 days warranty, so i said, i had better see if the problem still persisted.
Sure enough, i updated the phone to 6.0 and a factory reset, and its on the activation error again. Back to apple we go.
I found the same genius, and showed it to him. He hadn't found any solution, and at this point, there are no more replacements with 5.1.1. So he says, let me get you another phone and see what happens.
he brings out another 4S, and it WILL NOT ACTIVATE. At this point, i take the replacement, put it in my pocket, and i tell him to bring me an unlocked iphone 5 for my fiance, because i'm not dealing with this crap anymore.
So i bought her a new iphone 5, which had no activation problems.
But now i have an iphone 4S that just refuses to activate! With ANY sim card, even a tmobile sim.
And heres the kicker...I figured, surely if i unlocked the phone, it would not complain about sim cards because i can use anything at this point. So i tried to buy an unlock code from unlock fusion for the original 4S, and they said they couldnt unlock it. I contacted at&t for an unlock since the contract was over, and they said sure. I get an email 3 days later saying that "we cant unlock the phone because it was at some point reported lost or stolen"
WHAT??? I called at&t about it, they said we don't have a clue why it says that. call apple. Apple support says, lost or stolen? Strange. Go get the phone replaced!
I tried getting the last replacement unlocked that i have currently, with unlock fusion...and again it can't be unlocked.
heres what they said this time "Unfortunately there is no way to unlock your iphone. There could be many reasons (Refurbished, or not a SUPPORTED Provider as specified in our auction)."
What the hell that means, i have no clue.
So i currently have the phone up on ebay for sale. I figured i would ask you guys to see if i can do anything with it. I really wanted to give it to my sister to replace her 3GS, but it doesn't seems possible.
Sorry for the LONG explanation. Its such a complicated story.
Here is a picture of what the phone is saying:
After i got my 5, i did a factory reset of my 4S with my fiances sim card on it, and it refused to activate. It gave me a "only compatible sim cards from a supported carrier may be used to activate iphone..." message.
So i assumed she needed a new sim card, even though she had been using an iphone 4. so i got her a new sim. Same problem.
Plug it into itunes, you get ZERO options, it just gives you the same sim card message. So i did a DFU restore. But that didnt help.
I called at&t, and they were clueless. They told me to get new sim, which didn't help. The guy assured me that its the sim. So i went again to get ANOTHER new sim. This did not help.
So i made a genius appointment. Went in to apple, and the genius was stumped. He tried test sim's, even his own sim. will not activate.
So he swapped the phone. He brings out a 4S, that happened to have 5.1.1 on it. Boom, activated no problem. Then, just before we left, i asked "can you please update it to 6.0 for me to save me some time". He obliged. About 5 minutes later he comes back and says "you're not going to believe this". It was stuck on the activation error again after he updated it to 6.0.
He brings out another 4S, thankfully with 5.1.1 still, and i tell him that i'll be keeping it on that firmware until we can figure out the problem. Otherwise, my fiance will be phoneless.
So she used it for a couple months on 5.1.1. And i know those replacements only have 90 days warranty, so i said, i had better see if the problem still persisted.
Sure enough, i updated the phone to 6.0 and a factory reset, and its on the activation error again. Back to apple we go.
I found the same genius, and showed it to him. He hadn't found any solution, and at this point, there are no more replacements with 5.1.1. So he says, let me get you another phone and see what happens.
he brings out another 4S, and it WILL NOT ACTIVATE. At this point, i take the replacement, put it in my pocket, and i tell him to bring me an unlocked iphone 5 for my fiance, because i'm not dealing with this crap anymore.
So i bought her a new iphone 5, which had no activation problems.
But now i have an iphone 4S that just refuses to activate! With ANY sim card, even a tmobile sim.
And heres the kicker...I figured, surely if i unlocked the phone, it would not complain about sim cards because i can use anything at this point. So i tried to buy an unlock code from unlock fusion for the original 4S, and they said they couldnt unlock it. I contacted at&t for an unlock since the contract was over, and they said sure. I get an email 3 days later saying that "we cant unlock the phone because it was at some point reported lost or stolen"
WHAT??? I called at&t about it, they said we don't have a clue why it says that. call apple. Apple support says, lost or stolen? Strange. Go get the phone replaced!
I tried getting the last replacement unlocked that i have currently, with unlock fusion...and again it can't be unlocked.
heres what they said this time "Unfortunately there is no way to unlock your iphone. There could be many reasons (Refurbished, or not a SUPPORTED Provider as specified in our auction)."
What the hell that means, i have no clue.
So i currently have the phone up on ebay for sale. I figured i would ask you guys to see if i can do anything with it. I really wanted to give it to my sister to replace her 3GS, but it doesn't seems possible.
Sorry for the LONG explanation. Its such a complicated story.
Here is a picture of what the phone is saying: