Cannot activate iPhone

[LOLZpersonok]

A while back when my brother's phone broke, we decided to use my old iPhone 5 as a temporary replacement for him. I did a factory reset on the phone, and we tried activating it with his SIM card but it wouldn't activate it.

A month and a half later, just for the fun of it, I'm trying to activate it again but I can't. I've got my current phone's SIM card installed but for whatever dumb reason the phone says it isn't supported. The phone is locked in with Fido, and this is indeed a Fido SIM card which doesn't make any sense to me. Actually, this is the same SIM card that came out of this iPhone 5 when I got a new phone. The SIM card works fine otherwise. Other SIM cards don't work either.

It's not important that we get this phone activated, I'm doing it just for the fun of it. Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

 

[cola79]

Can't you just let the provider unlock it? I think that should be the reason why it does not work, even with your fido sim, which might be too new too be recognized by the phones lock system.

 

[LOLZpersonok]

Can't you just let the provider unlock it? I think that should be the reason why it does not work, even with your fido sim, which might be too new too be recognized by the phones lock system.

The main reason I'm confused is because this is the SIM card that came out of this iPhone when I got a new phone. I don't really want to go to Fido to do it because they'll charge $50 to unlock it (surprise, surprise) and I don't really want to do that.

 

[Applejuiced]

I would call either Apple or Fido to find out why it's not working with any sim you tried.
They should be able to look up the imei and tell you if it's locked, blacklisted, reported stolen or anything else.

 

[RedOrchestra]

the phone says it isn't supported

Maybe Fido no longer has a record of the Sim or phone hence the no longer supported message. It's happened to me before on other country Sims I use when I travel.

You can phone Fido (actually, you may have to go to one of their kiosks in person) and give them the Sim ID number and if it's still in their system they may be able to reactivate it for you.

Or maybe Fido ties the Sim to the exact phone which prevents you from moving the Sim around from your new phone to your old phone which would involve you getting your old phone unlocked.

 

[LovingTeddy]

I still do not understand why Apple requires you out SIM card to activate iPhone.

I can activate my Android phones without SIM card.

I just brought a refurbished blue iPhone 5C (since I always wanted a blue iPhone 5C) and I need pull my SIM card from my iPhone 6S and put into iPhone 5C just to activate the iPhone. Why can't I just not put SIM and use the iPhone as iPod Touch?

 

[LOLZpersonok]

Maybe Fido no longer has a record of the Sim or phone hence the no longer supported message. It's happened to me before on other country Sims I use when I travel.

You can phone Fido (actually, you may have to go to one of their kiosks in person) and give them the Sim ID number and if it's still in their system they may be able to reactivate it for you.

Or maybe Fido ties the Sim to the exact phone which prevents you from moving the Sim around from your new phone to your old phone which would involve you getting your old phone unlocked.

We went to Fido about it before. They were completely incompetent. I don't know if you know this, but statistically Canada is one of the worst countries for cellular customer service for some reason, and you can totally see it when trying to deal with them. Why it's like that, your question is as good as mine.

I'd much rather go to the Apple Store and see if they can do anything about it. Apple is constantly rated well for their customer service and their Canadian stores are no exception. I just wish more companies were like that.
[doublepost=1463692995][/doublepost]

I still do not understand why Apple requires you out SIM card to activate iPhone.

I can activate my Android phones without SIM card.

I just brought a refurbished blue iPhone 5C (since I always wanted a blue iPhone 5C) and I need pull my SIM card from my iPhone 6S and put into iPhone 5C just to activate the iPhone. Why can't I just not put SIM and use the iPhone as iPod Touch?

I agree. I want to get it activated so I can at least use it as a media device. Making calls on it is irrelevant to me, though if I could get my brother's SIM card working in it then he could use that as a temporary phone since his is broken.
[doublepost=1463693083][/doublepost]

I would call either Apple or Fido to find out why it's not working with any sim you tried.
They should be able to look up the imei and tell you if it's locked, blacklisted, reported stolen or anything else.

I will probably do that later today. I'll tell them the situation.

 

[Applejuiced]

Yes, I'd try the Apple store first.
They will be able to tell if it's locked, to what carrier or if its blacklisted etc...
And see what they can do for you.

 

[LOLZpersonok]

Yes, I'd try the Apple store first.
They will be able to tell if it's locked, to what carrier or if its blacklisted etc...
And see what they can do for you.

I'm at the Apple Store right now and I've just gotten an appointment to see what's going on. They probably won't be able to do much for me, but I will see what I can do.

 

[Applejuiced]

Good luck bud.
At least they will give you answer on what it is, if it's locked and to what carrier.

 

[LOLZpersonok]

Good luck bud.
At least they will give you answer on what it is, if it's locked and to what carrier.

It's a London Drugs phone locked in with Fido - I already know that because I had it since it was new. I got the phone brand new back when the iPhone 5 was the latest and greatest, and it was replaced a year later because the battery died. Then, I put it away and stopped using it when I got my new phone this past December. We only tried using it just recently.

They tried a bunch of known-good SIM cards in both my iPhone 5 as well as several of their test iPhones. All SIM cards were confirmed to be working and worked in their iPhones as well as my current phone, but none worked in my iPhone 5. They think there's a problem with the hardware of the phone since it won't recognize any SIM card at all (not even the one that came out of it and is now in my current phone), and it would not be worth fixing.

 

[Applejuiced]

That explains why it wouldn't read any sims.
It's a hardware issue then?

 

[LOLZpersonok]

That explains why it wouldn't read any sims.
It's a hardware issue then?

Probably. Wouldn't be worth fixing. It's kind of a shame, really. The phone probably works fine otherwise. It not reading any SIM cards means I can't activate it and at least use it like an iPod. Oh well.

 

[von franklin]

seems likes its the its the SIM card

 

[LOLZpersonok]

seems likes its the its the SIM card

I said in an earlier post that they tried several of their SIM cards and none of them worked in my iPhone 5 even though they all worked in both my current phone and their test iPhones.