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"Invalid SIM Card" on VZW iPad 3 after trying to sign up...ugh.

F

fs454

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Dec 7, 2007
1,987
1,876
Los Angeles / Boston
So I got my new Verizon iPad at Best Buy, only store in the area that carries it, refused the stupid hotspot offer, didn't let them unwrap it and walked out of the store with it. Came home, set it up, noticed "Verizon" at the top with 4 bars of 3G before I even made it to the data setup. I forgot about it for a while and just now tried to sign up, picked my plan, filled everything out, went to process the order and got back:

"Invalid SIM Card - Sorry, we cannot activate your device because the SIM card you are using has already been associated to another account or is no longer supported. Please visit a Verizon Wireless store or call 1-800-256-4646 for a new SIM card. (73015832)"


Am I the only one with this issue? I tried searching to no avail. What's the deal here? Is there a possibility that this was a re-sealed iPad or something, or just a total fluke? Is there anything I can do to kick it out of this short of going to the store tomorrow at some point?

Thanks.
 
fs454 said:
So I got my new Verizon iPad at Best Buy, only store in the area that carries it, refused the stupid hotspot offer, didn't let them unwrap it and walked out of the store with it. Came home, set it up, noticed "Verizon" at the top with 4 bars of 3G before I even made it to the data setup. I forgot about it for a while and just now tried to sign up, picked my plan, filled everything out, went to process the order and got back:

"Invalid SIM Card - Sorry, we cannot activate your device because the SIM card you are using has already been associated to another account or is no longer supported. Please visit a Verizon Wireless store or call 1-800-256-4646 for a new SIM card. (73015832)"


Am I the only one with this issue? I tried searching to no avail. What's the deal here? Is there a possibility that this was a re-sealed iPad or something, or just a total fluke? Is there anything I can do to kick it out of this short of going to the store tomorrow at some point?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I just tried to activate my data plan on my iPad with Verizon. I just got the exact same messages you. I don't know what's going on. Anyone else have this problem?
 
Same Problem

I just received the same message after sign-up process failed twice. Really bummed since I needed data right now. Anyone know of a fix other than getting a new sim card? Trying on a Verizon iPad btw.
 
I got the bank alerts on my phone so they definitely did something with my credit card, I wonder what the problem is.... Ugh
 
Do you get this message before the initial screen where you enter your name and CC info, or once you try to complete the sign up process?
 
I am having the same problem. Called Verizon customer service and they said that sim activation server is down. They told me to go to the Verizon store tomorrow to get a new sim card if it is not activated by tomorrow.
 
astral125 said:
Do you get this message before the initial screen where you enter your name and CC info, or once you try to complete the sign up process?
Click to expand...

I got this after I entered all my information and hit submit. Now it comes up with the message and it won't let me do anything after that point.

----------
bclk55 said:
I am having the same problem. Called Verizon customer service and they said that sim activation server is down. They told me to go to the Verizon store tomorrow to get a new sim card if it is not activated by tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Let's hope it's just their servers that are down, I really don't want to go to the store and get another Sim card.
 
thatoneguy82 said:
What offer? The one that comes with free on any iPad data plan, whether you want it or not. Or is something else?
Click to expand...

They were pushing a $50 Mifi Hotspot deal on people to get "$100 off" on an ipad.. they were trying to convince people that getting the Verizon LTE hotspot device for $50 (and signing a 2 yr contract) and a wifi ipad would save them more money than buying a LTE enabled iPad.
 
Just checked my credit card. 3 pending charges from Verizon Wireless. Hopefully all of this clears up later today. I was super excited to try the 4G speeds on my iPad :(
 
I am in the same boat too. Went to the Verizon store, tried to charge me a $35 activation fee and wanted me to go post-paid. I refused.

Going back to the Apple Store tonight for my third exchange. Third time is the charm?
 
bclk55 said:
I am having the same problem. Called Verizon customer service and they said that sim activation server is down. They told me to go to the Verizon store tomorrow to get a new sim card if it is not activated by tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Good luck with that. They will never have a "pre-paid" sim for you and will without a doubt sign you up for a postpaid account along with a ton of other BS. Watch your butt when you walk in the door because they have that long pole (and commission dollars) ready to poke where the sun don't shine.
 
thatoneguy82 said:
What offer? The one that comes with free on any iPad data plan, whether you want it or not. Or is something else?
Click to expand...

BB tries to get you to buy a wifi iPad with a 2 year agreement on a Mifi or whatever those 4G hotspot devices are called. They push it really hard to customers who ask for an iPad with 4G.

Verizon's payment processing was apparently down and I had to call prepaid tech support to get it to go through. SIM was fine and I'm all set now.
 
Hopefully someone can clear this up for me..

I just exchanged my wifi ipad with a VZW LTE but haven't activated it yet. I want to be on pre-paid data rather then pay every month. How does that work? Can I pay and get 2g of data to use at my leisure? Or does it only last a month and then I have to re-up? And if I sign up on my iPad, does it give me the option to get data service either with and without a contract?

My goal would be to get data to use at my leisure and only re-up when it gets low. Does that exist for data?

If someone could explain how this works for me I would really appreciate it. I really don't want to go to my VZW store to ask this question.
 
sulpfiction said:
Hopefully someone can clear this up for me..

I just exchanged my wifi ipad with a VZW LTE but haven't activated it yet. I want to be on pre-paid data rather then pay every month. How does that work? Can I pay and get 2g of data to use at my leisure? Or does it only last a month and then I have to re-up? And if I sign up on my iPad, does it give me the option to get data service either with and without a contract?

My goal would be to get data to use at my leisure and only re-up when it gets low. Does that exist for data?

If someone could explain how this works for me I would really appreciate it. I really don't want to go to my VZW store to ask this question.
Click to expand...

If you sign up on the device, you will only get pre-paid options and will not have a contract.

However, there is no data solution that will let you just pay for a chunk of data and chip away at it until it is gone. Pre-paid (signing up on the device) or post-paid (signing up through verizon) will both charge you every month unless you cancel and any unused data from the previous month will be lost.
 
Ok well the SIM problem has been resolved, but now my account is stuck in Pending. Wonder how long this stage takes... Anyone else on Verizon stuck on Pending?
 
Last edited:
For anybody having this problem: I called Verizon on Monday after having this problem for several hours. Turns out the process by which they activate the accounts from the iPads was getting completely overloaded. The rep manually activated my account (which was, apparently, sitting in a queue somewhere, despite having been authorized for the credit card charge already), I restarted the device, and since then, everything has worked great. So, presumably, the moral is: call 'em.
 
sulpfiction said:
Hopefully someone can clear this up for me..

I just exchanged my wifi ipad with a VZW LTE but haven't activated it yet. I want to be on pre-paid data rather then pay every month. How does that work? Can I pay and get 2g of data to use at my leisure? Or does it only last a month and then I have to re-up? And if I sign up on my iPad, does it give me the option to get data service either with and without a contract?

My goal would be to get data to use at my leisure and only re-up when it gets low. Does that exist for data?

If someone could explain how this works for me I would really appreciate it. I really don't want to go to my VZW store to ask this question.
Click to expand...

Prepaid: use it or lose it after one month.
 
Andrmgic said:
They were pushing a $50 Mifi Hotspot deal on people to get "$100 off" on an ipad.. they were trying to convince people that getting the Verizon LTE hotspot device for $50 (and signing a 2 yr contract) and a wifi ipad would save them more money than buying a LTE enabled iPad.
Click to expand...

fs454 said:
BB tries to get you to buy a wifi iPad with a 2 year agreement on a Mifi or whatever those 4G hotspot devices are called. They push it really hard to customers who ask for an iPad with 4G.

Verizon's payment processing was apparently down and I had to call prepaid tech support to get it to go through. SIM was fine and I'm all set now.
Click to expand...

I wondered that with my iPad 2 and with my first order with the new iPad (WiFi only, which I subsequently cancelled) if it was the best/cheaper way. With my iPad 2, I only got the WiFi and upgraded to the tether with my iPhone 4 and lost my unlimited my data. In hindsight I'm not sure if it was worth it, so I got the 4G LTE version this time around.
 
Andrmgic said:
If you sign up on the device, you will only get pre-paid options and will not have a contract.

However, there is no data solution that will let you just pay for a chunk of data and chip away at it until it is gone. Pre-paid (signing up on the device) or post-paid (signing up through verizon) will both charge you every month unless you cancel and any unused data from the previous month will be lost.
Click to expand...

Thank you!

I assume "post-paid" means you will get a bill from verizon after and not have to pay on the exact day you sign up. Is that correct?

I am having trouble understanding why anyone would go the post-paid, contract route rather then just month to month. I could see MAYBE if you had to continually sign up every month for the pre-paid option, it might be a bit of a PIA, but you say they will automatically re-up your data everymonth anyway.

Again, I don't want to ask VZW because chances are they are going to explain it in a way that whatever they prefer is what will be best for me.

What is the difference between "pre" and "post" paid other then being locked into a contract with "post"? There is no price difference, right?
 
sulpfiction said:
Thank you!

I assume "post-paid" means you will get a bill from verizon after and not have to pay on the exact day you sign up. Is that correct?

I am having trouble understanding why anyone would go the post-paid, contract route rather then just month to month. I could see MAYBE if you had to continually sign up every month for the pre-paid option, it might be a bit of a PIA, but you say they will automatically re-up your data everymonth anyway.

Again, I don't want to ask VZW because chances are they are going to explain it in a way that whatever they prefer is what will be best for me.

What is the difference between "pre" and "post" paid other then being locked into a contract with "post"? There is no price difference, right?
Click to expand...

The only difference I believe is that on post-paid you can run out of data on, say, the 2GB for $30 plan and be charged $10 per GB overage until the 30 days are up instead of $30 for another 2GB right away on prepaid.

The advantages of prepaid are huge though, IMO. I love to be able to handle subscribing/adding data right from the iPad instead of having to call or use an app to change anything. And to stop using data on prepaid you just have to tap a button and you're good. Postpaid you have to call and suspend it for only up to three months.


jlyanks85 said:
Is the wifi hotspot option on both the pre and post paid plans.
?
Click to expand...

It's there on both.
 
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