Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone 13 Pro iPhone 13 Pro (Verizon) - Not Activated?

James.K.Polk

James.K.Polk

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 31, 2015
865
333
Came home from pickup up at the Apple Store, turned on my iPhone 13 Pro, and transferred all data through Apple's protocol. Now my 13 Pro has all the apps and information transferred over, but still no cellular service. Any tips?

I have not transferred the SIM card over, as the Apple rep told me I wouldn't need to - but of course I can, if that solves the problem!

Thanks, all!
 
Same here, 13 Pro is hanging on activation for Verizon for 20 minutes and counting. The eSIMs in carrier models are supposed to be ready to activate like models with pre-installed SIMs, but this is the first release event this has been available so there are bound to be some hiccups. Judging by the available stock they had on launch day, I don’t think the activation servers should be getting too swamped today, but who knows. Activating eSIMs on Verizon has been a nightmare for me in the past so this isn’t new unfortunately. I’ll give it an hour till I just throw in the SIM card and try activating the eSIM another day. Hope it goes smoothly for you!
 
  • Like
Reactions: James.K.Polk
James.K.Polk said:
Came home from pickup up at the Apple Store, turned on my iPhone 13 Pro, and transferred all data through Apple's protocol. Now my 13 Pro has all the apps and information transferred over, but still no cellular service. Any tips?

I have not transferred the SIM card over, as the Apple rep told me I wouldn't need to - but of course I can, if that solves the problem!

Thanks, all!
Click to expand...
You can go in to Cellular and add a plan and it should transfer from the SIM card. I had problems so after an hour call with TMo US, it finally worked.
 
Had the same problem. Waited almost 2 hours and never activated, so I called Verizon.

They told me that I should be using a physical sim and not the eSim. Put my physical SIM in and everything is fine.
 
Nacket said:
Same here, 13 Pro is hanging on activation for Verizon for 20 minutes and counting. The eSIMs in carrier models are supposed to be ready to activate like models with pre-installed SIMs, but this is the first release event this has been available so there are bound to be some hiccups. Judging by the available stock they had on launch day, I don’t think the activation servers should be getting too swamped today, but who knows. Activating eSIMs on Verizon has been a nightmare for me in the past so this isn’t new unfortunately. I’ll give it an hour till I just throw in the SIM card and try activating the eSIM another day. Hope it goes smoothly for you!
Click to expand...
Thanks very much. I'm relatively new to this - can you switch back and forth between eSIM and physical on the same plan? i.e. if I pop in a SIM card now, am I tied to physical forever?
 
Update: When I put the physical SIM in, I disabled the eSim so that both lines weren't showing. I just turned it back on to check it, and it is now activated
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nacket
StoneCold X said:
Update: When I put the physical SIM in, I disabled the eSim so that both lines weren't showing. I just turned it back on to check it, and it is now activated
Click to expand...

Thanks! Okay, good to know this works. Only hiccup for me (from iPhone 11) is that I don't have a 5G SIM card, so eSIM would be preferable, if it can sort itself out...
 
christf10 said:
I am on phone with TMo now. When I go to Add a Plan, it is asking me to scan a QR code or enter a SM-DP+ Address.
Click to expand...
Yea that doesn’t work. They had to switch mine on the backend. Then it activated. They need the EID from the new phone. I kept the SIM in my old one until it was deactivated. Then it worked on the new. The directions online are terrible.
 
Jumpie said:
Yea that doesn’t work. They had to switch mine on the backend. Then it activated. They need the EID from the new phone. I kept the SIM in my old one until it was deactivated. Then it worked on the new. The directions online are terrible.
Click to expand...
I am having a tough time with rep on the phone. He is struggling. Gave him the EID. I powered off the old phone in case that was causing issues. Been at it for 45min.
 
  • Like
Reactions: James.K.Polk
christf10 said:
I am having a tough time with rep on the phone. He is struggling. Gave him the EID. I powered off the old phone in case that was causing issues. Been at it for 45min.
Click to expand...
Also unable to reach an agent who can help (Verizon).

And somehow made it though this with my Watch still up and running, but unpaired to my new iPhone... so I think I have to reset it... was hoping to get some work done today - ha!
 
christf10 said:
I am having a tough time with rep on the phone. He is struggling. Gave him the EID. I powered off the old phone in case that was causing issues. Been at it for 45min.
Click to expand...
No need to turn it off. Just turn off cell data. But yea I was on for 1h 7m.
 
James.K.Polk said:
Thanks very much. I'm relatively new to this - can you switch back and forth between eSIM and physical on the same plan? i.e. if I pop in a SIM card now, am I tied to physical forever?
Click to expand...
The line won’t be permanently attached to either method, but you would need to contact Verizon each time you want to switch between them. Tech support, from my experience, is still very inconsistent on their knowledge of activating eSIMs and each attempt to activate the eSIM, from calling in to the phone being ready to use, would take about 3 hours. Happened both times when I activated my XS Max and 12 Pro Max. If you have to do that I hope your experience goes more smoothly than mine have.

If you find yourself frequently switching between phones, sticking to a physical SIM will likely save you a lot of headache until Verizon works the kinks out of this new-ish system. Just make sure you have a new SIM with the 5G branding on the actual card so that you won’t get left out of new spectrum roll-outs that are probably going to happen either late this year or early next year. If you don’t, walking into a Verizon store to get one activated is painless and free.
 
  • Like
Reactions: James.K.Polk
same issue as well. on verizon moving from a physical sim in my 12 pro max to the sim in my 13 pro max.
 
Now I cant make any calls phone my old X, my current 13Pro or my Apple Watch (cellular).... What is happening
 
StoneCold X said:
Update: When I put the physical SIM in, I disabled the eSim so that both lines weren't showing. I just turned it back on to check it, and it is now activated
Click to expand...
Still unable to activate the line, I’ll give this method a shot. Thank you for sharing!

Update: Didn’t have any success with this method. I called 611 and the automated system prompted me about activating my new device. Initiating via this process got the eSIM to activate successfully, hooray! Didn’t even have to speak to someone :)
 
Last edited:
My eSIM won't activate either. Anyone know if there are any limitations to using a 4G SIM card from a previous phone in a 5G device?
 
  • Wow
Reactions: JohnnyChuttz
tomiwah said:
Same issue here.
Click to expand...
I just called VZW using another line and was able to activate my 13 Pro Max using their automated system. The whole process took about 5 minutes. I just said “phone won’t activate” when asked what my problem was. The system told me to turn my phone off and then about a minute later it told me the phone was activated and that I could turn it back on. Everything worked. The only information I provided was the phone number I was trying to activate and my account PIN. The activation process must have started correctly when I transferred everything from my old phoneto the new phone because VZW did not ask for any information about the phone I wanoted to activate.
 
I'm activated now. Reset the phone, turned off find my phone on my X and then shut it off. No need to swap any sim cards or anything
 
I had the same issue. I called Verizon, gave them the IMEI/ICCID and they activated it in 30 seconds. No need to swap SIMs or anything.
 
Ended up activating via the automated chat on website. Had to provide IMEI and ICCID of new phone. Think they should refund the activation fees for all the trouble.
 
I did a full reset on my 13PM. I went through a manual setup instead of restoring from backup. Once I was setup I went to Setting >> Cellular >> Add Cellular Plan. From there I was prompted to transfer plan to eSim from old phone to new and it was done in minutes. Hope that helps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back