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iPhone 4 sim does not appear to be supported! Help!!

W

WilliamG

macrumors G4
Original poster
Mar 29, 2008
10,056
3,978
Seattle
So I just exchanged my USA AT&T-locked iPhone 4 at a UK Apple store for a few hardware issues (unrelated to antennagate), but I can't activate the new phone because it says the sim is unsupported! Now bear in mind Apple said it would work fine and just "needed to be left connected to iTunes for about half an hour" but it's obviously not working an hour later. My sim worked perfectly before transferring to the new handset.

I'm panicked, as now I have no phone here. Applecare said I need to contact AT&T, but I know they're going to be useless! :(

Please advise!
 
So you exchanged your AT&T USA locked phone at a UK Apple store?
And you expected it to work with your USA sim?
What they gave you was false info.
Now you need to bring it to an Apple store in the US and have it exchanged again. You should have known it wasnt going to work and thats why iphone Applecare is only available in the country it was purchased.
 
Applejuiced said:
So you exchanged your AT&T USA locked phone at a UK Apple store?
And you expected it to work with your USA sim?
What they gave you was false info.
Now you need to bring it to an Apple store in the US and have it exchanged again. You should have known it wasnt going to work and thats why iphone Applecare is only available in the country it was purchased.
Click to expand...

Where does it say that? AppleCare USA and AppleCare UK insisted this was not the case, and I can't find anything to that effect in their ToC.
 
You talked to some really misinformed apple reps.
Warranty work has to be done in the country where the phone was purchased.
Can I get my iPhone serviced outside the country of purchase?
No, service for eligible repairs or replacements is only available in the country where your iPhone was purchased.

http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/service/faq/#repair3

CBR900RR said:
I thought UK iphone4 are sim free/factory unlocked phone, so it should work with all SIM.

From engadget.com.
Click to expand...

That's false.
Not all uk iPhones are sold unlocked.
Some you gotta wait till your term agreement ends or pay extra to have them officially unlocked.
 
Applejuiced said:
You talked to some really misinformed apple reps.
Warranty work has to be done in the country where the phone was purchased.
Can I get my iPhone serviced outside the country of purchase?
No, service for eligible repairs or replacements is only available in the country where your iPhone was purchased.

http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/service/faq/#repair3
Click to expand...

Regardless of that, Apple did apparently replace it, and it should work (since phones from the Apple Store aren't locked). The only thing that's crossing my mind is that they accidentally handed over an O2 device or other locked one, but I don't know why those would even be held in stock.

Applejuiced said:
That's false.
Not all uk iPhones are sold unlocked.
Some you gotta wait till your term agreement ends or pay extra to have them officially unlocked.
Click to expand...

If bought from Apple, they're not locked. If you buy it from an operator, then different terms may apply.
 
Nermal said:
Regardless of that, Apple did apparently replace it, and it should work (since phones from the Apple Store aren't locked). The only thing that's crossing my mind is that they accidentally handed over an O2 device or other locked one, but I don't know why those would even be held in stock.



If bought from Apple, they're not locked. If you buy it from an operator, then different terms may apply.
Click to expand...

This might be more of the reason than anything else. OP just go back to Apple.
 
Applejuiced said:
You talked to some really misinformed apple reps.
Warranty work has to be done in the country where the phone was purchased.
Can I get my iPhone serviced outside the country of purchase?
No, service for eligible repairs or replacements is only available in the country where your iPhone was purchased.

http://www.apple.com/support/iphone...t a mess! Applecare suggested I do this, too!
Click to expand...
 
CBR900RR said:
Did we just discover a new loophole here, next time I go to Hong kong or Canada, I might want to check out the local apple store.:D
Click to expand...

What if the rep you get is a newbie doing everything by the book or some rep that does by the book and no deiviation what-so-ever. What then? I'll tell you what, you'll be screwing your own self. Harsh, but true. Best not to try that luck.
 
WilliamG said:
Where are you seeing that?! I see no such question/answer on that page...

AppleCare told me several times that the AppleCare terms had changed in May 2010. I see no mention of phones not getting serviced outside the country.

To update, I put my brother's UK bought Vodafone sim in my iPhone 4, and it activated and works perfectly.

However, as soon as I put my AT&T sim back in, the phone goes to emergency screen. As soon as I eject the sim, I can access the springboard etc and do whatever. What does this mean? Am I locked to Vodafone now? What a mess! Applecare suggested I do this, too!
Click to expand...

Sorry it's an old link to that page that I had saved but they must have changed it.
Try to go back to that store and have them figure it out. Don't leave until your AT&T sim works. Sounds like they gave you a vodafone locked iPhone. See if they can officially unlock it for you.
 
Applejuiced said:
Sorry it's an old link to that page that I had saved but they must have changed it.
Try to go back to that store and have them figure it out. Don't leave until your AT&T sim works. Sounds like they gave you a vodafone locked iPhone. See if they can officially unlock it for you.
Click to expand...

I will have to do that, thanks... *sigh*
 
OK! Update!

I went back to the store, explained the situation to them and told then to fix it! They said what must have happened is what I suspected: the phone got locked to Vodafone when I put my brother's Vodafone iPhone 4 sim in my iPhone.

So! They grabbed another iPhone 4 and put my SIM in, and connected to iTunes. Boom, same error: Sim not supported. They said it can take a bit of time, and I told them I got the same error yesterday and it never got past that screen. They told me not to worry and give it more time. So I hung around at the Apple Store for a bit, and after about 10 minutes I re-connected my phone to one of their Genius Bar computers, and the phone activated immediately.

So, apparently that "SIM not supported" message is not necessarily a bad thing if you're 1.) patient enough, and 2.) AT&T isn't broken, and you CAN get international warranty service on the iPhones now. I asked the Apple Store rep why it had trouble yesterday getting past that message, and she told me that AT&T's network was having issues yesterday which is why it didn't work. In any case, I'm up and running again now, yay.
 
Applejuiced said:
Intersting situation.
Glad it worked out in the end.
Click to expand...

Yep. And sadly the phone is definitely locked to AT&T again. Shows all the UK networks in the network list, and no other SIMs work in it. Ah well. :)

At least people now know you can indeed get an iPhone serviced in another country!
 
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