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Remove iPhone 3G SIM before selling?
- Thread starter sprtnbsblplya
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why wouldn't you? In the time you took to post this it could have been removed.
Umm, probably because I wasn't sure if they would need it or not. This is my first SIM based phone, I came from Sprint.
Thanks edk.
One more quick question, on selling it, should I sell it with the phone not activated through iTunes?
Leave it stuck on the screen that says, "No SIM Card Installed, Insert a valid SIM with no PIN lock to activate iPhone."
Can anyone comment on whether to leave it in non-activated mode or not?
Leave it stuck on the screen that says, "No SIM Card Installed, Insert a valid SIM with no PIN lock to activate iPhone."
Can anyone comment on whether to leave it in non-activated mode or not?
I've never heard of a phone without a SIM before - is this a common thing in the US?
Fairly common. The CDMA networks, the biggest being Verizon and Sprint, do not use SIM cards.
Having a SIM card and being able to switch phones so easily was one of the things I liked about AT&T after switching from Sprint years ago.
restore it, and set it up as a new phone. and definitely remove the SIM card. it should be as if they bought a new cell phone, with all the data erased and ready for them to set up on their own. they'll have to put their own SIM card in anyways.
General, wouldn't he just have to pop his SIM into it, plug it into the computer and open up iTunes?
Alright, everything went smoothly, got it all worked out.
Thanks for all the help guys, I was clueless with the SIM thing.
Thanks for all the help guys, I was clueless with the SIM thing.
You only need a SIM, (any AT&T SIM for U.S. iPhones) to activate the phone.
Once it's activated, you can pull it and use it as a Touch.
No contract required. You can even use a deactivated SIM... Apple's activation servers don't care.
I pulled the SIM on my old 1st gen iPhone and gave it to my daughter to use as a Touch.
But as I said, my old phone is not going to be activated with a cell contract, only used with wifi. Once I restore it as a new phone, so it wipes my data and keep the SIM, will the new owner be able to set the phone up for Wifi use without a SIM card?
The new owner can buy an AT&T SIM off of eBay for a couple of dollars and use it to activate the phone.
No contract is required.
Remember... there are two types of activation with the iPhone.
The iTunes activation and the contract activation.
One only needs to perform the iTunes activation to get the phone to work as a Touch.
As has been said, the SIM card is of no use to the new buyer. And there's no way of telling exactly what is on the card, for safety reasons it's best to remove it and let the new owner take responsibility for getting it activated.
Resist said:
This is correct. If you restore it and set it up as a new phone, with no SIM card inserted the new owner will not be able to use any of the phone's features. They'll need a SIM card even if it's for a couple minutes to initially activate it, otherwise not even the Wi Fi features will be available for them. Only once they activate it can they take the SIM out and use it as a Wi Fi-only device.
And this is my problem. I want to give my old iPhone 3G to a friend (that doesn't live near me), they have no plans on activating the cell service and only wish to use it with wifi. Some free apps use Wifi to make phone calls, so they could still make calls on it, or even free texting.
Do I just erase all content and settings, then remove the SIM card prior to giving it to them? But then without the SIM card they will not be able to sync the iPhone with iTunes to get music and apps...correct? Can they get a SIM for free, even if they don't want cell service?
Correct me if I'm wrong guys, but after you set your phone as new, and set the itunes to not automatically sync data. not even contact, it's been activated without any data in it. Please confirm, if it's true then he can do that and send the iphone tho his friend. And his friend can use it without sim card.
I just finished doing the "Erase All Content and Settings" reset. To finish this process the SIM card had to be installed. I had it out, so I put it back in and finished the reset. The screen now wants the iPhone to be connected to iTunes. If I pull out the SIM card now, can the new owner of this iPhone use it on their iTunes account? I am thinking I don't want to connect it to my iTunes account or it won't work for their account.
And then once they get it setup on their iTunes account, they can download music an apps. But the iPhone will give an alert every so often that it needs a SIM card. It's my understanding that all they have to do is put the iPhone in airplane mode to stop this alert from popping up and then turn on wifi. Is this correct?
Or I can just include the SIM card and not worry about it, because it's deactivated and doesn't have any private info on it anyway.
And then once they get it setup on their iTunes account, they can download music an apps. But the iPhone will give an alert every so often that it needs a SIM card. It's my understanding that all they have to do is put the iPhone in airplane mode to stop this alert from popping up and then turn on wifi. Is this correct?
Or I can just include the SIM card and not worry about it, because it's deactivated and doesn't have any private info on it anyway.
Yes for the first part, no for the second part.
Erase all content/settings or do a restore in iTunes to get rid of all your data, and make sure it's set up as a new phone. Put your SIM card in, activate it, then take it out again.
Even without a SIM card installed they can still sync with iTunes and install apps as it will have already been activated when you briefly inserted the SIM and synced with iTunes. Basically it'll just turn it into an iPod touch - they can use it just like someone would normally use an iPhone, just without the phone/3G data part. Wi Fi, apps, music, syncing will all work, just as long as you've activated it before you take the SIM out.
Resist said:
Incorrect. Connect it to iTunes with the SIM inserted so you can at least activate the phone. Then once you take the SIM out and give it to your friend, all they have to do is sync it with their own computer. It'll automatically replace any iTunes account info on the phone with their own.
I connected to iTunes and set it up as a new iPhone. I had to rename it and selected none for everything else. When finished it showed I have 3 voicemails, instead of a solid red dot over the native phone app as it had prior to all this. There is no way to get the voicemails on this phone, the account for it is active on my other iphone and is not showing any voicemail.
Also noticed my old cell phone number is showing up in the phone. Apparently the reset doesn't erase this number, so I went into the settings and changed it. Now to figure out why it's showing that I have 3 voicemails.
The phone also still has my email address in it somehow. I discovered this by connecting to my home Wifi, opening the App Store app and attempting an app download. When it asked for my iTunes Password, it showed me my email address.
This whole thing makes me very nervous. If I was selling it to a stranger, I would not happy that my old phone number and email address were still in there. Is it better to not sync it with my iTunes after the reset, prior to getting rid of it?
UPDATE: I pulled the SIM card and then the 3 voicmails indication went away. I was also able to remove my email address by signing out of iTunes for this phone, in the store settings.
Also noticed my old cell phone number is showing up in the phone. Apparently the reset doesn't erase this number, so I went into the settings and changed it. Now to figure out why it's showing that I have 3 voicemails.
The phone also still has my email address in it somehow. I discovered this by connecting to my home Wifi, opening the App Store app and attempting an app download. When it asked for my iTunes Password, it showed me my email address.
This whole thing makes me very nervous. If I was selling it to a stranger, I would not happy that my old phone number and email address were still in there. Is it better to not sync it with my iTunes after the reset, prior to getting rid of it?
UPDATE: I pulled the SIM card and then the 3 voicmails indication went away. I was also able to remove my email address by signing out of iTunes for this phone, in the store settings.