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Upgraders: does the SIM still work in your old iPhone after you activate the 3G?
- Thread starter anthonymoody
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Many thanks. Am thinking of getting a 3G painted by Colorware, partly as added protection against the cracking/flaking. But you have to send it in and it takes approx. 2 weeks. Couldn't be without a working iPhone for that long 
So as long as I can use my old one during that period I'm all set...
Thanks!
So as long as I can use my old one during that period I'm all set...Thanks!
In the US, at&t usually zaps your old SIM. But you should be able to swap your SIM between phones otherwise.
TEG
TEG
It works, sometimes. When I first got my 3G iPhone, i swapped sims and put the non 3G sim into my 3G iPhone and it worked and so did the non 3G iPhone. Both phones are activated with their own numbers.
I tried to do the same thing again after the firmware upgrade last night and the non 3G iPhone prompted me to connect to iTunes to start the activation process with a new account. If I try the same thing next week, it will probably work again but it just depends on when you try it. It makes no sense to me.
It has been stated many times throughout this forum. I often use my iPhone SIM in a Motorola V180 from 2005, so I know it works. It also works in my Dad's V170 and V190 (Former is a GoPhone, Latter is a work phone). Of course neither of those SIMs work in my iPhone because they don't have the extra little code written on the chip that says it has been activated in iTunes, which is the same between the iPhone and iPhone 3G.
TEG
TEG
2.6 was this a special model i didn't hear about
I don't see an issue with the SIM but as I said I'm in the UK on O2.
We kept the same SIM as we had before. Is this no the case in America etc?
If not what's the actually difference in the SIM?
The sim I have in my 3G iphone does not work in my 2.5G iPhone, however that may be because I upgraded the firmware to 2.0 on the 2.5G iPhone after I got my 3G. Now when I put the 3G iPhone sim into the 2.5G iPhone I get a screen instructing me to plug the phone into iTunes. When I do that it wants to activate the 2.5G iPhone with a two year contract extension and a $20 data plan! I think this is becuase iTunes is seeing that the 2.5G iPhone has a different serial or ESN number than the 3G. I'm not sure if this would have happened if I left my 2.5G iPhone at firmware 1.1.4 or had upgraded to 2.0 prior to getting my 3G iPhone, but this has been my experience. Strangely though the 2.5G iPhone works as a Wifi iPod Touch though, even without a sim card in it. BTW my 3G iPhone sim does work with fine my old Moto Razar V3 though.
I am hoping that once a easy unlock is created for Windows for the 2.0 firmware I will be able to unlock my 2.5G iPhone and use the 3G iPhone sim in it. It would be nice to be able use the 2.5G as a backup phone for times when my 3G needs to be charged or when I don't want to risk damaging the the 3G iPhone.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I could accomplish this now?
I am hoping that once a easy unlock is created for Windows for the 2.0 firmware I will be able to unlock my 2.5G iPhone and use the 3G iPhone sim in it. It would be nice to be able use the 2.5G as a backup phone for times when my 3G needs to be charged or when I don't want to risk damaging the the 3G iPhone.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I could accomplish this now?
Sorry for a double posting.. but..
Are you sure the actually chip has something on it? I think iTunes just checks a SIM serial number or something then activates the phone rather then it being a special SIM. I think it's the phone that has the code saying it's been activated, not the SIM.
Otherwise I could activated my old iPhone just buy putting my 3G SIM in.
But both needed to be activated with a SIM in connected to iTunes after todays update.
2.6 was this a special model i didn't hear about
I don't see an issue with the SIM but as I said I'm in the UK on O2.
We kept the same SIM as we had before. Is this no the case in America etc?
If not what's the actually difference in the SIM?
Most people didn't have 3G capable SIMs so those were needed for the iPhone 3G (and also game with the iPhone). Also at&t is still rebranding after being Cingular, so many people who are upgrading had Cingular SIMs, and the new ones have the at&t livery on them. Also there are some poor souls who still had AT&T Wireless SIMs which won't definately won't work in the iPhone 3G, and they weren't 3G capable in 2004.
TEG
You should just be able to swap the SIM (without connecting to iTunes) and it would work. I've done it with my buddies, and it worked fine, but it won't work with a SIM that came out of a regular phone, even a 3G SIM. I have heard of it working with other SIMs from phones that had data plans, but no guarantee, since no one I work with wants to be even a second without their Crackberry.
TEG
My SIM in my v1 iPhone was already 3G compatible, but when I sold it, AT&T said to put it in another AT&T phone and it would work until I purchased the 3G iPhone. Then they just zapped the SIM card remotely, and activated my new 3G iPhone with a new SIM card.
TEG
What i meant was after the software update today I had to put a SIM in the phone to make the software update work, then remove it, so that it could be used as ipod touch style device. Once that was done it worked fine. This was my reasoning behind it being the phone not the SIM that carries special activation code.
What i meant was after the software update today I had to put a SIM in the phone to make the software update work, then remove it, so that it could be used as ipod touch style device. Once that was done it worked fine. This was my reasoning behind it being the phone not the SIM that carries special activation code.
FYI - after posting earlier today I did a little research and found a resonably easy way to unlock a 1st gen iphone using windows. After following the instructons shown here:
http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=1572
my iPhone was activated and unlocked on firmware 2.0. I could have also jailbroke it, but didn't see the need now with the app store. I also was able to upgrade the firmware to 2.01 without relocking the phone.
Hopes this helps others like me that were not able to use their new iPhone 3G sims in their older 2.5G iPhones!
http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=1572
my iPhone was activated and unlocked on firmware 2.0. I could have also jailbroke it, but didn't see the need now with the app store. I also was able to upgrade the firmware to 2.01 without relocking the phone.
Hopes this helps others like me that were not able to use their new iPhone 3G sims in their older 2.5G iPhones!
The same thing happened to my 2.5G iPhone. Once my 3G was activagted in-store, the SIM in my 2.5G died. And when I inserted the 3G sim into the 2.5G, it prompts to iTunes activation. Is this not right, because the 2.5G is now owned by me, should I not be able to do what I want with it!? Sheesh, I was able to PwnageTool it, but I'd rather not have to do it.
