My original iPhone keeps refusing my SIM card

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Level 1

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My original iPhone keeps refusing my SIM card

Greetings all!

I have an original iPhone that a friend of mine had given me and I am trying to use it to replace my broken phone.

When I got the original iPhone from my friend he had his SIM card inserted and it allowed me to use it as an iPod Touch essentially. I was able to plug it into iTunes and sync Apps and Songs. This was around August of last year, so the phone was running that current firmware.

Fast forward to today, and I am trying to activate the phone in order for me to use it to replace my broken LG Shine. Now, before I tried anything I made sure to call AT&T and let them know my intentions and they did adjustments to my account accordingly (adding the data plan). Once I did that and I went and changed the SIM card from my LG to the iPhone, made sure iTunes was up to date with the latest release, and the iPhone was running the current OS. I did a factory restore on the iPhone, plug in my SIM, connected it to iTunes and I got the following message:

"The SIM card inserted in this iPhone does not appear to be supported. Only compatible SIM cards from a supported carrier may be used to activate iPhone. Please insert the SIM card that came with your iPhone or visit a supported carrier's store to receive a replacement SIM card."

Now after that I called AT&T and they told me I needed a new SIM card. So I proceeded to do that, and no luck. I kept getting the same error message. I'm now 4 SIM cards in, and I cannot get the phone to activate. I have re install iTunes by grabbing it from the official Apple website, (thus making sure it was the latest build), I have restored the phone again, even going into the settings and deleting everything (I can only access the inside menus of the iPhone as long as I have my friends SIM card inside).

Now basically my question is this, does the original iPhone require a special or different SIM card in order to activate? It just seems that none of the cards work except for the one my friend had inside. Just by looking at my friend's SIM card and my SIM card, I can tell there's quite a difference.

Now this phone has never been tampered with, never jailbroken and never had custom firmware. I refuse to do that, hence why I'm trying very hard to go through the process with AT&T. And the original owner has never done any of that. I can definitely vouch for that.

So far I've spent numerous hours on the phone with AT&T receiving conflicting statements, which lead to nowhere, and the stores here are completely useless.
I really hope someone can help me with this. I really appreciate it.

Message was edited by: Reikun

HP, Windows XP

Posted on May 29, 2010 2:04 PM

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Answer 1

DaVBMan

Level 6

9,292 points

May 29, 2010 2:15 PM in response to Reikun

Well not sure of your problem but here is what I know.

Yes you were to get a new SIM from AT&T if you wished to get it activated under your account. Your old one wouldn't of worked.

Outside of that, not really sure.

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Answer 2

Reikun Author

Level 1

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May 29, 2010 2:21 PM in response to DaVBMan

Yeah, that's what AT&T said. So they made me get a new one from the store, but no luck.

One of the ITT representatives of AT&T pointed out that the iPhone needed a UICCD card or something to that extent, and that I had a UICCE card. But when I brought up this topic again, no one at the store nor in their customer support had a clue what I was talking about.

Looking at the place holder where the SIM's go, it is labeled ICCID but I have no clue if this is even relevant.

Thank you for the reply tho.

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Answer 3

DaVBMan

Level 6

9,292 points

May 29, 2010 2:23 PM in response to Reikun

No idea about that.

Didn't see it mentioned, but your friend was from the US and had iPhone from here right?

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Answer 4

Reikun Author

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May 29, 2010 2:34 PM in response to DaVBMan

Yes that is correct. He is from the United States and he did get it from an Apple Store.

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Answer 5

Reikun Author

Level 1

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May 29, 2010 3:19 PM in response to Reikun

EDIT: I have updated my question with some pictures to better help understand what's going on.

Both cards look so different. Does this mean the original iPhone needs a specific card?

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Answer 6

wjosten

Level 10

95,369 points

May 29, 2010 3:29 PM in response to Reikun

Some AT&T web sites linked from "Activating your original iPhone" may require you to accept all cookies in your web browser in order to function correctly. I don't know if this is your problem, but check your browser & make sure. You might have better luck having AT&T activate your original sim, which you say you have. I'd give that a shot & try again.

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Answer 7

Reikun Author

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May 29, 2010 3:43 PM in response to wjosten

Thank you for your reply.

I have tried checking the settings for the cookies and they all seem to be in order. I tried having both Firefox and Internet Explorer as my default browsers when trying to activate the phone but to no avail.

Thank you again for the help.

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Answer 8

Reikun Author

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May 29, 2010 6:54 PM in response to Reikun

And yet another EDIT:

I had someone that owned an iPhone 3G show me their SIM card, and yet again it looks completely different from the SIM card AT&T is giving me. Anyone knows if this is the case? Does the iPhone need a specific SIM card?

Here is a photograph of all the SIM cards together:

Again I appreciate greatly all the help you could provide me.

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Answer 9

suejoshC

Level 1

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Jun 2, 2010 7:29 PM in response to Reikun

I have the exact same problem. Except I didn't know about the AT&T issue after I had already gone to my provider, which is not AT&T. Apparently now, as these phones are not from "Canada" AT&T was the official carrier. Don't quote me on this. Therefore we can get these phones to work thru AT&T. But again still not able to get through the phone and same error message. Lesson learned: Don't accept old phones from your friends. Or do research on the phone first. A costly acceptance for something that is now inoperable.

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Answer 10

Dillo

Level 1

110 points

Jun 7, 2010 1:48 PM in response to Reikun

In many cases, in AT&T's system, the IMEI (a unique identifier number that identifies your cellular phone) of an iPhone is "married" to the ICCID (the number on your SIM card). Many people have been successful in getting AT&T to "divorce" the iPhone from the original SIM. This process involves letting AT&T know the IMEI of you iPhone and the ICCID of the SIM that you are about to insert and having them update their records. If I remember correctly, this can be done over the phone without giving your iPhone to AT&T.

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Answer 11

Aug 14, 2010 12:51 AM in response to Reikun

Did you ever get your SIM card problem resolved? Having exactly the same problem. I've wasting many hours at the Apple genius bar (which will only tell you if the phone works but won't activate older iphones -- sending you off to the local att cell store. None of 3 ATT stores have been able to activate the iphone. Went to a franchise ATT store this morning and they (some of the guys had enough gray hair to sound credible) said that current 3G SIMS won't work on the original iPhone. It must be a UICC-d SIM. None of the ATT stores have these in stock.They suggested I go to eBay to find one.

Another bizarre occurrence is that apple tech support (national) says any 3G card will work in the original iphone. Clearly not true.

att national tech support says this is nonsense, one must have the UICC-d card but they can't supply them. Catch 22. Since the ATT stores and the apple genius bar are all 50+ miles from where i live, I now have about 400 miles of chasing around, talking to people who have been so poorly trained by their companies that they can only tell you abut the latest and greatest. Older product-- forget it.
I will say that ATT tech support calls me nightly to see what new developments and suggests tweaks and twists they have been working on and have given me financial credit on my account for all the nonsense incurred. Since I'm not under contract,if I can't get this silliness resolved in the next few days, I'm off to Sprint.

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Answer 12

Aug 15, 2010 5:57 AM in response to original_iphone

Have you tried unlocking your phone? I really don't think the type of sim matters. I've put numerous sims in mine and they've all worked. Most of those have been from 3g phones.

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