eSIM activation issue

Aineko wrote:

I've recently purchased an iPhone 15 from Woot (Unlocked).

I've had a weird experience activating it on my carrier's network and I'm trying to make sense of what happened.

Should I send the phone back? Is there anything wrong with it (I had no problems other than the activation experience)?

The phone was sold as "like new, never been in a customer's hand" and not eligible for Apple Care.

It came with a 1 year warranty.

Once I logged in to the phone (normal new user process) the settings showed the phone as carrier unlocked.

The phone did NOT come with a full one year warranty from Apple. The warranty from Apple started when it was originally sold by Apple or an authorized retailer.

My advice would be to return it and go buy a phone from an authorized retailer or directly from your carrier.

My carrier is UsMobile (a small NVMO). They use the network of other carriers separated into two groups:

1) Warp 5G (Verizon)

2) GSM 5G (ATT, TMobile)

I was originally on Warp 5G and I was simply unable to activate my new phone on that network.

Eventually, after hours trying they switched me to GSM 5G and the phone was activated there without any problems.

The error we got during activation was (consistently):

"eSIM cannot be added"

"This code is no longer valid. Contact your carrier for more information."

I was given (among others) the following explanations:

"the thing is that Warp 5G eSIMs might not work or might not shift to a previously locked device."

"I checked some things from my end and the new eSIM would not generate."

After hours spent with customer support on this issue, I'm still unsure what's going on.

Is my phone somehow defective? Partially locked?

Should I return it?

Whose customer support were you on the line with? Apple or your carrier? Is your carrier US Mobile or US Cellular?

US Cellular is a supported carrier. US Mobile is not. If you want to use an iPhone 15 reliably, you may have to switch carriers.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Since you’re attempting to activate it on an unsupported carrier, there’s not much we could say on the matter that wouldn’t amount to pure speculation.