New iPhone SE I bought from Apple Store in Japan says unsupported in the usa

okanos wrote:

I bought a new iPhone SE from Apple store in Japan to give it to my parents who live there but ended up coming back to the US. The phone was never activated there. I gave it to my son who happened to drop his iPhone, was malfunctioning and needed a new phone. No problem transferring data but stops with cellular - message says unsupported area. The phone shouldn’t be locked/hooked with Japanese carrier since I bought it from Apple Store. Any way to activate it to use it in the US?

Did you talk to your Carrier about carrier issue... I would start there.

Have you checked the status of the phone in the about section in general, or the cellular section?

There should be a section that says "SIM lock" see if it says locked.

it is locked to a Japanese cellular carrier.

Contact them to unlock it(they won’t but they appreciate hearing from you).