iPhone 5 saying SIM not supported

Kurtosis12 wrote:

An iPhone 5 can use 4G or LTE service.

MacTracker's database says that

• iPhone 5 (GSM North America) can use LTE bands 4 and 17
• iPhone 5 (GSM International) can use LTE bands 1, 3, and 5
• iPhone 5 (GSM and CDMA) can use LTE bands 1, 3, 5, 13, and 25
• iPhone 5 (China) has no LTE support

That's not much selection, so you'd have to pray that the phone's LTE frequency coverage overlapped with the LTE frequencies supported by your carrier's network.

Note that a cell carrier will normally only unlock a phone for the person with whom they had the cell service account. If you purchased or otherwise acquired this iPhone from someone else, then you'll have to go back to that person and get them to contact their carrier and request unlocking.

Regards.

It's most likely a moot point anyway as the person probably got scammed into buying an outdated phone locked to a carrier which they probably wont be able to unlock. The battery is shot and finding any software to run ot it will be difficult.

KiltedTim wrote:

The problem going forward if the OP is in the US is the fact that it doesn't support VoLTE. It is not compatible with any US carrier or most carriers in the developed world.

Yep. Trying to use an iPhone 5 today for anything is pretty much a waste of time and energy.

lobsterghost1 wrote:

KiltedTim wrote:

The problem going forward if the OP is in the US is the fact that it doesn't support VoLTE. It is not compatible with any US carrier or most carriers in the developed world.

Yep. Trying to use an iPhone 5 today for anything is pretty much a waste of time and energy.

You could use it as a music player – or play whatever games it already had installed. (More or less repurposing it as an iPod touch.)

As for using it as a phone – stick a fork in it. It's done.

You have to contact the carrier the phone is locked to as ONLY the carrier can unlock it.

The iPhone 5 is 3G and there are no carriers in the U.S. that are still using 3G, so you have an obsolete phone on your hands.

Drop the phone off at the recycle center.

An iPhone 5 can use 4G or LTE service.

Kurtosis12 wrote:

An iPhone 5 can use 4G or LTE service.

You are correct. I believe iPhone 5, was the first iPhone which supported 4G or LTE.

The problem going forward if the OP is in the US is the fact that it doesn't support VoLTE. It is not compatible with any US carrier or most carriers in the developed world.

You are also correct. The iPhone 4 and 4S used the 3G band.

My mistake. Should have double checked.

It's all good.