sim card not valid after update to ios 5

Guys!

I have a solution for this. I had the exact same problem as all of you and tried the very same things as you have with no luck. This morning I was on the phone with apple tech support for about one hour and we/they did not manage to solve it. However, I realized this must have something to do with the phone being locked to a service provider again (my phone was unlocked more than 6 months ago and I have had no problems using other sim cards since) and not a "broken sim card reader".

I managed to get in contact with my previous service provider in Denmark and I was told that this was an issue that had appeared several times after updating this and earlier generation iPhones. It appears as if the software update resets the registered "unlocking" of the phone, I.e. It will register as if it is locked to the earlier service provider again. All I had to do was to provide my old service provider with the IMEI number and they then made sure to unlock it again and everything was working as it should within 2-3 hours. He seemed a bit surprised that Apple was not aware of this problem as it was not new to them. However, I would like to point out that the very same service provider in Sweden had no clue how to solve this and did not appear to have encountered this problem before. I believe selected individuals knows about this but not the entire tech support crew. My suggestion to Apple is to have a closer dialogue with the service providers and make sure this issues get communicated throughout the organization. The same would go for the service providers.

I hope this will help you!

But this would mean, that mostly replacement iPhones have such issues and the "previous" provider is unknown...

I have the same issues like described (in germany with T-Mobile network and a replaced iPhone).

OK this is thankfully my last update to this. I HAVE ANOTHER iPHONE 4....

My new phone is is iPhone 4S 64G - which is very sexy BTW and it was the only way to get a working iphone before today, because as you may read from my previous posts ever since the IOS update it became DEAD/LATE/an ex iphone..

That was until today when I go to attend the Genius Bar at an Apple Store, who as always very kind etc etc initially said that it was out of warranty (even though they supplied this particular phone to me in April this year as the previous iPhone died, and the one previous to that also had a faulty mute button), anyhow..... They did replace it free of charge as it was apparently something to do with the update (IOS5). Before I left the store I asked then to perform the update for me just to make sure.... And hey presto I now have a spare iphone 4 should anything go wrong with the 4s.

An expensive few days, but resolved. How glad am I that I had the iPad2, as that had all my email, appointments and contacts.

Best of luck everyone, my suggestion - go to your local Apple Store, and you too should get a nice replacement.

Did they tell you not to update your new replacement phone to ios5? Nevermind- I see they put ios5 on the 4 (not the 4s right?) in the store.

Sorry meant to make it clear - the guys in the Apple Store updated it to IOS5 before I left.

So both are now IOS5. Just a quick note... SIRI on the 4s it amazing and amusing.....🙂

🙂 In Norway we can buy direct from Apple Store, and use IPhone 4 on the provider we want use, in Norway and another country. Apple don't know were we will use the IPhone. Not a a problem at all. The IPhone and provider is only locked if you buy the phone with a lock-in period. After the lock-in period the phone can be used on the provider you want use in Norway and another country. The update was not a problem for all the IPhone/IPad we had from the first buying time, only the replacment IPhone have this issues, and the phone was coming directly from Apple Store. We don't have any lock-in period on none of the IPhone/Ipad we have in house. Apple is working with this case now, and hopefully they find a solution shortly for all of us. We must be patient. 🙂

I too have been screwed over by the update!

I tried to update my iPhone 4 yesterday and then my phone said I had no service and said my SIM card wasn't supported. I called Apple Care who directed me to At&t, who then directed me back to an At&t store to get a new SIM card. They tried 2 other SIM cards and none of them work. I have been rebooting my phone as they suggested for the last 12 hours. I also exited iTunes and turned off my phone and then re-opened iTunes and turned back on the phone (a suggestion I had found on line)...still didn't work! I have an appointment today with the genius bar, I just hope they haven't run out of replacement iPhones from having to exchange all the phones their update messed up!!!

This ***** 😟

OK ... So here's one reason why "replacement phones" might be vulnerable to this upgrade / wipeout issue.

Have just returned from Mr Genius' iPhone Bar here in London, trying to sort out the "non supported SIM" issue.

In my case, after 2+ hours of forensic work, one of the previous IMEI numbers, of one of my previous iPhones, was entered incorrectly by Apple (in the Store), It appeared to not belong to my carrier O2 UK.

This has not been an issue before, as I have swapped out a number of phones (that is, lost & dropped phones) but it appears the iOS-5 upgrade is a bit more rigorous and requires IMEI & SIM records to line up. For me, case closed, but it shows could be a myriad of reasons why older, perhaps lax processes will get exposed by iOS-5.

So, I think this is the area to look to solve such problems. It appears Apple is responsible for issuing IMEI / Serial Numbers against a supported network and the network just issues the SIM for billing, but both need to align.

The one curious take-away from my Genius friend ... If Apple registers in their system & activates on the Carrier any iPhone, regardless of the IMEI or SIM, within 10 minutes of each other, the validity of the IMEI is not checked by either party. Jailbreak opportunity ... ?

did u got ipad (06.15) baseband????

i do, and thats what happened to me!"

OK... Here's what you need to do if you have NOT done the jailbreak... I, like you, was very frustrated with the whole update process. In my case, I had been through several phones for various reasons. At some point, they did not have the corrected IMEI and ICCID numbers in the system and that was why I was having the issues that you are having. My guess is that in the one of the instances where these numbers were not sent to Apple's data repository with the rest of the information...

This may not be the case with your phone, but it was the case with mine and I was seeing the VERY same message. There is hope; this may be your problem too. I'm hoping that you'll find this to be the issue as I have found. I am now texting and connected back to civilization (WHEW!). I hope this helps at least a few, if not all of you out there and a HUGE!!! HUGE!!! Thanks to the great people at Apple! Things in the IT world will always go wrong. The question is... Who do you have on the front lines? Apple has great people on the front lines...

Exact same problem here in Ireland, does anyone know who registers the ICCID number on an Iphone 4 , as i brought the phone into the O2 shop and my micro sim worked fine in another iphone 4 (ios4) but still doesnt work on my phone since upgrading to ios5 , this is joke , how long does it take to release a fix or a tweak !

Same problem in New Jersey USA. My wife had a replacement iPhone 4. Yesterday I updated myniphone 4 went perfectly. When I tried to update her phone with ios5 all **** broke loose. I got the sim card was not valid message on I tunes and the phone. She was ****** off at me when all I was doing was trying to help. So I drove an hour and a half away to short hills NJ after another two hours and two sim card replacements they swapped the phone. I went home and figured new sim new phone great.. Tried it again and boom same friggen thing............ Sim not valid went to norther NJ store at Tice Corner and another two hours and two sim cards the replaced te phone again. Have an appointment at apple Garden State Plaza Monday we will see what happens.......

If you don't mind me asking, is this something they can fix at the store level or is it something they need to escalate?

Had the same problem on my ipad, just fixed it. Did a hard shut down, both the power and home button together. Then removed and reinserted the sim card, started it back up and it worked!!! Tried before just shutting down with the power key..didnt work...must do a hard shutdown. Removing the sim is easy, just use a paper clip..