Q: sim card not valid after update to ios 5

So I've read through this thread and it seems my problem, while similar is ..different.

I was in Canada for the first half of the year, my phone had an accident in the snow so I decided to buy the newly released white iPhone4 before I flew home to New Zealand.

In the Apple store in Vancouver I stressed that I would be using the phone in NZ so it needed to be unlocked which the guy assured me it was and that there is a world wide warranty and I would have absolutely no problems, Also unlike most of you my phone wasn't a replacement, it was a brand spanker!

However, like most of you, all previous updates worked a treat, no issues. iOS5 however has locked my phone.

I get the error "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 Carriers store to receive a replacement SIM card."

Obvioulsy my phone didn't come with a SIM, so I went down to my local Vodafone and they tried a few different SIMs in there with no luck.

I called the Apple support line which asked me to try a restore and to call back if that didn't work.

It didn't work and I called back, spent 2 hours on hold and decided after reading this thread while on hold that I would just drive down the road to the local apple store.

Turns out, the Apple resellers here (YOOBEE/MagnumMac) don't support the iPhone at all, that's done by another company called Brightpoint, which don't support software only hardware. So I was a little confused as how I would go about my warranty. Called Apple support line again, 3 hours on hold, gave up.

A day later I called back, and after 2 hours on the phone I'm waiting for a call back - which he said would be Thursday/Friday at the latest.

Oh, while I was on the call to Apple support the first time the guy on the other end of the phone confirmed that my phone was factory unlocked.

I will reply back after I have spoken to the Apple techs again.. hopefully soon.

Hey guys i came up with an idea, but im not sure if it will work. What if we borrow a friends mirco SIM card who also has an iphone and start up our iphone. And once we are on the home screen, you could switch back SIM cards and get ur signal back..... is this possible? i havent tried yet.

Hey guys i came up with an idea, but im not sure if it will work. What if we borrow a friends mirco SIM card who also has an iphone and start up our iphone. And once we are on the home screen, you could switch back SIM cards and get ur signal back..... is this possible? i havent tried yet.

JV14 - If you're having the same problem I had, it won't work.  I tried this twice at the Apple store and once at AT&T and nothing work.  All indications are that it is a firmware problem.  So, no matter what sim you try in that phone, it won't work.  I ended up getting two replacement phones from Apple, restored at home to 4.3.5, got my phone working again and am now waiting for the next update.

I'm so disappointed with Apple.  After having my almost new iphone 4 stolen recently, I went back to using my old 3GS.  Just did a 5.0 software update and getting the message "No sim card, insert a sim card" in itunes and "Your iphone could not be activated because the activation server is temporarily unavailable.  Try connecting your iphone to itunes to activate it, or try again in a couple of minutes" 

The problem persisted after removing and reinserting sim card, rebooting etc...Tried the online express support in this site and the screen keeps freezing! Tried calling apple support directly and after entering the serial number the voice prompt will not allow me to talk to a tech person unless I agree to pay $35 for one-time support fee!  ***! This is ridiculous! My phone was working perfectly fine before this update!

Some of you have said that the update may have damaged the sim but my sim works fine when I inserted into my old old nokia phone.  Does this mean that my phone is useless now?!  Is it worth to buy another sim card from my carrier and try? Any input would help.  Thanks.

On another note, if so many of Apple's customers are experiencing this problem I'm so disappointed as to why they havent taken any action...another example of Apple's problem with admitting failure.  I have an imac and iphone and was considering a mac book pro and this incident is making me re-think my faith in Apple

Just take your 3GS to your Carrier and have them try a SIM in it before you buy one. Or use a friends SIM.

Either way, I doubt it will work sadly.. if your SIM works fine in other phones its probably not the cause :/

Well I have bad news...Yesterday I had AT&T update my IMEI number. Tonight I decided to take a chance and update to IOS 5 once again. Well guess what I got the same message that..."The SIM card inserted in this iPhone does not appear to be supported" so it looks like it has nothing to do with the IMEI number!!!! Now once again I will have to go to Apple tomorrow and get my 5th iPhone replacement!!!!!!

Hey Girish... Did you find any fix for it yet?? I have also got the same problem by trying to upgrade..

Ladies and Gentlemen. My phone is now working.

The porblem IS the mismatched Serial number. All you have to do is get an agent on the phone and make sure they forward you to a senior agent.

Make sure you read all the messages in this thread between MacDevil7334 and myself so that you're informed before you speak to a representative at Apple.

Basically, you have to make sure that your IMEI and your Serial number matches the IMEI and Serial number at your service provider and at Apple. Then you just need to restore your phone and, VOILA.

By the time I finished this message my phone completed its restore. I now have a functional iPhone 4 replacement - No extra cost, no second replacement.

Well done! It's nice to know I won't have to freak out about restoring my iPhone any more!

BTW. The senior advisor I spoke to was Glen Hoover. He knows his stuff and is pleasant to speak to.

He might regret giving me his name though.

hi..

and for those, like me that don't have a Apple Store near by..? my nearest Apple Store stays 400 Km away...

What can i do to someone from Apple to fix the problem for me..?

I really need your help guys, because i can't make 400 Km to go to a Apple Store...

Well, I actually manage to pass the activation screen, by keep pressing Recall button technique, but now imy iPhone never have network... is allways without service..

and call them is useless, as you all know...

thank you all..

My phone is also now functional.

I got through to a 2nd level technician who said my phone was reporting its original status (Spanish Vodafone, where im 3 Australia).

He got me to send through a copy of my original handsets proof of purchase with IMEI and he would link the phone back to my current IMEI.

Took about 48hours but now my iphone 4 is functional after 6 days of not having a phone.

Hope this helps

Does anybody know if this Serial/IMEI number mismatch issue could also affect "officially" SIM unlocked iPhones?

Should I call apple? Or my network(3) ? Or both of them?

And I will ask them to match my IMEI number on my phone with the one in their database.

Is there anything else I need to to do like matching also the serial number, too ??

Thanks.

:(((