iPhone sim unlock with Verizon Wireless

You don't give us any idea of how long ago you made the request and they agreed to unlock it. There is nothing much we can do about it. Contact Verizon and ask what the status is.

I too have done exactly what was mentioned in the first post by Kilroy126. I first called Verizon and recieved confirmation that my SIM slot was unlocked for international carriers. Then about two weeks later I ordered and recieved my Truphone SIM in the mail. I activated the SIM through Truphones website (which was confirmed successfull) then replaced the Verizon SIM with the Truphone SIM and attempted to go through the iPhone activation process through iTunes. After performing a restore of the phone and then proceeding with the activation I got the "SIM Card Invalid" message on my iPhone and iTunes. After calling Verizon customer service I got the same explanation that "the phone appears unlock from our end, you need to talk to Apple". So I not only went to an Apple store but called Apples device support. Both told me there's nothing that an Apple rep has to and that once Verizon requests to unlock the device it should work.

Also, I verified that the Truphone SIM works by inserting it into my old unlocked T-Mobile myTouch and everything worked fine (was able to access my voicemail system from the phone and dial into the Truphone "add credit" number). So something is definitely not working with the Verizon iPhone.

It's extremelly frustrating that neither Verizon nor Apple can really provide a good technical explanation for why this is occurring.

Any help with this matter would be greatly appreciated. In the meantime if I have any luck, I will post back with my comments.

Verizon iPhones are primarily CDMA phones. They can not be activated using a GSM SIM of any kind. If it is not active on Verizon's network, then it can not be used at all.

Do you have Verizon service?

Normally, you would not try to re-activate the phone. You would simply install the local SIM you want to use and select the correct network if necessary.

You can not use ANY US GSM carrier with a Verizon or Sprint iPhone. You can ONLY use the SIM slot for international roaming.

KiltedTim thanks for your fast response.

I understand that Verizon phones are CDMA phones. And I've done the exhuastive forum searches online to understand the process (although I have seen major differences in the success rate of other who have tried to use Truphone with the Verizon iPhone 4s).

From what I've read, Verizon will allow you to use an international SIM in your phone and the process for getting your phone working with an international sim is to:

1) Call Verizon (global services) and have them unlock the SIM slot for foreign SIM cards.

2) Turn phone off and replace the Verizon SIM in the SIM tray of the iPhone 4s with your foreign SIM.

3) Turn phone on. It will tell you that "Activation is required". I can confirm that this happens when I turn the iPhone 4s on with Truphone SIM inserted.

4) Connect to phone to iTunes with a cable or "iCloud" services and allow the activation process to complete.

5) When complete the iPhone should show that you are roaming on whatever local GSM network exists. (Can't confirm this occurs, but form other forums others have been able to successfully get to this point.)

Sorry if this explanaition is overkill but I wanted to show what I meant by activation. Also this is the process that has been explain on many other forums.

So from this process I interpret the following has to happen to allow the phone to use foreign SIMs:

1) Verizon somehow notifies the apple servers that communicate with iPhone devices that device with serial number "xyz" can use foreign SIMs.

2) The user has to then allow the phone to "communicate" with the Apple server to get the updated SIM unlock settings. You do this by connecting via Wi-Fi or through iTunes (depending on whether you choose to allow the phone to activate via Wi-Fi or tethered via cable to iTunes).

And finally, I totally understand that I cannot use any US GSM carrier with Verizon iPhone (T-mobile or Sprint). And perhaps this were the problem lies. I am trying to get the iPhone to work while I'm still in the US and not already abroad. It's just funny that others have been able to connect to GSM networks with a Truphone SIM inserted while still in the US (search for this article on ZDNet: International Travelers: Here is how to SIM unlock your Verizon Apple iPhone 4s). I guess I'm under the assumption that a Truphone is an international roaming provider.

Sorry forgot to add: I do have Verizon and have been using them with my iPhone 4s for over 6 months now.

That may well be your problem. Truphone may have an International presence, but they also have a presence in the US. If you are using a Trumobile SIM acquired in the US, it will not work. Ever. If you had, for example, an O2, or Orange SIM, or (presumably) a Trumobile SIM from somewhere like France, it should connect in the US IF you forcibly disable the CDMA portion of the phone, but you will be using International roaming on that foreign SIM card to connect to the US network.

Yeah I was curious about what exactly constitutes an US SIM card. I'm guessing there's some coded information on the SIM that differentiates what country the SIM is issued in.

KiltedTim while I understand what you are saying about SIM's from US carriers not being allowed to ever work (Ithis is clear for carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile), I still question whether this statement is valid in the case of Truphone. I only say this because if you do a search on the title of the blog I posted earlier (as well as other searches) you will see that other Verizon customers have had success with using a Truphone SIM in a Verizon iPhone 4s. One blog author stated that he recieved a Truphone SIM with a local seattle number and it worked fine on his phone. I don't see how my situation is any different, but I guess it is (otherwise I wouldn't be writing this!).

Anyway, if I have any major revelations about this I will be sure to share the info.

That's good news kilroy. I will be traveling to the UK and Germany next week and would like to hear more about your experience with this. I've already ordered and recieved the Truphone SIM and called Verizon to set up international SIM usage.

You mentioned something about messing with the phone settings, what exactly did you have to do? Did you have to modify the network settings (like International CDMA or Data/Phone roaming settings)?

I agree that there should be something that people can see to know if the phone is unlocked. But I guess that would be against the cell carriers best interests.