Restoring from AT&T to Verizon--Lost Ability to Access Data

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Restoring from AT&T to Verizon--Lost Ability to Access Data

Hi,

I recently purchased a Verizon iPhone 5. I was using an iPhone 4, on AT&T. When I restore from a previous backup, I lose the ability to connect to the Verizon LTE/3G Network, getting a "You are not subscribed to a cellular service." I tried restoring from both a recent backup and a prior. Also, this is happening on both my mother's phone and mine, we have different computers. We have tried new hardware and a new SIM cards.

Airplane mode flick on/off; resetting network settings; none of it works unless I do a factory reset, in which case I'm back to square one.

I can use my iCloud to get my contacts, but I'm trying to get all of my photos/sms's back too.

iOS, 6.02 or 6.1, depending on the phone.

Thanks for your help,

-dave

iOS 6.1

Posted on Jan 29, 2013 9:57 PM

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Answer 1

sberman

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Jan 29, 2013 10:06 PM in response to daviejoe

I am going to ignore "We have tried new hardware and a new SIM card", because I don't understand it in your context.

With that in mind, I would think you could do Settings > General > Reset > Erase all content and settings on your iPhone 5 with its Verizon SIM, set it up as new, and then sync manually to iTunes to recover your iPhone 4 stuff.

Here's how to manually sync.

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Answer 2

daviejoe Author

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Jan 30, 2013 8:44 AM in response to sberman

Thank you for your quick response. While this helps me move many of my apps, and I can still connect to the verizon data, I still am missing my old SMS's.

Any idea on how to get SMS's merged over?

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Answer 3

sberman

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Jan 30, 2013 4:43 PM in response to daviejoe

I would strongly suspect there's no way to move SMSs originally built on AT&T over to a Verizon setup.

Certainly I don't know of a way to do that.

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Answer 4

Jan 30, 2013 4:47 PM in response to daviejoe

I had done the exact thing you did. I had service with at&t for a couple of weeks but i cancelled and switched to verizon. I just restored from backup onto the new verizon phone from my att phone backup.

no problems, all data there, including previous messages, (smses and imessages), app data, etc.

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Answer 5

KiltedTim

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195,387 points

Jan 30, 2013 5:01 PM in response to electronicsguy

Did you keep the same number, or get a new one? I've been with AT&T since the beginning and never changed my number. It's always worked exactly as you describe, but I could see how changing phone numbers might mess that up. I don't think it should, but stranger things have happened.

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Answer 6

Jan 30, 2013 5:26 PM in response to KiltedTim

you're right I ported my number too.

I dont know either way about the implication of changing the # and restoring onto a new phone. But my guess is - if its properly implemented, everything should restore just like before except something tied to the # like messages (sms). imessages should still be there if you have used the same apple id?

btw Kiltedtim: my take between att and verizon - you're missing out on so much by sticking with att! not to mention no locked phones since the iphone 5, global lte bands, everywhere LTE coverage, etc etc.

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Answer 7

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,387 points

Jan 30, 2013 5:51 PM in response to electronicsguy

AT&T coverage in my area has always been good. There's no real price advantage to switching for me right now, and honestly, the lack of simultaneous voice and data is a deal breaker for me.

To each his own, though. If you're happy with your service, more power to you. :-)

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