how to activate iphone 5 without sim card

spirogrinder wrote:

either that or ill just replace the motherboard... i have one trick up my sleeve... let you know how i go!

We cannot discuss unauthorized modifications here.

Best of luck.

thanks. i cant think what else to do. i dont know how to sell it on china ebay... its all in chinese.. so what else are my options really ... apple wouldnt help me.

buddy, i had the same question

i on bell network (canada)

i went to them, they put in a dumy sim and it SIM DEADLOCK IT, and than took it out

now i can use it as an ipod, hope this works

i think everyone understands that you need a sim, but what kind of a sim? if your phone is locked, can you just use any sim to get it activated or do you need the providers sim?

If the iPhone is locked to a wireless provider, the sim must be from that wireless

provider but it does not have to be from an active account.

If the phone is carrier locked, it can ONLY be activated (and used) with a SIM from the carrier it's locked to.

in Europe you can buy an unlocked retail iphone.

The apple shop can activate the phone for you. Then you can setup and use the phone. For example, you may need to order a nano sim card from your carrier or have a sim card with a pin code, things that keep you from activating the phone.

If the shop activates the phone, this solves the problem.

In theory, any non-pin-locked nano sim card can unlock the phone in this circumstance.

This was my problem with a new iphone 5s and the apple shop fixed it.

None of which is relevant in ANY way to the question that was asked.

One, as others have noted, you need a sim card and cannot get around it.

Two, this is one way that a user can activate their iphone if they want to use it without a sim card which is exactly the original question.

OK?

<deleted>

okay first find a sim just in general even just a sim that you cant even use is find then if you are using iphone 5s you know the little yellow box thing in the sim cut just around it and put it in the sim slot and push the sim slot in the iphone then TADAA it was say try again a few times but it WILL work okay 😀

Not quite.

Older CDMA only devices from Verizon that didn't equipped a sim card could be unlocked to be used with secondary (rebranded) carriers that use Verizon's towers (under leasing agreements)

Newer LTE Verizon devices are CDMA/GSM hydrids that equip both a CDMA and GSM radio, and can be unlocked to used with other GSM carriers (though as of mid 2013, most Verizon LTE devices were unlocked to be used with non-US GSM services out-of-box; devices such as Samsung GS4, Note 3, Apple iPhone 5, 5c, and 5s)

Older LTE devices (S3 for example) are not unlocked out-of-box, but can be unlocked to use other sims the same way the phones listed above can.

ngocdao wrote:

Older CDMA only devices from Verizon that didn't equipped a sim card could be unlocked to be used with secondary (rebranded) carriers that use Verizon's towers (under leasing agreements)

Which means the phone is being used on Verizon's network, as I noted back in October.

Youre information on Verizon LTE phones, while accurate, is not terribly relevant to my post.

Best of luck.

Is this a technical or a legal requirement? I question whether this is yet another not exactly private policy of Apple. In many nations and carrier getting a SIM card is not anonymous.

What is the NEED for a SIM card in the sense of why was the iphone designed to not be setupable without a SIM. Hmm, even evil Google does not require that if memory servces me correctly I travel between many nations and I don't want to tied down to any one nation's communication system. I buy new SIMs in every nation. But most of all I find it annoying as this requirement is *potentially* an obstacle to privacy.

P.S. I should add that my iphone is not locked to a particular carrier. The pricetag tells it.

It has nothing to do with privacy. There must be a SIM in the phone to Restore it. The SIM does not have to be an active SIM. It can be an expired SIM from any carrier.

If you are concerned about privacy don't ever use any telephone, whether cellular, landline or VOIP. And don't meet anyone on any street, or go into any store or office building or the home of anyone you know; there may be a security camera watching you.