Q: my iphone 3gs has been restored but it fails to activate my sim card

Hello miss davies,

Thank you for the details of the issue you are experiencing when trying to activate your iPhone.  I recommend the following steps:

Symptoms

Your iPhone may display one of the following messages when you attempt to activate it:

• "Your iPhone could not be activated because the activation server is temporarily unavailable."
• "The SIM card inserted in this iPhone does not appear to be supported"
• "The iPhone is not recognized and cannot be activated for service."
• "iTunes was unable to verify your device."

ResolutionPerform the following steps if you receive one of the messages above:

1. Restart the iPhone.
2. Try another means of reaching the activation server and attempt to activate.
   • Try connecting to a known-good Wi-Fi network if you're unable to activate using a cellular data connection.
   • Try connecting to iTunes if you're unable to activate using Wi-Fi.
3. Restore the iPhone.

If you receive an alert message when you attempt to activate your iPhone, try to place the iPhone in recovery mode and perform a restore. If you're still unable to complete the setup assistant due to an activation error, contact Apple for assistance.

iPhone: Troubleshooting activation issues

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3424

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

Best,

Sheila M.