''Sim Not Valid'' on activation screen! *PLEASE HELP*

carolfromsan luis obispo wrote:

HI Lawrence,

I have read your responses to the above questions. I am having the exact same problem. I am in Bulgaria and purchased two different sim cards from two of the three telecom companies here. Neither works. I get the same message as stated above. When I asked about GSM network rather than CDMA they people don't know anything about that. Is there a setting on the phone that governs GSM vs CDMA or is the carrier itself? If all of the carriers here are CDMA - do I have any options? Thanks in advance for all of your help.

Carol

So called "CDMA SIM" cards will not work in an iPhone, regardless of whether it is unlocked. If you have something your carrier is calling a CDMA SIM, it won't work.

Hi deggie,

I have an iPhone 6s plus from Verizon. Thanks for any help.

That should work if you are attempting to use a GSM network and they can give you the necessary carrier settings. There could have been an error in Apple's database, you need to contact Apple directly and have them check the lock status of the GSM side of your iPhone.

This is an excellent and accurate summary of the situation. I had the exact some issue. I asked the Apple Tech to read it and he agreed - sent the problem to the engineers and it was fixed. Thanks for such a well written explanation.

Hi to all. I'm from Ukraine. Bought iphone on ebay from USA. Now have same problem with activation policy. Contact with apple, they tell me that this is replaced iphone and I need tell them original Serial Number. But seller don't answer to me. I bought gsx-report but receive results No replacements info found! Maybe anyone know where i can find original SN? Thanks

There is no way to find out. The phone you bought is worthless. Get a refund if you can.

i cannt receive refund.((

Then file a claim with eBay. They have buyer protection.

I'm having the same issue and have tried multiple Sim cards. At this point my iPhone is a brick and I could notcare less about cell service. It's an Apple device. Why can't Apple bypass the carrier and activate it's own devices?

Because the cellular carrier it is locked to "owns" the lock. Apple does not have the legal right to remove or bypass the carrier lock without the consent of the carrier.

na

carolfromsan luis obispo wrote:

This (Re: ''Sim Not Valid'' *SOLUTION/RESOLVED*) is an excellent and accurate summary of the situation. I had the exact some issue. I asked the Apple Tech to read it and he agreed - sent the problem to the engineers and it was fixed. Thanks for such a well written explanation.

Happy to be able to help! Thank you for the note. 🙂

Okay, so I have been having this problem with my iPhone 6 from Verizon for over a year with two replacement phones. Won't go into all the details but basically as soon as I reached Hong Kong my phone said Sim not valid. Then went to Australia, same thing happened. Then India etc.. Whenever I called Apple or Verizon they blamed each other. So after a replacement phone, this same problem kept happening when I traveled overseas. Just a note, the first time it happened, I was using an iPhone six replacement phone and obviously the second time it happened (second trip) it was a replacement phone because they could not resolve the issue why it happened previously. It's amazing this problem could not be resolved but last night, can you believe it, they finally solved it. The Verizon global support told me to wipe my phone, then reinstall the software. I told them all of this is already been done numerous times, and challenged him to find the answer. He put me on hold and called tech support and Apple. When he came back on the line he said something very interesting happened. After giving the IMEI # to Apple, Apple told him that my iPhone 6 was locked by tracphone, an American company owned by a Mexican Telecom. So I said how can a Mexican telecom lock a Verizon Sim and iPhone. He said "that is a very good question". So I stayed on hold while he got more information. When he came back online he said that he called TracFone and they have unlocked my device. When I queried him about how TracFone could have locked my device he said "your replacement device could have been theirs before" then he became a little nervous when I pressed for more information. I said obviously this doesn't make me comfortable because you haven't solved the problem why it happened and told your customers what is really happening. The agent then kept putting me on hold and stonewalling until he eventually I'm up on me 10:15 PM last night April 7 2016 Eastern standard time. At Verizon you cannot get back to a specific agent even if they hang up on you on purpose. When I traveled overseas, no foreign Sim would work (i.e. Airtel, Aircel etc) it has taken this long for someone to find out what is really happening. All this sounds very illegal to me since the documentation comes with the iPhone 6 says that the phone is unlocked. Now we know for a fact that some of these phones are refurbished and were being used in foreign countries and still have restrictions on them. Sounds like another Volkswagen type corruption scheme. How many hours this has wasted of my life, I cannot tell you. The fact that the Verizon agent hung up on me when I demanded an explanation, tells me they are certainly hiding something. Conspiracy stories really bother me because they are rarely based in fact. What I have told you here, I would swear on in any court of law. I mean really Tracphone? Are they getting copies of my information as well? Am I still on their network? Can they listen to my communications? How crazy is this?

CSAI108

First of all, if a phone is under what is essentially an “international lock”, it will only work “domestically”. Therefore it does not matter what country you are in (Hong Kong, Australia, India, etc.), no foreign sim will work because of the “international lock”. There is nothing illegal going on by any parties involved.

A replacement phone is just that, one that was turned in most likely due to a hardware problem like a cracked screen, button problem, or other, that was fixed. Apple repairs them, ensures that all hardware passes inspection, and they are used as refurbished/replacement phones whether they came from Mexico or not. That’s good business, and environmentally responsible. Nothing new there.

Your customer service person may not necessarily have been nervous, he just simply couldn’t answer your question because he didn’t know the answer. Please see my post here https://goo.gl/4WQYqe which will inform you that this issue is relatively unknown by most customer service representatives.

Wiping a phone and reinstalling software will not change the “domestic vs international lock” on a phone. if you read my post at the link I provided, you will see that it can only be amended by Apple’s Engineering department.

Since most people are not traveling internationally, most people never run into the problem of their phones not working in a different country.

It is common knowledge that iPhone 6 and above come “unlocked” ONLY if purchased directly from Apple. Any iPhone 6 and above purchased through a carrier may be locked to that carrier. This is also not new information.

It seems the phone you have was purchased by someone who purchased the phone from a Mexican telecom, therefore the phone was locked to that telecom. There was most likely a hardware problem with the phone so that customer probably got a refurbished/replacement phone like you did. The hardware problem was fixed, and re-introduced into the system as a refurbished/replacement phone. Nothing new there.

An iPhone is an iPhone. It does not matter what country an iPhone was physically damaged in. If there is more demand for iPhone in the US and a Mexican telecom has extra damaged phones that need to be fixed and they happen to be sent to Apple in the US to get them fixed, that’s great. Less e-waste in landfills.

While it is unfortunate that a Verizon person hung up on you, we as consumers need to understand that the person on the other end may not truly know the answer. And that "demanding" an answer from someone who honestly does not know, will not magically yield an answer. And we need to be aware that they are humans too.

Sometimes it takes more investigation to get to the root of an issue.

It was not Verizon's fault. It was not that customer service representative’s fault. It was not the Mexican telecom’s fault. It was not Apple’s fault.

You just happen to have run into this obscure issue as others have.

You will find the complete explanation of the issue here: https://goo.gl/4WQYqe

Well let's see here, where to start. You have made tons of assumptions in your reply so let me clarify some if the issues for you. I am very aware what a locked phone is, unfortunately what apple and Verizon have told me is "this is impossible because we do not make internationally locked phones." This is simply not true. Who has a problem with refurbished phones? not me, it just has to work as promised. I was told on the phone by Apple support, while in australia, to read my user agreement and Verizon has the right to lock the phone.

If it is common knowledge that iPhone 6's are not unlocked if purchased through a carrier (Verizon), why don't we (consumers) know that and more importantly, why don't they (Verizon) know that?

What I did not go into detail about was the conversation with the Verizon representative. Seems you think I was just being bossy but that was not the case.

The representative called Apple with my IMEI and they said it was locked by Tracfone. The rep told me that and I said "why would any carrier have access to my phone since they don't come locked, someone must have locked it. (them: both this and previous phone)" The rep said "that is a very very good question. Let me call Tracfone and find out." He said he would call me back and did, about 10 minutes later. Then he said, "I spoke to Tracfone and they unlocked your phone, all you have to do is restart it." Then I asked why would I have a locked phone by Tracfone? How do I know it will work internationally since these phones are not supposed to be locked? Why did this happen to two replacement phones with original SIM and replacement SIM? The agent said he didn't know. So I asked why he didn't ask the question that he said was a "very very good question" After stonewalling for about 5 minutes by repeating "at this point all we can do is restart the phone", eventually asked me to hold the line while he called Tracfone to get the answer to our question. Then I heard a "Click" and the conversation was no more. I am a long time Verizon customer and very loyal but this smells of someone covering their tracks. A great company like Verizon should have nothing to hide. A previous Global representative at Verizon told me she had two other customers that have the same problem as me and she was currently sending one of them a new SIM overseas to try to solve the problem. So this issue cannot be as rare as you say. She promised to call a contact of hers at Apple and get back to me within 5 days. I never heard back from her and it's been 5 weeks. We customers are human, too and have our limits. If you do business overseas and spend your time on the phone trying to make the $900 iphone6 128 gb work and nothing gets resolved, you would realize there is an obligation on the company's part to fix a major recurring problem instead of blaming Apple. It is not a rare issue. Furthermore, after the wear and tear of countless hours of customer phone support from overseas, customers deserve an explanation of the problem since we have been promised, in the past, that the phone will now be operable overseas. The Verizon agent said "it could be because the phone was with another carrier before you, but this is just speculation." Just speculation I thought, how about finding out some facts for me and the countless others who are in a stalemate with this issue. Am I going to go on international business trips with the representative's guarantee that my phone is unlocked even though they don't make locked phones and have never sold me one? (or two) They can do better.