4S (Verizon) won't work without SIM...
Did some searching on my specific issue and, while I found plenty of threads discussing how the 4S doesn't require a SIM to work, I didn't find any that addressed this quagmire...which seems to be that my phone IS requiring a SIM to be activated.
Yesterday, I took the SIM card out of my iPhone 4S before selling it. Phone booted fine -- everything loaded, connected to WiFi, etc. When the SIM was in the phone said 'Verizon 1x' in the top left corner (despite having service shut off for over a month). Once I took it out it said 'No Service.' Seemed fine and logical.
The couple I sold the phone to brought it to Verizon and were not able to activate it. They went to two stores (as well as an Apple store), and they all gave conflicting information. First, they were told they needed a 3G SIM (which no one seemed to carry). But in the end, they were told the phone was probably 'broken.' I spent some time on the phone with the Verizon store asking them to explain 'how' it was broken. They couldn't explain except to say that the 4S doesn't require a SIM card and should work fine without it (which it did for 3 years uninterrupted before I disconnected service last month). So, from their point of view, broken.
I took the phone back from the couple and they said it seemed like no one knew what they were talking about -- except when they were trying to upsell them to other models, of course. I inserted my old SIM to show them that the phone would read 'Verizon 1x'...but instead it still said 'No Service.' OK, now I'm curious what happened to my phone in the few hours it was gone...
It's possible that the couple 'broke' it somehow (which I don't suspect them of), or that something happened in the multiple times the store tried to restore the phone. But everything else still works fine -- looks the same. I suspect something really trivial is being overlooked here.
The only possible lead I have to go on was when Verizon's asked if I ever took it out of the country. I have, but don't remember if I used the phone service internationally or just WiFi. In any case, it didn't seem to inspire any solutions from them even if I did roam elsewhere.
Obviously, I want to get this figured asap. It's a good phone, no issues (besides this). But I really want to make sure all is good on the service side before I resell. I can't believe Verizon is at a total loss on this one. Am I the first person in the history of the 4S this has happened to?
