iOS 11 and Tracfone/Verizon lock APN profile, so no data on any new carrier

Sorry, Lawrence, I left something out of my OP. What I described applies to the Bring Your Own Phone (BYOP) program. Your comment may apply to phones purchased from Tracfone but not to iPhones brought into BYOP. I have no info on phones offered by TF. But I am sure that Tracfone does not lock BYOP iPhones.

To expand further on my OP: I have never had a problem inserting a foreign SIM and immediately getting voice and SMS. I have done this many times with at least 5 different iPhones. If the phone were locked as you described, there would be no voice or SMS.

Until last November, I also did not have a problem with getting cellular data with my foreign SIMs. It was only starting mid or late last year that people with Tracfone on Verizon started reporting the problem I described.

The solution I describe does not require any contact with TF or unlocking of the phone. For RobCrombie and anyone else with a similar problem, there is apparently a second solution. That is, get a new Tracfone/Verizon SIM card. The newest SIM cards do not have the problem with APN Profiles being hidden and unremovable. I haven't tried this myself yet. I just got a new SIM card and will try it later this week.

The way to tell if you have an old or new SIM card: If you see Verizon on the top of the phone screen, just to the right of the signal bars, you have an older SIM card. If you see "TFW", you have a newer one.

Solution update:

This is an update on my trials and travails in getting past the Tracfone/Verizon APN Profile problems that interfere with cellular data. This applies to iPhones used in Tracfone's BYOP (bring your own phone) program when taken to a foreign country and used with a foreign SIM card. Starting some time in 2017, Tracfone did something that would effectively block access to cellular data though not to voice and SMS.

My earlier efforts solved the problem of a hidden, unremoveable Tracfone/Verizon APN profile locking the phone from any other SIM card's cellular data. Tracfone had no solution. Apple insisted the only solution was to reinitialize the phone to factory settings and reinstall everything from scratch, not from an iTunes backup.

My solution involved using iBackupBot on my PC to delete the problem profile from an iTunes backup and then restore the phone from that backup. IBackupBot is fully useable in its free trial version. Then I went to flexserve.net to install an APN profile for Tracfone/Verizon that could be removed later easily. I have posted the details elsewhere. This is not a simple solution. At least, it does not require jailbreaking the iPhone.

I recently found out that Tracfone made some changes to its Verizon-compatible SIM cards last year. It seemed that people with that new SIM cards might not be having the hidden APN profile problem reported by so many others, presumably with older SIM cards. You have an older SIM card if on your screen, next to the signal bars, it says "Verizon". You have a newer card if it says "TFW".

I first bought a new Tracfone SIM pack on Amazon for $6. It was in sealed Tracfone packaging so presumably legitimate. When I tried to activate it, the Tracfone support person insisted that the SIM card was not compatible. I have heard this so many times over the years that I would bet money the TF support person was mistaken. I also know it could take multiple calls back and requests for supervisors before finding someone who would discover that my SIM card was, indeed, compatible. Instead, I found a supervisor who agreed to just send me a new SIM card.

I got the new SIM quickly via Fedex Overnight, no charge. It only took one support person and 30 minutes to activate it with my old Tracfone phone number on my iPhone SE. Voice and data (with the flexserve.net APN profile for Tracfone still installed) worked right away. Then I began my tests.

1. Remove new TF SIM card from the iPhone SE and install my French GSM SIM card. I can use this card in the US and in many other countries. I immediately got voice using the French network roaming over AT&T. I had to remove the flexserve.net Tracfone/Verizon profile to get data. That is exactly how it should work when travelling.

2. Reinstall the TF SIM card in the iPhone SE. Now I am getting voice and data from Tracfone over Verizon, again as I should. I see no profile in Settings. I also verified using iBackupBot that there is no hidden profile installed. So cellular data is now working without a profile.

If this situation (no profile needed for Tracfone cellular data) stays unchanged}, then the new SIM has completely solved the problem.

3. What I don't know yet is if at some point Tracfone will try to install an APN Profile. This is what always happened before. If it does, then the question will again be whether that profile can be removed when you install a new, foreign SIM card. If yes, then all is as it should be. If not, we're back to square 1 except we know how to fix this.

4. Just out of curiosity, I briefly installed the new Tracfone SIM card in my iPhone 5s. In my past experience, a Tracfone SIM card would only work in the phone where it was activated. This time it worked in the changed phone, both for voice and data. Since my test was brief, I cannot be sure that there isn't a lag in Tracfone servers that might later have blocked this alternate phone.

I will report back if anything changes.

I call 800-378-9575. I think it starts the automated reply by saying "Tracfone dealer support" or something like that. I don't think dealers get any better support than regular customers. In any case, I have always gotten to a person by selecting "all other options."

Other users have suggested asking for the "number porting" department. This is when you want to move an old number to a Tracfone. But it also gets you to more experienced, often native English-speaking support. Then forget about the number porting and just tell them what you need.

Junn9, I don't understand your problem. Let's make sure we both understand the issue first.

I started in the US with an iPhone and a US carrier sim card. It happens to be Tracfone using Verizon network, but it could have been one of several other carriers in the US, including Verizon itself directly.

Tracfone/Verizon forced an APN profile onto my iPhone to get cellular data with them. The profile was hidden on the iPhone and could not be seen or deleted the way most profiles can be.

When I got to France, I switched in a Free.fr sim card. It worked for voice and sms, but not for cellular data or mms. The reason was that the US carrier's apn profile blocked Free.fr from working. I went through a long process to find the way using iBackupBot to remove the US carrier's apn profile from my iPhone. To understand the process, it is best to go back to the beginning of this thread. There are more details here.

I don't understand your question about finding a sim card. If you are in the UK, you need a UK carrier sim card. If you are talking about ordering a Tracfone sim card, I don't think you can order one from the UK. In any case, it would have to be activated while in the US and would not work at all outside the US.