Deactivated/Factory reset phone, need help to reactivate for Wi-Fi use. (Verizon, help please???)

[yoshm0]

Hello All,

Hoping someone can help assist me in my bonehead move.

My wife and I recently purchased new iPhones and gave our old phones (Samsung fascinate / galaxy s1) to our small kids (5/7 yrs old).  They absolutely love them as they can take pics, videos, and connect to wi-fi to download and play games.

Well, I thought, why not do a factory reset and wipe everything out on the phone so that there will be more storage space and all the apps that I installed will be gone.?.?  I had already transferred all my pics / videos to my PC so I was ready…  So, I proceeded on and did the factory reset.  Come to find out, now that I did that, I can no longer use the phone.  When I turn on the phone, the first screen asks me to select my language, English or Espanol.  I select English and then it forwards me to the next screen.  The next screen says, "Press Send to activate your phone".  When I click on Send, it requires me to enter my mobile phone number so that it can begin the activation of the phone.

I do not want to activate this old phone to use for calls, I just want to fix the phone so that my kids can continue to use it for taking pics, videos, and connect to wi-fi.  My issue is, I can't get past the Activation screen to use the phone.  I only screwed up 1 of our 2 Samsung Fascinates, but the one I screwed up is the one I gave my son.  He's the one who LOVES downloading games and using the phone. 

Can someone please help?  Perhaps there is a activation number I can use to bypass that activation screen?

Any help is much appreciated!

Thank you in advance!

Sincerely,
Bonehead

[yoshm0]

Can someone from Verizon please help???

[rcschnoor]

Your best course of action MAY be to momentarily reactivate the phone on your line, set it up with what you want your son to have, and then reactivate your new phone back on your line.

[yoshm0]

rschooner,

First off, thank you for your quick response!

So, I'm getting mixed messages/solutions from Verizon.

I first called up Verizon support and they suggested to take it the phone into the Verizon store and they can bypass the activation, so I did.

I get to the Verizon store and they are quite busy.  They took my name and I waited patiently for my turn.  Some 30 minutes later, I get called over by a young man who came off as some smart @ss know it all punk kid!  Considering I was in a hurry, I bit my tongue and I explained my issue and asked him if he could bypass the activation and reset my phone, and he quickly quipped, "NO" he can't bypass it.

So, I thought the same thing as you are suggesting.  Why not activate the old phone using my phone number, then reactivate my new phone.  I asked him this, and he said I can't do that because it would burn out my sim card on my new phone and I'd have to buy a new sim card.  So I ask, so is this phone now basically useless?  He said, "yes".

I don't know who to believe?  Was he just being a punk, or is what he saying really true?

So confused!

Thanks in advance for your help!

[AZSALUKI]

you can most certainly reactivate it. the punk kid was correct though, that it will make your sim card useless. HOWEVER, sim cards are free at verizon corporate stores. activate the old phone. set up the wifi network on it. turn it off. take your current phone in to a verizon store and tell them you need to reactivate it. they will give you a new sim card and bam! you're set. you really don't even need to mess with verizon employees or explain the situation. just do everything on your own, until you need the sim card and then go to a corporate store.

i'm 99.9% sure that corporate stores don't charge for sim cards, but you may want to check to be sure. i'm wondering if you went to an "authorized verizon retailer" store instead of an actual verizon corporate store. they are next to impossible to tell the difference.

[vzw_customer_support · Accepted solution]

Hello yoshm0! That's awesome that you're giving your kids your older Fascinates, since you both bought new iPhones! I have some good news that should be able to help you out, in order to get your son downloading and playing games on his new phone!

When you are at the activation screen, press the emergency call button, and dial: * # 8 3 7 8 6 6 3 3. Finally press the Home key and voila, you should be at the home screen!

On a personal note I know how much kids love playing their favorite apps on these phones. My nephew is waiting for me to upgrade as well, so he can get my old Thunderbolt. So I am more than happy to assist and get his phone up and running.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us! Thank you yoshm0, let us know if it worked out! rschooner and AZSALUKI, thank you for assisting as well! Everyone take care!

NicandroN_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @vzwsupport

[yoshm0]

Thank you rcschnoor!
Thank you AZSALUKI!

NicandroN_VZW, you're a genius! 

I dialed in the buttons as you suggested and it worked like a charm!

My 5 year old son was all bummed out about me breaking his "new" phone and now the kid's happy again.  The world is all good!

I appreciate your assistance with this!

Now, I'm going to have to swing by the same Verizon Store and school that young punk know it all whippershanapper, who obviously don't know jack diddly, from jack squat!

Thank you all again!  Much appreciated!

[BayGrl]

Thanks for posting this! I did the EXACT thing 20minutes ago. I wanted to give my old phone to my little brother as a gift. Customer service said my phone was bricked. I have a different phone (code didn't work for mine) but was able to find the answer for my phone (Droid Incredible) using this thread.

Also, gave me hope the I didn't ruin a cool gift!

Thank you!!!

[SantaBanta]

Hi I have the same issue but the phone is Droid Global 2.. Does anyone know the code for my phone.. Really will help me do the same thing that yoshm0 was trying to do...

Anyhelp with my phone getting re-activated will be appreciated.

Regards

Santa.

[AZSALUKI]

you can try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APGefy3K0no

it works on most androids i think (or it used to). i couldn't find your code.