As I and everyone else can see, customers are having issues activating their iPhone 5 because of alternate upgrades. If the SIM card is currently paired to the number the upgrade came from, the SIM needs to be placed in a Aging Status (AG). If the SIM is NOT paired with a number, you should be able to activate the SIM on any other number (business as usual). What causes a SIM to be paired? If you called the 1-877-807-4646 (IVR), this will pair the SIM with the number the upgrade came from. Powering the phone on may have paired the SIM card as well, as it is a 4g phone.
Removing SIM cards will NOT place the SIM card into Aging Status (AG). Do NOT do a factory reset, this will NOT unpair the SIM card from the number. If you have multiple iPhone 5 devices and they are mixed up, swapping SIM cards will NOT resolve the issue (if they are already paired). What do I do?
- You have to reactivate the previous phone to place the SIM card into Aging Status (AG)
- If you started a new line of service and there is no previous device, a VZ rep will have to place a Dummy ESN on the line to place the SIM card into Aging Status (AG)
- As soon as it's in Aging Status (AG), the SIM can only be paired and activated on the original number
- After 24 hours, the SIM card will switch from Aging Status (AG) and go into a Available, Deactivated (AD) status
- Once in AD status, you can now activate the SIM card on any new or existing number
- If you absolutely want it fixed immediately, you would have to get a new SIM card
What caused this problem in the first place? It's simple, the "transfer upgrade" was not done properly. The upgrade was simply ordered under the line that was eligible to upgrade. That being said, once you turn the phone on, it's ready to be activated under the number the upgrade came from. If the "transfer upgrade" was done properly, the SIM card would have been ready to be paired on the correct number.
I'm creating this topic because I have posted this in many other threads and it seems to be a major issue with a lot of people. Feel free to ask any questions.
Did you know it would be more helpful if you put this in the iPhone 5 space!
I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.
Adam, where have you been all my life? (Or at least since Friday). I plan to attempt to activate once again in a few hours...do I need to have the phones on or off or does it even matter? I have an active iPhone 4 and I want to move my iPhone 5 that is in AG status to that line.
Thanks in advance!
Thank you Adam!
Hi, Ann. Had no iPhone 5 activation issues here...:)) Adam may have known it, but...?..:)) it's great of Adam to take the time to post info like this. I've not heard of this, but with all the online purchases, I don't doubt that there's a plethora of issues that CSRs will be dealing with once those online orders arrive.
Here's how to avoid this problem:
1: gather a cooler, some drinks, chips, and sandwiches.
2: park in front of your local iPhone store at midnight (or based on your locale and anticipated crowd waiting for the store to open)
3: bring yer iPad to help pass the time between the short periods of that quality sleep that's only available sitting behind the wheel of your vehicle (yes, it's PARKED! Someone's gonna ask...:)
4: when everyone starts peeling out of their cars, you can have a seat in your previously-placed lawn chair by the door of the store (in this case, about 5:45am.
5: be the second one in line so you'll be the second one to get an iPhone in the store.
Yes, I actually did this...this is officially called "the hard way.."...:))
No, I won't do it again...
Take care,
Geri O
Hey Adam thanks for all the advice and all of your insightful information. Your information has helped me more than any of the Verizon Customer Service Reps have. Let me tell you of my experience:
I just like a lot of people did the usual activation that it says to do in the box and that the Verizon reps told me to do on the phone that was upgradeable on. Did this and then went to switch to the line I actually wanted it on and obviously as you know this is a no go from the start. So at this point I am not to happy. Call Verizon up and they say wait 24 hours and the sim will age out. Ok no problem. I can handle 24 hours of wait time. 24 hours rolls around and I head to my nearest Verizon store. Rep there starts to do the swap and an error kicks in. He asks me if I have let it sit DEACTIVATED for 24 hours and I tell him I was never told it had to be Deactivated and that I was told it just needed to be on for 24 hours. So now I am not a happy camper because of this and to top it all off the guy who was standing next to me got the last nano sim card for the day. So again this didnt help me at all. Rep told me to come back in the morning today and that they would have new nano sim cards and they will do it this way. While this is going on, the rep tells me that he is reading an email that says the nano sims will be aged at 7am local time every morning. Hmmm very interesting. He doesnt say much more than this. So I go about my day thinking I am going to have to come in in the morning. Well me thinking that it is Sunday the next day and how will they receive a shipment of nano sims on a Sunday, I call the store again and ask someone different if they will get any in and the rep said they would expect them later in the day and that they probably would not have them first thing in the morning. Again another rep telling me something different.
So fast forward about three hours and I decide I am going to see if the 7am local time theory will work, as well as the 24 hour theory as well. Its 5oclock central time in the evening and call Verizon up and have them deactivate my Sim card instead of taking the chance in the morning of going across town and waiting for a nano sim card they may never show up. Rep tells me to do the process again at 5 pm local time once the sim has aged for 24 hours. I have read all over these boards that the 24 hour method does work so I am excited. All last night I tried to see maybe if I put the info in it would show up. I would get all the way past selecting my unlimited plan again and then it would say it can not be completed and this is most likely due to the aging process going on with the sim.
I go to bed last night and wake up this morning around 7:30 local time and I get on MyVerizon and start the swap process to see if the rep at the store was correct in the 7am theory. I get all the way to where I did the night before and now it finally says your phone is now ACTIVATED!!!! So for me and hopefully this will help others, you need to deactivate your sim card and replace with a dummy phone on that line. Then wait until 7am the next morning and try to do the switch in My Verizon. It should work for you and if not just wait the 24 hours then, but I have seen people saying it didnt take 24 hours so Im thinking the 7am theory is the way to go. Sorry If this was a novel to read but I wanted to share my experience and let every one know that it is 7 hours earlier than 24 hours and I am using my Iphone 5 with unlimited on the right line. Hope this works!!! O and thanks again for everything Adam. Verizon needs you to train their staff lol
Is it 24 hours from when the iPhone 5 was deactivated or a full midnight to midnight period after the iPhone 5 was deactivated?
For me it was approx 21 hours from when I deactivated the phone.
It took nearly an hour for the first 8 of us at the Verizon store counter to see our new iPhones activate. God Bless our store people for their tenacity, too! There were various issues and conflicts...I was exchanging an Android 4G phone, another was moving lines around, and activations were running REALLY slow. I guess it's the angst of several hundred thousand iPhones attempting activation at once.
@yr2614 All you did was deactivate your iPhone 5, and then reactivate the original phone? Does the iPhone 5 restore to the activation sequence or did you activate on Myverizon with MEID?
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