Using Unlocked Verizon iPhone (WIFI-ony) Without SIM

March 13, 2017 12:52 PM

I bought an unlocked Verizon iPhone 6 on eBay for (wi-fi only) software testing. Did not come with SIM, and Verizon won't provide a SIM unless I'm a customer (I do have an AT&T SIM in my normal phone). I need, most of all, to check which iOs the phone's running (must be under 10.2.1 or else I'll resell), but I can't get past the welcome screen. How can I check iOs....and, for extra points, use the damn thing wi-fi only - without SIM?
posted by Quisp Lover to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Best answer: I just had to do this. It was very frustrating.

Background: I am an indy iOS developer, and I purchased an unlocked iPhone 6 Plus from Apple to use as a development device. Before buying it, I asked Apple if I would be able to activate it without a cell plan and they assured me I would be able to. When I bought the phone (a year or two ago) I activated it without any problem.

Fast forward to last week: I am working with a new consultant and I wanted to lend her the phone. While we were meeting I decided to factory reset the phone, to make sure all my data was off of it. After doing that I was unable to activate the phone. No matter what I did, I got blocked by a message saying the phone did not have a SIM card.

It used to be the case that you could plug your SIMless phone into a computer and activate it with iTunes. But that apparently no longer works. When I tried to do it, iTunes gave me the same message: the phone has no SIM. It refused to let me do anything with it.

In the end I took the SIM out of my personal iPhone, put it into the iPhone 6 Plus, activated the iPhone 6 Plus, and then returned the SIM to my personal iPhone. It all worked, but it sure was a pain.

I haven't bother to try to track down the full story on this, but I believe what I describe above is the case and what is necessary. You basically need to borrow a SIM to activate the phone.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 12:58 PM on March 13, 2017

Response by poster: Thanks, WtP. I'm assuming my AT&T SIM won't work in a Verizon phone, though....
posted by Quisp Lover at 1:05 PM on March 13, 2017

Best answer: If the phone is unlocked it will.
posted by Barry David at 1:09 PM on March 13, 2017

You can get a sim card from Ting for $6. It might be $6/month to keep it activated (i.e. able to receive calls), but even that might be unnecessary if you don't activate it any further than getting past the 'no sim card' screen. You can put your serial # into their website to see if it's compatible (they use both sprint and verizon for coverage)
posted by sexyrobot at 1:43 PM on March 13, 2017

Response by poster: Solution: since phone is unlocked, slip any SIM into phone. Get past welcome screen. Remove SiM. Log into iCloud. Good to go for wifi
posted by Quisp Lover at 1:53 PM on March 13, 2017

Best answer: Just in case anyone else is wondering: the iPhone simply checks to see if there is a SIM in the slot, doesn't have to be an active SIM.
posted by sixfootaxolotl at 2:42 PM on March 13, 2017 [1 favorite]