How to activate new phone

edswife1970

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I’ve always bought my phones directly through Verizon but this time I bought from Apple. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do to activate it tomorrow! Is it complicated??

If you can, I would appreciate some input. Thank you.
 

tmx31415

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Hey, I just had this same question as a new Verizon customer. Yesterday the customer service rep told me that I needed to go get a new SIM card from the Verizon store. When I got to the store the associate told me since it’s a 5g card going into another 5g phone it doesn’t matter, just pop it in and you should be good to go.
 

edswife1970

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Hey, I just had this same question as a new Verizon customer. Yesterday the customer service rep told me that I needed to go get a new SIM card from the Verizon store. When I got to the store the associate told me since it’s a 5g card going into another 5g phone it doesn’t matter, just pop it in and you should be good to go.

I’m confused! When I ordered the new phone it said that it comes with an eSIM and not a physical card. And I’m not new to Verizon - I already have my phone there and I’m just switching devices.
 

edswife1970

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I just took my Verizon SIM out of my 12 Pro Max and put it into my 13 Pro Max. Pretty seamless and simple.

Oh, i’ve never done anything with a Sim card before so that’ll be a new experience for me. I’ve never even looked to see if there was a Sim card in there! LOL

When I switched my phones last time and got the 11 Pro Max, it came directly from Verizon so maybe it already had the Sim card in it. And that’s the difference this time. The phone is coming from Apple.

You still had to do the set up of the new phone though right? At what point did you put the Sim card into the new phone?
 

wilber1

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Oh, i’ve never done anything with a Sim card before so that’ll be a new experience for me. I’ve never even looked to see if there was a Sim card in there! LOL

When I switched my phones last time and got the 11 Pro Max, it came directly from Verizon so maybe it already had the Sim card in it. And that’s the difference this time. The phone is coming from Apple.

You still had to do the set up of the new phone though right? At what point did you put the Sim card into the new phone?

Put the new sim in before you start to set up .
maybe this will help .

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/how-to-activate-unlocked-iphone-13-on-verizon.2313010/
 

Mr Segundus

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Oh, i’ve never done anything with a Sim card before so that’ll be a new experience for me. I’ve never even looked to see if there was a Sim card in there! LOL

When I switched my phones last time and got the 11 Pro Max, it came directly from Verizon so maybe it already had the Sim card in it. And that’s the difference this time. The phone is coming from Apple.

You still had to do the set up of the new phone though right? At what point did you put the Sim card into the new phone?

Yes, you'll have to set up your new phone. To make it easy, make an iCloud backup of your current phone before setting up your new one.

I put the SIM into the phone before I even turned it on the first time.
 

flyinion

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As long as you told Apple you were with Verizon and wanted to make the new phone the one using your number it should activate itself on the network and swap everything to the new phone once you turn it on and go through the setup. That's how mine has worked for the last few phones with AT&T. The only difference this year I guess vs my 11 Pro Max is that the 13's don't have a physical SIM but the e-sim should still be set up however that works by Apple to essentially work the same.
 

nikkisharif

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As long as you told Apple you were with Verizon and wanted to make the new phone the one using your number it should activate itself on the network and swap everything to the new phone once you turn it on and go through the setup. That's how mine has worked for the last few phones with AT&T. The only difference this year I guess vs my 11 Pro Max is that the 13's don't have a physical SIM but the e-sim should still be set up however that works by Apple to essentially work the same.

^This

The phone should work as soon as you set it up. If you put in your phone number & zip code for Verizon when you ordered the phone Apple will have it activated for you already. Just setup & go! I always order through Apple & picked up my 13 Pro today.
 

C6TX6

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I have Verizon on the e-sim and T-Mobile on a physical sim.
I backed up my 12 Pro Max and then restored to my 13 Pro Max.
I logged on to verizonwireless.com and chose the option to move my number to another device.
It asks for the IMEI. I use the second one listed in properties on the new phone.
It shows a dropdown of the other numbers on your account to send a verification code to.
After putting in the verification code it shows on the website how to add the plan under cellular in options.
I had to restart the phone and after a few minutes I got a pop up on the 13 Pro Max that it was activated. I verified by calling out and surfing on LTE.
That was easy! Last year I was on the phone (holding) for over an hour to reach someone. The fact that it can be done on the website now is great.
I always buy unlocked phones and this year is no different.
Phones from Apple are always unlocked however if you upgrade and finance through your carrier (EIP) once the phone is activated on their network a SIM lock is applied until the note is satisfied and you cannot use the e-sim.
 

tcuprof

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My phone would NOT activate automatically. I had to call T-Mobile and spend basically all afternoon yesterday getting them to activate it. It took them three tries of changing the EID in their system to get it to work. And after all that, cellular on the watch still doesn't work. :(
 

nikkisharif

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My phone would NOT activate automatically. I had to call T-Mobile and spend basically all afternoon yesterday getting them to activate it. It took them three tries of changing the EID in their system to get it to work. And after all that, cellular on the watch still doesn't work. :(

UGH…that’s frustrating!!
 

scruffypig

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I’ve always bought my phones directly through Verizon but this time I bought from Apple. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do to activate it tomorrow! Is it complicated??

If you can, I would appreciate some input. Thank you.

Verizon might be like AT&T, if you have your old iPhone set up with an eSIM. When you open your new iPhone and bring it next to your old iPhone. Apple QuickStart should pop up on both phones.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210655
 
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Westiemom

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As you start the set up and supply some initial information, it says wait while phone is activating. After about a minute it was done and I was ready to proceed with the rest. I always keep my phone backed up to iCloud and had made sure I had a recent back up by doing it the day before the new phone came. So I chose "import from iCloud" (wording might be different, don't remember) and it proceeded to download all my "stuff." It seemed to be smart about it too because the first things set up were messages and phone contacts so I could use the phone after about 15 minutes while it continued to download everything else.

To see the progress of the download and could open the Settings app and see it near the top. It would say how much space it was still needing to complete download and I could watch that number change as more data was brought in. It was completely complete :) in about an hour and a half. Best new phone set up I've ever had. Last one with the 12 pro was a nightmare! Link I had a janky phone, it was buggy the whole year.
 

Dgray2712

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Turned mine on, selected language and country, then, a Verizon window popped up, verifying my phone number, and proceeded with activation. Then, restored from iCloud. It was a snap.
 

daddyd302

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When you first order your phone, you had the option to choose what carrier you wanted it on. This is the easiest route, as your phone will activate as soon as you turn it on. The other option is to simply switch out your old sim and put it in the new iphone.
 

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