iPhone 7 Not Activating After Restore

[Joshuasche]

So in the past my iPhone 7 has had some issues with the SIM card malfunctioning and Virgin Mobile support had to send me another SIM card (see my other recent posts on my profile). This worked for a month or two, but then about two weeks ago it started acting up again. I was able to manage it for a little bit, however, but using the ##CLEAR# and ##UPDATE# commands to restart the carrier and it would work for a bit again. However, when I updated to iOS 12.1, my phone started to randomly restart itself and every time it came back on the issue would be back and my phone would have no reception again. After a series of mishaps where I needed my phone for legal reasons and it kept restarting, I realized that I needed to do something to make this stop. So, I restored my phone. I was unaware that after restoring you need to activate it and since the SIM card is malfunctioning I’m unable to do so. It just says that it’s “Unable To Activate” and the activation server is unavailable. I’m connected to WiFi and I’ve tried to activate it with iTunes and without it and also with separate WiFi networks. But none of this has worked.
(Also, I checked my IMEI number with my pin to check my activation status for the phone in all of this and it said that it wasn’t recognized. So I have no idea what that’s about because I was using the network yesterday between momentary fixes.)
I got this phone barely over a year ago from Virgin Mobile. The phone they sent me has apparently been corrupting SIM cards and I may need to purchase a new phone or demand a replacement. I would rather not have this perspective but I’ve been dealing with this headache for too long and I’m close to just leaving Virgin Mobile. So any actual working help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Joshuasche]

If nothing else works, I request that Virgin Mobile unlock my phone to be used with a different carrier and hopefully it won't corrupt their SIM cards as well. Or even still if there's a way to unlock it so that I can even use it just with WIFI and no SIM card that'd be appreciated.

[madra31]

It is possible that the issues you are having are related to software problems on your phone.  Updating to iOS 12.1 and restoring would not solve any such problems if they are related to the restore itself.

You might try the following:

1) back up your iPhone and then reset it to factory settings.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201252

2) then set the phone up as new but do not restore any backup

3) try dialing ##CLEAR# and pressing Call and wait for the carrier reset to complete

4) try  doing the service update by dialing ##UPDATE# and pressing Call and wait for the update to complete

5) if you are not then able to make calls, send and receive SMS and use LTE, make an appointment at the Genius Bar if you are near an Apple Store or if not contact Apple Support for assistance.

These steps should either resolve the issue for you or get you to the stage where Apple can advise on how best to move forward.

Good luck!

[Joshuasche]

Thank you for trying to help. I have tried to do this already and it hasn’t helped. It was actually what got me in the particular mess I’m in now. The issue is that my phone is not unlocked by Virgin Mobile and so I cannot even use my phone at all. It is stuck in the setup stage and can’t proceed further because it can’t read the information from the SIM card. I followed Apple Supprt and they were the ones that said to contact my carrier. I have tried to insert other SIM cards that work on other devices and it still doesn’t connect to anything. The phone doesn’t even recognize that the SIM card is missing when I remove it. Maybe it could be a hardware issue? I’m not sure, at this point all I ask is that Virgin try to unlock my device so I can even just use it period, let alone try to get something set up or even try to reset it again.

[EdmundM]

Hey there, Joshuasche! We can help you with that. Please send us a private message so we may work directly with you.

You can send a private message by clicking on my name, then selecting the message option from the profile page. 

[dlipovica]

i got exactly 100% same problem like Joshua with my iphone 7 and usef for almost a year! all the same, it started restarting itself out of nowhere, and after reseting as new iphone now i am stuck. can you please help me?