Rumor has it, many people are running into problems with their new iPhone 4 showing “No Service” in the upper, left-hand corner. I worked through some issues and found a solution that worked for me so I thought I would pass it along.
I purchased my iPhone 4 around 3pm local time. The sales rep “activated” the phone using a Mac in the store, then told me there were some issues with phone activation but it shouldn’t be much of an issue. I left the store with my old iPhone 3G still working and my new iPhone 4 without service.
About 20 minutes after leaving the store, my old iPhone 3G lost service. I figured, “Ah, the network is transitioning from the old to the new phone.” However, three hours later, still no service on either phone. I was in the proverbial cone of silence!
I searched online and found some tweets from other people saying they had no service either. I noted one particular tweet from hwatkins which suggested people without service should call AT&T at 866-895-1099. I called.
I spoke with Lisa, a nice gal who, after 25 minutes of researching, said she could not find any issues and passed me to tech support. Tech support specialist Jennifer went right to the heart of the issue and had me remove the SIM card from the right side of the phone and read that SIM number to her. She asked me to replace the SIM card back in the phone. As soon as I did, the phone activated and I was back in business. She claimed not to have done anything with the network but simply reinserting the SIM was the fix.
One small note: Jennifer asked me to use the SIM removal tool which, “should have come in the box.” I looked but found no tool She recommended any narrow tipped device and suggested a paper clip. I used the paper clip but it was tedious and not exactly simple. Use the paper clip at your own risk.