iphone help. Older to newer. Sim shuffle?

[roylt]

So this group has people from all walks of life so I figured I'd ask here to see if I could get an informed answer. I did google some and think it may work but not sure.

So my daughter has been using my old iphone 5s and has started to complain about its age and size. Yes she is a teenager (13) and seems like everyone else has the best phones. We use verizon but my girlfriend has an iphone 7 on us cellular that isn't being used.

Can I simply take the sim from the 5 and put it in the 7? Or is there more to be concerned about?


Thanks for the help in advance,

 

[blume357]

I don't think so.... I think you will have to figure out how to tell verizon this is a new phone.... I did this this past year and hit a road block.... first was I did not have a clue what my pin was with Verizon... but the real problem was the guy at Costco who sold me the new phone entered the phones ID number in wrong..... one digit off.....

She needs to know she can't even get close to that nice small skinny 5s phone with any of the new ones and I think the 7 is already old....

 

[WAYNO]

I got a new Moto G7 phone for Christmas. My boy said it would be as simple as putting my old sim card in my new phone. He did so, but now I cannot get the carrier to completely recognize my new phone. It did swap my old phone number to the new phone, but not all of the included services will swap over. Nor has the app most directly related to my phone and my financial business/payment status, updated with them to my new phone. He has talked to customer service and they insist all the software will eventually transfer over, but it's now day 3 since the sim card swap, and we're still waiting.

Okay, now an update...
My Account Status Summary still says INACTIVE, but all the services I need are working. Go figure.

I've been told multiple times, by different people, even at the Verizon store, sometimes the transfer works easily, sometimes it just wont. And these same folks have told me sometimes you are forced to start from scratch with a new phone, without the ability to transfer anything from the old phone.

 

[Kevin]

Roylt: I think you still have to call Verizon. But why not just take both phones to the Verizon store and let them do it for you? It shouldn’t cost anything...Hmmm. Actually, we have AT&T, and I think they have a $10 set up fee. But you could call Verizon and ask them. But don’t a lot of carriers have pretty good deals? I see Verizon advertise free phones all the time. Why not just go that route?

And these same folks have told me sometimes you are forced into treating a new phone as a completely new phone, and you have no choice but to accept a new phone number associated with the new phone to make everything come together.

I don’t think this is right at all. I’ve had the same phone number for almost 15 years and have gone through many new phones. You shouldn’t be forced into getting a new phone number just to set up a new phone.

 

[WAYNO]

I don’t think this is right at all. I’ve had the same phone number for almost 15 years and have gone through many new phones. You shouldn’t be forced into getting a new phone number just to set up a new phone.

I agree. I suspect sometimes it's easier for the folks in the phone store to fabricate excuses to save them some time when dealing with non-techies like me.

Over the years, I've received messages from associates or other contacts that they now have a new phone number, when they claim they could not transfer their phone number. This is only hearsay and speculation by me, and not necessarily helpful to the OP's question.

 

[Kevin]

Oh I think it is helpful to the OP’s question. If anything it will let him know not to take the first answer as fact, which someone at Verizon might tell him. I think calling the help desk at Verizon might be the best solution to finding the answer. Perhaps even calling a couple times to talk with different people.

However, there might be an issue with using a phone from US Cellular on the Verizon network. The phone might have to be “unlocked” first. You can buy phones on Amazon, and each company, ATT or Verizon, or Sprint, all seem to have the same phones, yet each individual phone is specific to each company. Then they sell “unlocked” phones which, I think, are supposed to work on any company’s network.

 

[Captain America]

If both phones are Verizon phones the SIM card will work in the new phone, like said above an unlocked phone is needed to use SIM cards from different carriers. Most carriers will give you a new SIM card(Tracfone charges $.99 with free shipping), that gets the serial number of your phone synced with the SIM card which is sometimes helpful if there’s a problem but not necessary. Just turn off both phones, swap the SIM cards and see what happens when you turn it back on, it won’t hurt a thing to try.

 

[P89DC]

The Google sez no:
Can US cellular phones be used on Verizon?
They both run off the same software technology, GSM. GSM devices are compatible across the board. All Sprint, Verizon and US Cellular devices are not compatible with one another when you switch carriers. Even though they run off the same software technology, CDMA, they are still exclusive with themselves.

 

[roylt]

Roylt: But don’t a lot of carriers have pretty good deals? I see Verizon advertise free phones all the time. Why not just go that route?

Most deals like that are for new customers. They give you a phone to hook you. And they always charge activation fees etc which are bogus. If you want me to use your service why do I need to pay for that privilege?

 

[roylt]

Took the sim out of the "new" phone and it just tells me no sim and no service.

Once my kids get back from my ex Monday we will celebrate a late Christmas and then I will try to sneak her phone and give the swap a try. I don't want to tell her yet incase it doesn't work.

Thanks for the input so far. Much appreciated. Feel free to drop more info too.

 

[roylt]

So I backed up my daughter's phone to the cloud then swapped sim cards. Google led me to erase the new phone completely which scared me but then I was able to load the backup.

Looks like it will work!!!

Thanks for the input.

 

[daveg.inkc]

This is good information to remember about these cellular devices. A computer with a phone app. Really amazing what these can do. Like count your footsteps. After my right hip replacement, July 1’19, I added a walking meter app. I don’t recall name. Pedometer? Anyway, it showed days before surgery, very little walking. Showed my activity in June!