# New Stratosphere won't activate



## craigbob

Hi all,

I've upgraded my gf's phone to a stratosphere for Xmas. Got the strat from Costco for $20.00.

Tried activating it today and it sits in setup wizard for forever. Finally comes back and says can't activate. I tried calling VZW, but was stuck on hold found over 20 min. before I hung up.

Does anyone have an idea what is going on and why the phone won't activate?

Thanks for any ideas.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk


----------



## scur

3rd party stuff. Make sure you have all your info, receipts, numbers, etc., put your phone on speaker phone, call Verizon back and wait.


----------



## knightcrusader

It should have been activated when you got it, at least that is what they do when they give you the 4G MicroSIM card.


----------



## scur

I just went through this a couple days ago. Same thing, except it was Letstalk. Had to have Verizon get the account all straightened out.


----------



## xenokira

I talked a friend through getting a Stratosphere set up that he got for his mom today. Instructions didn't mention that he needed to call to activate the SIM before trying to get the phone on the network. After activating his SIM, the phone activated successfully.

For next time, try going to the link below first and follow the instructions to activate the SIM (number 3). After that's done, try powering on the phone again and it should activate on to the network successfully.

http://support.verizonwireless.com/faqs/VZAccess/4g_sim_card.html

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk


----------



## craigbob

Thanks all. It was a bad SIM card. Luckily Costco gave me a spare in case of any problems.

The reason that I did not activate it when I got it, was it was a surprise upgrade for my girlfriend, and I did not want to turn off her old phone before she got the new one.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk


----------



## knightcrusader

craigbob said:


> Thanks all. It was a bad SIM card. Luckily Costco gave me a spare in case of any problems.
> 
> The reason that I did not activate it when I got it, was it was a surprise upgrade for my girlfriend, and I did not want to turn off her old phone before she got the new one.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk


That makes sense. However, the corp VZW store wouldn't let me do that. They made me activate the GNex if I bought it that day, so, my fiancee got her Christmas gift early.


----------

