after international roaming iphone 6s plus doesnt register on VERIZO network

[sukrundo]

Has anyone experienced this with VERIZON ?

I had taken international roaming for India and UAE for a US VERIZON Wireless line,

I roamed on VODAFONE and Airtel in India and DU and Etisalat in Dubai

when I come back , my phone does not connect to VERIZON network

I tried calling VERIZON and they said , try getting a new SIM in a VERIZON store

the VERIZON Store tried activating new SIM and it did NOT work.

Obviously it seems to be a phone problem as an existing VERIZON Sim also did not find network.

Now VERIZON is washing hands off the problem and wants me to either do a HARD RESET on the phone or go to APPLE Store and seek APPLE CARE

It is ridiculous that the CARRIER which whom I bought the phone does not know how to support it .

this is the most expensive phone they sell with VERIZON.

I spent 2 hours at a verizon store trying to get a SIM replacement and finally they kicked me out saying the store timings are done and store needs to close and asked me to either contact APPLE or VERIZON phone support

I am without service in my home country after international roaming for 3 weeks.  - unbelievable

Has anyone experienced this ?

[vzw_customer_support]

Sukrundo, I know how important it is to ensure your phone is working properly at all times. Especially when coming home from a trip. When traveling out of the country, are you using an international SIM from an international carrier or Verizon services? Is there any particular changes you are making in the phone when you arrive in India or when arriving home?

Thank You,
MichelleSS_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
If my response answered your question please click the "Correct Answer" button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[sukrundo]

this answer is not correct but it is already marked as correct

when I said I had taken international roaming from VERIZON , I meant I am using a VERIZON SIM and not a SIM from a 3rd party provided .  i.e. I have never put a NON-VERIZON SIM in this phone.

At Dubai , he DU provider asked me to update some settings on the phone via a POPUP which I accepted  after which the phone was registered on DU network.

[sukrundo]

I went to an apple store today ..needless to say , the wait time was 2 hours at the store.

they did a full phone backup and then did a factory reset and a restore

then the phone started working.

Apple technicians gave me "zero assurance" that this problem will not happen again after international travel saying they have no control on other carriers how they modify phone settings during roaming and registration on their network.

based on this experience, I am NOT convinced that VERIZON and APPLE are working together to make IPHONE a seamless user experience for business users who roam internationally . I have never had this problem with SAMSUNG phones when roaming international and re-entering the USA

Totally , I lost 24 hours of time before I could get the phone on VERIZON network and 2 hours of  waiting at a VERIZON store and  2 hours of waiting at an APPLE Store  before I was able to sort this out.

I hope VERIZON is listening . I will expect at-least $200 credit on my account for the inconvenience caused.

I am signing up for GOOGLE phone service https://fi.google.com/signup?u=0

and will not hesitate to move.  .. have heard good things about it.

[smith6612 · Accepted solution]

It's common knowledge outside of the US, where SIM Cards are common and carriers all must compete against an easy-to-swap market, that what happened when you traveled was your phone's APN Settings were changed when the foreign SIM was inserted. The iPhone should be applying APN settings for each carrier based upon what SIM is inserted, but this doesn't always work out. Since iPhones are at best computers and at worst human made machines that crunch math all day based upon programmed variables, seamless transitions are not always going to happen. After all we all make mistakes in grade school in math class.

If you haven't already, please reset your network settings. Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. Do this with the Verizon SIM Card inserted (the one which is activated). The phone should reboot with a fresh network state and try to activate again. Be on the lookout for anything asking about APNs.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201699

The above is a KB Article from Apple about APN settings. Check to see if the APN Settings are available on your phone. If they are, after the network reset, are said settings blank? Or, do you see settings pertaining to Verizon Wireless? The KB also states how to reset your APN Settings, which should restore the default Verizon APN based on SIM Card information.

[sukrundo]

to Smith6612

thank you for this info.

It is surprising that neither VERIZON tech support nor the APPLE Store Technician tried to get into the APN settings to check if the "RESET NETWORK SETTINGS" cleared out the APN settings from a foreign carrier.

BothVERIZON and APPLE Technicians  seemed "blissfully unaware of this setting" . The apple technician claimed he was "certified" .... what use is the certification if he doesn't know ? Also he was struggling with ITUNES to confirm a good backup and make sure "purchased apps have been backed up and transferred"

VERIZON swapped 2 SIMS in the phone and try to activate them . Nobody even thought of checking my phone with a "pre-activated SIM" to see if it can reach the CDMA network.

After 2 SIMS didnt work - they told me to contact APPLE CARE

all they do is "follow a book" and if it doesn't work

, they want to do a "factory reset on the phone" and do a full backup and restore

seems like a "sledge hammer use" to kill an "ANT"  . Very poor support from both APPLE and VERIZON

[smith6612]

You're welcome. I hope everything is back up and running!

APNs are still a fairly new concept for Verizon. Back before Verizon started to ship LTE devices factory unlocked, or for that matter LTE Devices, APNs were not heavily used unless you had particular "World" phones with full GSM support. CDMA, being the underlying technology which Verizon uses, works in such a way that allows all programming to occur with some carrier-known codes. Most CDMA phones were designed to only work on a specific carrier, and supported roaming partners, and never designed to be unlockable. That's why half of the time moving 3G devices between Sprint and Verizon is a big pain, and the other half being the fundamental way the phone was designed - carrier locked software, hardware, etc. Verizon has no support pages on their website with APN Settings for LTE devices to use, if that has any bearing on this issue.

With GSM (used everywhere exclusively that isn't Canada, the USA, or mainland China), the SIM Card provides network authentication information along with (in most cases) the settings needed to connect to a network. For cases where the phone didn't self configure, GSM Carriers would provide APN Settings in the store or on their website for SIM holders to enter into their devices. Once the APN is saved, and assuming the phone supports the carrier, it connects and that user can now use the programmed carrier. Most phones are sold unlocked on GSM networks. AT&T and T-Mobile are the two networks in the US with GSM support from the get-go, and thus APN information is right on their support pages/public developer pages.

As for the Apple certification - Apple has several. I can say from experience that some of those are specific to common issues / brutally boring to take, and focus on things like ESD and using Apple proprietary repair solutions versus some of the more common sense things. A lot of the Apple Genius Bar exams are similar to A+ where it's "How to computer fix 101" in a sense. Admittedly, there are both good and bad support reps. It can be a luck of a draw. Apple is usually pretty consistent and solid, along with the reps in Verizon corporate stores. As humans, of course, things get overlooked. I myself can admit to forgetting to simply try a reboot and instead troubleshoot the hard way . Although if we talk about Linux, that can be a beast in and of itself.

[Salisbury]

  When Verizon gave you the iPhone 6s plus it was working fine. Based on what you wrote according to Apple's technician the 6s was modified. Now because you didn't have the knowledge to reset the 6s you expect Verizon to pay you $200, too funny. And the folks working in the Verizon stores are mostly trained in marketing and sales, not to diagnose an altered device, but you think it's everybody's fault but your own.

  Just go back to the Samsung where it's more suited for your needs, and we don't have to read your vapid post.

No trees were harmed by this message. However, several trillion electrons were extremely inconvenienced.

[sukrundo]

VERIZON supports international roaming on iphone 6s plus . i.e. they offer this service

.I have availed of an offered service and faced problems after re-entry into USA. my phone service was down for 24 hours .

VERIZON was not able to fix the issue after a visit to their store and also after calling phone support.

Also please be aware I had a 23 hour flight and was tired and frustrated by this issue..

I use this phone for work and not having my phone working is a problem. the $200 asked is because of this "DOWNTIME" .

1. I have not used a foreign carrier SIM in the phone when I was abroad. The Phone always had a VERIZON SIM when it was roaming abroad .If I had used a foreign carrier SIM in my phone abroad and it messed up my phone I would not be posting this "vapid post".

Other country carriers "will modify" the phone and APN to enable cellular data services. Otherwise the phone will not register on the roaming carrier network.

Also  this is one way VERIZON makes extra money on cellular data roaming via APN change ( don't forget that ).

2. the fact that both VERIZON tech support and apple Technicians did not know about the APN setting is  VERIZON and APPLE ignorance in the respective departments .  Please admit that. All they did was "reset network settings" and that did not work.

3. Additional ,the basics of troubleshooting at the verizon store and VERIZON support were not followed as they took a long time to determine my device has a problem  ( they tried activating 2 new SIMS before saying I need to contact APPLE for a device problem).

Instead, if my SIM was tried in a different phone, it would have been proven much faster that it is a device problem .

4. doing a full phone backup and a factory reset and a restore is a "sledge-hammer" fix for a small problem like this and I know you will say " thats APPLE - not VERIZON" .

I really don't need your advise on whether to use APPLE or SAMSUNG devices . I am a comfortable ANDROID and IOS user it is my choice .

this is a community . I am not sure whom you represent , Possibly VERIZON  If you cannot take candid criticism  , I am sorry. I hope this is taken as constructive feedback to improve your tech support for roaming users.

My opinion stands.