Old phone 4G Sim card to New Phone 5G Sim Card

[nysurf1]

Can I use my old phone 4G sim card in my New Samsung S21 5G Ultra phone ??

Or should I upgrade to the 5G Sim some how ??

[nysurf1]

Ok now i am getting conflicting information from the community chat as well as verizon online tutorials.

I see chat talk about just take old phone sim card and put it into the new phone and it will work fine.

I also see if you do this you will not get full function or benefits of the new 5G service.

Online Verizon tutorials say do not remove the sim card when activating a new phone.

Additionally i upgraded my plan and phone thru a verizon authorized retailer and they are telling me that i need to go to a verizon corporate store to have the sim card upgraded from the old to new phone. The sim card is the same type nano sim card in both phones the only difference is old one is from a 4G phone.

Appreciate any advice at this time.

Thanks

[Doggo]

Only swap your sim card if you bought an unlocked phone. If you upgraded from Verizon, the phone is set to activate with the included sim card.

9 times out of 10, all you do is make sure both phones are off then only turn on the new one to activate.

As far as the indirect rep is concerned, they s u c k. Telling any customer to activate a phone elsewhere is a sorry lazy employee.

[Ann154]

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@Doggo wrote:

Only swap your sim card if you bought an unlocked phone. If you upgraded from Verizon, the phone is set to activate with the included sim card.

9 times out of 10, all you do is make sure both phones are off then only turn on the new one to activate.

As far as the indirect rep is concerned, they s u c k. Telling any customer to activate a phone elsewhere is a sorry lazy employee.

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Are you telling me the 4G nano SIM card that I originally activated in an iPhone 5s and has since been used in a Lumia Icon Windows phone and six different Android phones since shouldn't be activated and the SIM cards that came with those various phones (now gathering dust in a box somewhere in my home) should have been activated instead? 

[vzw_customer_support]

nysurf1, we want to congratulate you on your new device. We would recommend that you have a 5G SIM Card for your new Samsung Galaxy S21 5G. This will allow your device to function properly and work on our 5G Network. A new SIM  Card can be picked up for free at your nearby Verizon Corporate store location. Here is a helpful link to locate your nearby store https://vz.to/2m0xCTh. 

[vzw_customer_support]

We understand the importance of having clear details about 5G device activation. As mentioned from VZW support previously, you would want to insert a new 5G Sim card to receive 5G service. If you use a 4G Sim card the device may not function properly and you will not connect to the 5G network when you're in the coverage areas. I hope this answered your question. 

[Ann154]

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@vzw_customer_support wrote:

We understand the importance of having clear details about 5G device activation. As mentioned from VZW support previously, you would want to insert a new 5G Sim card to receive 5G service. If you use a 4G Sim card the device may not function properly and you will not connect to the 5G network when you're in the coverage areas. I hope this answered your question. 

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Considering as some places don't have a robust 5G network yet, I can understand why some people would prefer to limit their phone to only the 4G LTE network for the time being. 

[Doggo]

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@Ann154 wrote:

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@Doggo wrote:

Only swap your sim card if you bought an unlocked phone. If you upgraded from Verizon, the phone is set to activate with the included sim card.

9 times out of 10, all you do is make sure both phones are off then only turn on the new one to activate.

As far as the indirect rep is concerned, they s u c k. Telling any customer to activate a phone elsewhere is a sorry lazy employee.

---

Are you telling me the 4G nano SIM card that I originally activated in an iPhone 5s and has since been used in a Lumia Icon Windows phone and six different Android phones since shouldn't be activated and the SIM cards that came with those various phones (now gathering dust in a box somewhere in my home) should have been activated instead? 

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I've lost track of failed activation calls I've had over past half decade related to sim card swapping.

In an ideal world, you pop in an existing sim and everything works. I've done this myself without issue. Advising a customer to swap their sim card instead of letting the one their phone shipped with would be poor advice for when things don't go as planned.

If the new phone doesn't come with a sim card, by all means swap an existing in if it's compatible. If it's an upgrade from Verizon, just let the included sim activate. Can potentially save an unnecessary call to support.

Not saying not to swap sim cards, just saying potential downsides. That's all. 💀

[Ann154]

Swapping the SIM card has been easier for me. The only hiccup was verifying the iPhone Visual voicemail feature was removed from the line after switching to another phone that wasn't an Apple product. 

[Panderegg]

My 4G SIM I have been using for years and years for every phone since my first HTC 4G LTE phone in 2011, was just put into my new S21 and 5G service seems to work just fine. What issues should I be on the lookout for?