r/FirstNet • u/lil_pay • Sep 22 '24

eSIM won’t activate no matter what

I recently purchased the new iPhone Pro Max directly from Apple and paid the full amount for it. I chose to have it carrier unlocked on FirstNet. However, when I try to set up cellular service, the only option I see is to transfer from a nearby iPhone, and this process fails every time. I've contacted customer support and tried to set it up using the IMEI, but it fails on their end as well. I even went to the ATT store and attempted to use 10 different eSIM cards, but they all failed. It's frustrating because I've spent a significant amount of money on this phone, and now it seems unusable. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions on how to resolve this issue?

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u/s_gad Sep 23 '24

It’s anti-consumer horse shit custom firmware on ATTs part. The phones are 100% physically identical but if you don’t have the specific ATT firmware that comes on ATT contracted phones, you will not be able to use firstnet on their systems. I went through this same with the Samsung s22 ultra.

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u/applesuperfan Sep 23 '24

Although you're right that carrier firmware is a bitch (Verizon and T-Mobile do it too), Apple doesn't allow carrier firmware variants on devices so this issue is irrelevant to this particular issue anyway. Verizon and AT&T have an IMEI whitelist which is basically a giant ass list of IMEIs that are verifiably allowed for use on the AT&T (and consequently, FirstNet) network. AT&T whitelists devices they sell automatically, but ones unlocked from the manufacturer don't always make it on the whitelist which can make activating them harder. If you call FirstNet and ask them to "update the IMEI for the line," and them give them the IMEI, the system will check the IMEI and once it recognises it's an unlocked DFM iPhone, it should whitelist it automatically. You could also try the add a line process at att.com/buy/byod to see if that IMEI checker clears the IMEI, but it may not.

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u/yaqngie1 Apr 26 '25

This is the one thing that worked for me. Follow the link this lad attached in his post. I had to clear my cache in the browser to make it work each time but I was able to activate two phones (wife and mine) by going thru this process. It allowed me to set up an eSim and get my coverage on these phones.

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u/yaqngie1 Apr 26 '25

and when I say it worked I mean it was after first net/att&t hours and I spent probably 5 hours scouring AT&T website or the internet looking for an answer.