Found an old iPhone by the side of the road

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I found an iPhone yesterday. Who knows how long its been here in the bushes, but I decided to charge it up. Here's my observations:

• It's on iOS7 or later so it should have activation lock.
• No activation lock was activated, but it has PIN lock.
• Due to PIN lock, cannot use Siri to call anyone
• Its Verizon and it connects to a network

I popped the SIM out, stuck it in my Verizon work phone and called someone to obtain the number. I then took the # and texted it from my own number to let him know I have his cell.


So what I don't understand is how the phone can connect to the network if this person has likely gotten a new phone/SIM already (I'm assuming this is an old device that has been here for some time). Does Verizon allow 2 devices to connect with the same # or something? I vaguely remember when I got my iPhone 6 upgrade at work, I activated it, and my old iPhone 5 would show that its still connected to Verizon. Heck the old phone even kept receiving emails. However in that case I popped out the old SIM from the 5 and never worried about it again.

Edit: I guess its not that old; 5c is still a 2013 phone.

 

[isekii]

older iphones used cdma to connect on verizon network. sim portion is used i think overseas

 

[sm625]

So what I don't understand is how the phone can connect to the network if this person has likely gotten a new phone/SIM already.

Well, how are the government goons supposed to get any work done if they cannot connect using your SIM clone without it causing a major problem on the network?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

older iphones used cdma to connect on verizon network. sim portion is used i think overseas

To clarify its an iPhone 5c, so it had LTE and therefore the SIM. My question is how the SIM can still allow it to connect if the owner has already requested a new device/SIM.

Is this strictly a Verizon thing? Note that I posted my anecdotal evidence about having my iPhone 5 and iPhone 6 connected simultaneously? Or maybe it was just lag in that one didn't disable immediately.

Anyhow, that's weird because when I sold my iPhone 4s (AT&T) to my old roommate, he activated it and the minute he did, I lost all cellular connection on my own phone. I had to go to the AT&T store and get a brand new SIM. Does Verizon work differently given it requires both CDMA & LTE?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Well, how are the government goons supposed to get any work done if they cannot connect using your SIM clone without it causing a major problem on the network?

They don't need to do that. They siphon the data from your carrier directly.

 

[Fardringle]

Maybe it's not all that old and hasn't actually been reported as lost yet..

 

[gorcorps]

I popped the SIM out, stuck it in my Verizon work phone and called someone to obtain the number. I then took the # and texted it from my own number to let him know I have his cell.

edit: Nevermind, I misunderstood. You called someone you know just to see what the number on the sim was. I got it now

 

[Mopetar]

To clarify its an iPhone 5c, so it had LTE and therefore the SIM. My question is how the SIM can still allow it to connect if the owner has already requested a new device/SIM.

They might have kept the old one active, just to see if it popped up. If you don't hear back from the owner, you may want to take it in to a Verizon store as they can probably get in touch with the previous owner.

 

[Dulanic]

They might have kept the old one active, just to see if it popped up. If you don't hear back from the owner, you may want to take it in to a Verizon store as they can probably get in touch with the previous owner.

HA, odds the store employee does anything except pocket it is rather low.

 

[Mopetar]

HA, odds the store employee does anything except pocket it is rather low.

That's kind of sad of a store employee would do something like that.