[Nexus 6 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] cmb3497:
Hey all,

I've seen various different explanations of how to get a nano-sim activated on Verizon for our N6's in this thread, and I'd like to share my own unique experience in getting my N6 activated on Big Red.

*Let me preempt this story by saying that the phone I was coming from was a micro-sim having Galaxy S3, and I did not have a nano-to-micro adapter, so there was no way to activate a new sim in my device.*

To procure the nano, I went to a VZW corporate store and informed that my dad won an iPhone 6 from work, and he was giving it to me as an early birthday present (what a guy!). After some back-and-forth with the reps (one insisted all new iPhone 6's come with a nano sim in the box, then there was an issue with removing it from inventory without selling it), I had a new, unactivated sim card. When I got home I popped that sucker in and was greeted with the old signal bars with exclamation point in the corner icon, indicating that my device recognized the Verizon network but was unable to connect. I logged on to my account and tried to add the device, but it kicked back a "device not recognized" error (or something along those lines that indicated they didn't recognize the IMEI). From here, I called Verizon support, and got an incredibly helpful level one tech on the line. I gave him my info (new sim card number, IMEI from my phone, MEID, etc), and try as he might he was unable to get the system to recognize my device.

After a few minutes, he decided to try and force the new micro-sim onto my old S3 in order to program it to my number, but was unable to do so because the system correctly recognized that a nano-sim wouldn't fit in the S3, and denied the request. I mentioned to him the problems with getting N6's activated I've read about on the various forums, and in his explanation to me he was making it seem as if their system should not have a problem activating our devices on a new, unprogrammed sim card. Now, on to the solution: He completely removed my old SIM card from my account, completely deactivated it. Then, he instructed me to put the new sim in the N6 and factory reset, then follow the steps until I saw the "programming phone" screen (or activating service or whatever it is). After this, he was able to somehow force the new sim to pair with my phone number, and I was happy to find that I did indeed have service and everything was working like a charm.

So, in summary, this is what I learned from my experience:

Verizon IS able to activate N6's on brand new, unprogrammed nano sim card

you don't need to use a different phone to program the sim card or anything of that sort

if the tech says it can't be done, ask them to try again or ask for a different tech (because my guy did it)

I should also add that I suggested this possible solution to the tech: to "swap" the sim cards remotely from the system - that is, completely deprogram the old micro-sim in my N3 and assign it the new nano-sim ID (without a device attached to it), get it reactivated in the system, and then add it to my N6. He said this was technically possible to do without putting the card in a device, but it would have to be done by a level 2 or higher tech (I'm not entirely sure if this is true or a possibility - just saying he said it was).

Anyway, sorry for the long post, and I hope this helps at least some of you guys & gals get your phone activated!