yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] PHONEMIKEEEEE:
this is what happens.....

[MENTION=3423169]oldblue910[/MENTION]

when an active simcard from another tablet that has been cut is put in an N9 it turns on the VZW radios and they receive.

signal strength is shown and it reads all the numbers. including the simcard, IMEI and phone # the bars light up and it isn't allowed to transmit.

with a brand new nano simcard activated in another tablet with an adapter and the put in an N9 SSDD.

with a brand new nano simcard that has never been activated before and then an attempted activation with VZW customer service on the line SSDD.

looks to me like VZW isn't allowing full duplex because VZW has to send an activation signal to the tablet to transmit and they don't.

i know it's not the simcard's fault because right now both of them are in 2 separate jetpacks that i bought on EBAY and they fly but, i can't access 'my verizon on the tablets.

as far as not having 3G, they have it no doubt because where i live sometimes i only get a 3G signal and the tablet tells me so.

next time i'm in a t-mobile data area i'm goin' to throw in a TRUPHONE sim and see what flies.

it aint the tablet's fault, it's VZW's.

i'm going on a road trip for president's day week and i'll be going through the ozark mountains and it switches between 1x, 3G and 4g for well over 100 miles so i'll put a sim in one of my N9's and see if it's 4G only.

with the performance i'm getting with the JETPACKS, i could care less when VZW greenlights the N9 as google wireless is on the way too.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] oldblue910:
Interesting. Well even so, if it receives but won't transmit, that could still very much be a radio issue. I'd be shocked if Verizon were actively doing something to block this device. Hardly anyone actually owns it so it's a lot of time and hassle for VZW, for very little gain, plus it's totally illegal for them to do it.

I'd still say it's either a hardware or software issue with the radio. Maybe it'll get fixed down the road, maybe it won't. TIme will tell.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] empoweredh22:
I have an enterprise account on Verizon and my rep did a "custom activation" for me where I paid $100 and they activated the tablet. He did tell me it doesn't have xlte and only has access to 2 of Verizon's 3 LTE bands but signal should still be fine. I haven't seen any 3g but I live in urban st Paul where I'm well covered by LTE.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ss12108:
Please elaborate how you got this done...I may be on an enterprise account too. What you're saying is a way they can force it to work, so I want to put their balls to the fire if there's a way to do it lol.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] empoweredh22:
For me the process was to buy it from Google Play. It had to be through Google and not best buy or any other place. Then I told my rep the imei once I got it. (I have a dedicated rep and I believe you would too if you're on enterprise.) He did voodoo magic. Nothing changed on my side. My nexus still said it wasn't eligible to be used and contact customer service for help. My Verizon told me the imei couldn't be activated. The hard part was getting a hold of a sim card. It has to be a new, tablet provisioned or unprovisioned card. The Verizon store people won't come close to the 9 with a 20 foot stick and they also won't let you leave the store with an unactivated sim. My rep said he could send me one but by that point I was impatient. I finally managed to get a premium retailer to sell one to me for $10. Finally I had a sim card number to give my rep. He did more voodoo magic and I rebooted my tablet a few times and then suddenly it was working. It took probably an hour of being on the phone with people who can custom whitelist imeis and waiting for it to download whatever ota activation files it has to download and etc. And they gave me a choice of a 2 month contract or $100 custom activation fee but I'm not sure if that's a standard choice or not. But yeah it does work.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Smokuevo:
Can you post any pictures and maybe bother the Rep to see if it can be done for anyone
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tinymonkey1:
Please...

I have tried everything in the book and three phone calls with VSW Tech support. Some confirmation that it does work and how to go about getting it activated (enterprise or not) would be great on this thread.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] oldblue910:
OK so let's get one thing clear here. If you have an active nano SIM from another device, and you put it into a Nexus 9, does your data connection work or not?
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tinymonkey1:
Does not

I've tried with my Nexus 6 nano SIM card on Verizon. It's a no go.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] oldblue910:
What happens when you try?
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tinymonkey1:
No service found. When I was on the phone with the tech, he could see the device trying to get onto the network which is when he told me I needed to get a different SIM but I've had no luck finding the SIM's he mentioned.

I'm now at the mercy of VZW (facepalm) and what this thread comes up with.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] oldblue910:
What's the SIM number you need? EDIT: Nevermind, I went back and looked. It doesn't look like those SIM card numbers exist. I think this guy may have been jerking you around. As best I can tell, Verizon only has two types of nano SIMs...NFC and non-NFC. It doesn't get any more granular than that.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] silverwater25:
That's not the case as of today (feb 11th.)

I took the Verizon sim card from my girlfriend's iPhone 6+ and put in my Nexus and it connected. So I went to a Verizon store to get my own sim card.

I have a "Share Everything" plan - 2 phones and one 10$/mo data (the data part I'd used for the nexus 7 and a mifi) The data-only device was scheduled for a free upgrade in a couple weeks. But now, after putting my girlfriend my girlfriend's sim card in, replacing it with the new sim from Verizon, and taking the sim from my Galaxy S4.... the My Verizon Wireless website lists my devices as one iPhone 6+, one MiFi that's now being treated as a phone @ $40 per month, and the other phone.

God I wish Google didn't change to the microsim ****...
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] PHONEMIKEEEEE:
[MENTION=5120711]silverwater25[/MENTION]

are you saying that your NEXUS9 is on verizon's network with a phone simcard?
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] silverwater25:
Yes and no. I'm saying that right out of the box I put my girlfriend's simcard for her Verizon iPhone6, and that worked (she is not on my shared everything plan however, she has only one phone). When I went to the Verizon store and got a data only LTE simcard (as a replacement simcard for my other data-only sim, the 10$/mo sim which I was always able to swap between my LTE Nexus 7 and my MiFi without any trouble), it didn't work.

Worst of all, My Verizon wireless is still showing my Nexus 9 as an iPhone6, and is has not only started to charge me an extra $40/mo for a "new phone line", but seeing has reset my 2-year free upgrade period from yesterday. ****ty, because the the MiFi/Nexus 7 was on schedule to receive a free hardware upgrade very soon.

I will certainly sort it out with Verizon, I've been with them for over 10 years and always paid my bills on time so they don't give me a hard time about things. I just haven't had time to call tech support yet today. But the Nexus 9 most certainly received LTE data from Verizon when I popped in my girlfriend's sim. I haven't read this entire thread but I hope that it least shows that as of this point the Nexus 9 is capable of receiving LTE data from Verizon - from what I read there seemed to have been some doubts, so I hope this helps people get their N9s sorted somehow.

Also, I did chat online with a rep late night last night. Those chat reps don't have clearance for anything and don't always have their facts straight, but he told me to call tech support and seemed pretty confident that they could sort it out. One problem I was having when trying to activate was I was using the "switch from another device" (or whatever it says) option, and to do this it required an sms verification to the device being switched out. Which in this case was my MiFi...problematic obviously because the MiFi is not setup to receive SMS codes.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Smokuevo:
I don't think I was able to get this to show up back while ago.. Going to wireless network connected on WiFi with unactivated vzw sim this is what I get ...
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tinymonkey1:
Do you know what type of SIM card you are using ?

Would you happen to know what SIM card type that is ? From what I've seen, the models the tech gave me as pure lies ! :(

I don't have an iPhone 6 SIM card on Verizon to test it out. Keep us posted on what happens when you call support to switch it into a tablet device.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] oldblue910:
I just looked at the main card that you punch the SIM out of. Apparently the SIM in my Nexus 6 is a 4FF NFC. When I got the SIM, I specifically asked for an NFC nano. That may be the SIM you need.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ss12108:
Well, I'm taking the Google Play guy up on the warranty replacement offer he made as a potential resolution for this connection problem. I know it won't work, but my screen has a couple of small scratches, so why not accept a free replacement? Lol

Edit: Well this sucks. My replacement device has the ****ty volume/power buttons. New one is version HT4BR, Old one was HT4BS. I hope I didn't get an older build!

Still no service either, which obviously doesn't surprise any of you lol.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Smokuevo:
Update 2/22 popped in the Verizon unactivated sim.. Still nothing
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] oldblue910:
Unless Verizon ever officially sells the Nexus 9, or Google at least gets them to add it to their system as an approved a device, an UNactivated Verizon SIM is never going to work in the Nexus 9, so you may as well give up. It has to be an already-active SIM.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Smokuevo:
Well no one has posted any updates. I will try using my nexusn6 already activated Sim.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ss12108:
An already activated sim doesn't work either...we've all confirmed this plenty of times lol.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] oldblue910:
Then it has to be something in the Nexus 9's radio that's blocking Verizon. The carrier runs a completely open CDMA network because legally they have to. It'll accept any device with an active SIM card as long as the device supports the right bands and protocols. It wouldn't shock me if HTC disabled something in the radio firmware because Google removed all references to CDMA support from their Nexus 9 marketing pages a while ago. That probably means Verizon, Sprint, and USCC have no intention of carrying it.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ss12108:
Unfortunately, like I was joking about early on in this thread, somebody is lying. Google support was adamant with me that the device has all of the proper radios and should work on Verizon. No one at Verizon (except for someone a few posts back who said an enterprise support person forced their device to activate) has had any clue what to do or why the device can't connect. Someone along the line is flat out lying or is incredibly misinformed. The device recognizes the SIM, but just can't connect.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] oldblue910:
The fact that the device recognizes a Verizon SIM but can't connect says to me that the baseband firmware isn't performing a proper handshake with Verizon's network. This would fall on HTC or the radio firmware OEM, whoever that is. Verizon is not legally allowed to block a device from their network, so the chances of Verizon blocking a device that very few people even own, and risking the legal repercussions, are next to none. For all intents and purposes, Verizon works, on a network level, exactly like any GSM carrier in the world. It's a completely open network now as long as you have an active SIM card.

Further, I wouldn't expect HTC or the radio OEM to fix this problem unless by accident. They have no reason to. Just because the bands and protocols are there is kind-of immaterial. Google and HTC will only officially say that the device works on GSM networks, and so that's all you can reasonably expect them to test with. :/ Neither Google nor HTC have made any claims that the tablet works on Verizon. I'm sure they know that there will be a few of us who know that the device supports it, but I don't think they really care. They know if we know enough to try Verizon, we also know enough to just go get service on a GSM provider.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ss12108:
Not responding to argue because I don't have a clue why it isn't working, but a couple things:

1. Google support confirmed to me it should work on Verizon and has no clue why it wouldn't. Even sent me a replacement in case there was hardware damage or something causing the problem. Take that for whatever it's worth.

2. In this thread, someone has confirmed that their Verizon Enterprise rep forcefully whitelisted their device and he has data service with a Verizon sim. Taking him at his word, that tells me it's a Verizon thing, not an HTC or Google thing, and that for some reason Verizon is blocking the connections (and I am aware it's illegal so I'm shocked as well if this is true). Didn't the same thing happen with the Nexus 7 on Verizon?

Whatever it is, I'm getting pissed. I'm waiting it out, but it's frustrating.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ss12108:
[MENTION=3423169]oldblue910[/MENTION] this is the post I'm talking about.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] oldblue910:
To your first point, the Google support technician wasn't wrong. The tablet DOES support CDMA and LTE on all the right frequencies to support Verizon. That said, just because the support is there doesn't mean that the software that runs the radio doesn't have a bug in it. But, I wouldn't expect a support tech to know whether or not the baseband is doing its job properly. That's where I believe the issue to be. So, I would say that this is just ignorance on the tech's part.

To your second point, don't take the guy at his word. He posted that and was pretty much never heard from again. He never offered proof. And as for the Nexus 7 LTE, no, Verizon never blocked it. If you had an active SIM card, it would work all day long right out of the box. The issue was that they keep a list of IMEI number ranges for devices certified to work with their network. The Nexus 7's IMEIs were not in that database, and therefore getting the active SIM was the problem. A lot of people just used the IMEI of a floor model tablet in order to get around that, then got their SIM activated that way. It's the same thing that reps and customers alike are using in order to get Nexus 6s activated as well. But yeah, Verizon never actively blocked the device on a network level. They just made it a bit of a pain in the @$$ to get an active SIM.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ss12108:
Just for the hell of it I'm doing a live chat with HTC right now. Might as well confirm all 3 company's tech support don't know why it won't connect haha.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ss12108:
Stupid question...are there any custom roms available for the LTE version that anyone has tried connecting to Verizon while running? The HTC rep is trying to get me to APN settings, and there is no menu for APN settings. Could this be a Google software issue?

Edit: There's no APN menu on the Nexus 6 either and I have no issues with Verizon on there.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] oldblue910:
The more pertinent question is, at what point do y'all just give up and activate prepaid service on AT&T or T-Mobile? haha
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ss12108:
My device is on a Verizon business account! I'm not coming out of pocket for this nonsense lol. I'll just tether if I have to haha.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ss12108:
Bump! Want to bring this back into view in case 5.1 changes anything when launched :)
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] rekids:
Yep sounds good.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] drozek:
anyone try this with 5.1, I still want this also.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jd1639:
First, 5.1 isn't out for the n9 yet.

Second, the version of android isn't going to make a difference. It's a Verizon issue.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Smokuevo:
Even custom Roms won't do much I think either. We want a newer radio/modem
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] knghts50:
I have to disagree. With the Nexus 7 2013 verizon did not allow it until they updated it to 4.4.2 last year in february.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] oldblue910:
lolwut? The N7 LTE worked on Verizon just fine from the minute it was released. All you needed was an active SIM card. The February date when VZW launched it was just when they added the IMEIs to their database and recognized the device officially.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] kirbywade:
I got the Nexus 6 from Google a while back before Verizon was selling and blogs said Verizon wouldn't activate, but mine worked fine. After being pleased with phone, I decided to get Nexus 9 from Google, but since all blogs were stating Verizon won't hook up I decided to call Verizon first and they stated absolutely they would activate the 4G no problem. I had an older existing tablet line with Verizon for years, but not using last couple of years. After getting the 9 this week, I spent two hours in Verizon store with pretty good rep who had well over ten years with them. He spent a lot of time trying everything to activate and no luck. He finally tried using a returned ipad's sim card which had been activated, and sure enough everything came up on tablet (MDN, MEID, IMEI, ICCID, PRL version, etc.) but he still couldn't get it activated to their network. He tried using the 'temp' code at store too, as well as other many other workarounds, and did say that the device needed to show an APN on it before it would work (and it wasn't).

Our final discussion-- he said to try and call Verizon later to see if they could push it out to tablet from the corporate side/end with my pleading since they told me it would work. But he said that the problem is strictly Verizon not 'pulling the switch' to activate this device. No problems with Google, radios, etc. We discussed how when going through the FCC last year that Verizon was on the list for approval for device to work. They speak to each other fine. He said that Verizon simply does not activate most new devices they don't carry for profit reasons. The ipad is a huge profit machine for them, which is why they are reluctant to activate the HTC Nexus 9. He also stated how over time Verizon has been consistent with this policy (which has been my experience as well). He said that Verizon does not activate devices per their customer's need/requests, but instead per simple profit margins. Not yet popular device? No activation. But once it gets popular enough, and the demand high enough, then they will order their own and load their bloatware at that point in time and start selling them.

For whatever it is worth this is my story and experience. I have been using android devices since the very first phone came out, and have had so many android phones/tablets over the years I can't keep track. It is my vice I guess to try out new devices instead of golfing or traveling....

So my summation is that perhaps once this device gets popular enough for Verizon to decide to order/sell them with their bloatware/logo, then we can activate ours. I need to use this for navigation in my SUV since mine didn't have one so I will simply use the Nexus 6 as hotspot and live with the 30 second time it takes to activate when needed in SUV. Verizon did waive my $10/month fee on tablet line and let me keep it for whatever it is worth. I have about 13 devices on Verizon right now...
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Hitman3984:
I work for an indirect retailer and according the vzw system nexus 9 can now be activated.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mr.Preacher:
I just tried again. No dice.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Hitman3984:
How did you try? Sim swap or customer service activation?
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mr.Preacher:
Swapping in a SIM card won't work because there aren't any other tablets on the Verizon system that use a nano SIM with secure NFC.

I tried customer service.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Hitman3984:
What did they say? It's possible need a new Sim all together.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] rekids:
Question ?? If one was to get a larger Sim with secure NFC get it activated on another tablet then cut it down to nano size does that work in the Nexus 9? If so wouldn't we be able to take the nano Sim (new) place in an adapter and activate it in another tablet at the store and use it in the Nexus?

Really want a nexus 9 on Verizon since Google-Fi does not support the 9 at this time.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] PHONEMIKEEEEE:
easy workaround

just go on ebay and buy a used MIFI 4620 only about 35 bucks.

been using it for a couple months now and it works like a hot knife through butter.

it takes the sting out of waiting for VZW as i have 2 NEXUS9's.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mr.Preacher:
I have an NFC nano SIM from an authorized retailer. That's what I tried to use. A non-NFC nano SIM doesn't even register to the tablet that it's inserted.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Hitman3984:
the only thing I can think of is the device itself has to be activated, not just a sim swap. Try customer service or my Verizon but I know what I saw and it specifically said Nexus 9 was now available as an activatable device. VZW wouldn't be carrying it but it can be purchased from any major retailer that sells it with LTE embedded.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mr.Preacher:
I was working with Verizon customer service. They said it was an invalid IMEI.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Hitman3984:
I dunno then, just know what I saw because I've been waiting for it like the rest of us. Maybe try on my vzw? the information mentioned it could be done there too.

It's also possible all the IMEIs haven't been loaded into the VZW system.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ss12108:
I'll go back to Verizon this week and speak to the manager who activated a sim card back in December and PROMISED that by January one way or another he'd be able to get my N9 working haha.

I'll also pop my sim from my N6 in right now and see what happens.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Hitman3984:
Trying to get more information to see what's up.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ss12108:
Existing sim which was a swap (and cut to size) still not working. It's recognized by the device (where it shows the phone number for the line and everything) but the most I can get to happen is the cellular state saying "searching for service" but that's after screwing around with it for 20 minutes. Sim from the nexus 6 same thing. I'll check back in when I get to Verizon and speak with the manager.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Hitman3984:
I'm starting to get the feeling its for business accounts only. The listing is under the "OEM program" and the only info I can find constantly leads back to the business website.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ss12108:
I'm actually on a business account. Want to PM me some info so I can try to relay it with the people at the Verizon store?
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Hitman3984:
Pm sent
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ss12108:
Haven't had a chance to get to Verizon yet but I'll check back in when I do.
[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Hitman3984:
Talked to my account rep today. She said we should just be able to activate them but she's looking deeper into it.

I might be dreaming but if I wonder if today's update will get the device working.