[Verizon Galaxy S 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] nckhrs:
Greetings Ibuprophen :)

So... after another chat with ST, I came to conclusion that they didn't provide any sort of training to their Customer Service team. And of course, even though they know the SIM is defective, they still cannot expedite shipping the new SIM replacement, and also it's not available in local Walmart.

I switched to Net10 today! :laugh:

Porting process is not smooth, there are 2 problems, but the chat rep seemed more knowledgeable and also very courteous on the phone.

Problem #1: Their system cannot take my phone (cryptic error). They said they have to register it to Net10 system first (which means removing it from ST). Surprisingly I don't need to contact ST, they can do everything from their side (presumably because they are sister companies). So, I contacted the chat rep. Continue to problem #2...

Problem #2: After she removed my phone from ST, registered it to Net10, she still needs to create an account. Then afterward I need to go through activation process online as she cannot process credit card (I haven't purchased refill/service plan/airtime card). At the last step (placing the order, processing the payment), it failed. Three times. Continue to problem #3...

Problem #3: I need to call the rep to figure out what's wrong. At the final step when I supposedly provide the credit card to purchase the airtime card, he mentioned the price, and I asked him to enable auto-refill to get $5 off. He told me first time purchase aren't allow to enable auto-refill, even though on the activation website there is no indication of this restriction. Anyway, so I told him I will use the website without checking auto-refill... and voila... it works!

So, it's not smooth, but they're very helpful. Yep, took me 1 hour to chat and talked on the phone.

But the amazing thing is, it worked almost instantaneously!! Literally, 30 seconds after I completed online activation and number porting, while I was wrapping up the conversation with the rep (he asked if I'm willing to fill up survey), he asked me to reboot my phone and plug in the SIM card (because he saw porting is complete). To my surprise, it works! Yep.. 30 seconds to port the number is pretty cool. :cool:

And... I got everything works fine again. LTE data, voice and text work, including MMS, without changing anything (not even the APN). I know, they use the same APN anyway.

Oh.. one surprising thing is, she told me that I can use my Straight Talk SIM for Net10 service (of course, she needs to add my SIM # to Net10 account). Of course I refuse because my "fellow" in ST told me that my ST SIM card is defective :)

So, my conclusion is:

1. If their online activation system failed to take your device, contact the chat rep. Or phone rep.

2. Make sure you don't check auto-refill for the first time (when purchasing airtime during activation).

3. Use Net10 as it's easier to find the SIM card locally, so that if something like this happens and you need to activate new SIM, you don't have to wait 1 week for the new SIM card to arrive.

Ok, that's all. Let me know if you want me to share more details or if you have further questions.

P.S.: So... I still don't know what's the real cause why my ST behaved that way. I believe what you said is right, something wrong with Verizon tower registration. But too bad... ST reps and network specialist are not knowledgeable enough to solve it. And there goes the 512-bit integer in the making... :D