I'm on SIM card #4. two of them failed, as i mentioned in another thread. the device would alternate between saying "please insert a SIM card" or whatever, or would just fail to authenticate on the network any longer. i got a replacement device the first time, and a replacement SIM the second time. third one was because i temporarily activated another device on my account and the SIM expired.
as an aside, I learned something about VZW's SIM activation/deactivation systems (and i'm probably the last one to hear about this or something) - support says that if you provision a 3g device on your account, your SIM cannot be reactivated more than 24h later. which...well, is wasteful and kinda stupid, but whatever. I figured i'd mention it just in case anyone likes switching between devices and wasn't aware of that "limitation"
re the OP: i'm pretty sure the card is activated before it's inserted in your device. there's an ID on the card that they add to your account before they put it in your phone. i mean, i could very well be wrong, but that's my understanding.
