[AT&T 4S] Phone forced to Extended Network, won't come back

Question

My phone recently showed that it was in the Extended Network despite being in an area of 4G/3G coverage. I know that there is valid coverage in the location because I had another iPhone 4S/AT&T user sitting right next to me with 4G service and full bars. It will remain in "Extended Network" (complete with reduced speeds) until I apply the only solution that I've found after numerous other solutions failed.
I tried the following solutions to no avail:
Turning on Airplane Mode and then turning it off
Resetting my network settings
Resetting my cellular data settings
Turned off/on Settings>Cellular Data, Settings>Data Roaming
Hard restart of the phone
Turning phone off/on
Removing and reinserting SIM card
The only solution that I've found to work is to do the following:
Remove the SIM card
Find another person that has a 4S on a DIFFERENT CARRIER (i.e., Verizon)
Remove their SIM card and insert it into my phone
Wait a minute or two to force the phone to go into "Activation Required" mode
I eject the DIFFERENT CARRIER SIM card
Put mine back in
Wait a minute or two until finally it somehow re-establishes itself onto the network and my 4G comes back
My question: is there an easier way to force the "Activation Required" mode to come up, or to achieve what this is doing? Like I said, simply popping my SIM card out/in doesn't work - that other carrier's card seems to be a key part of the process... I'm just worried that there won't always be someone with a 4S and a different carrier somewhere where I can use their SIM card....
Thanks!

Answer 1

Your phone is hacked, or inserting a SIM card from a different carrier would hot trigger a request to activate - it would tell you that no SIM is inserted.  The hacking/jailbreaking is the source or this problem. No further help can be given here.
Unauthorized modification of iOS can cause security vulnerabilities, instability, shortened battery life, and other issues