topic Re: sim went bad in Get Support

sim went bad

stuart — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 16:03:30 GMT

My phone suddenly stopped working. Account was paid up, so tried reseating the sim but that didn't help either. I then took the sim from an other phone and put it in my phone and it worked. Put the bad sim in the other phone and it didn't work. I went back and forth several times and it was clear that my sim was bad. I got a new sim, changed the code in my account and everything is working perfectly.

I have not heard of sims failing, but mine did. It was not misused and had been running for months without any issues. Moderators can see my accounts amd ime numbers confirming the situation. Is there a warranty on the sim card?

Re: sim went bad

computergeek541 — Sun, 07 Jun 2020 04:56:31 GMT

It's certainly not impossible, but I believe that it's more that there was an issue with your specific account. The reason for changing the sim working might not be because of a defective sim but because the process of swapping them resetting something on your account.

Re: sim went bad

LurganIeUk — Sun, 07 Jun 2020 05:01:20 GMT

@stuart wrote:
My phone suddenly stopped working. Account was paid up, so tried reseating the sim but that didn't help either. I then took the sim from an other phone and put it in my phone and it worked. Put the bad sim in the other phone and it didn't work. I went back and forth several times and it was clear that my sim was bad. I got a new sim, changed the code in my account and everything is working perfectly.

I have not heard of sims failing, but mine did. It was not misused and had been running for months without any issues. Moderators can see my accounts amd ime numbers confirming the situation. Is there a warranty on the sim card?

I would suggest you ask a moderator. I know Telus DOES guarantee their SIMS.

Re: sim went bad

darlicious — Sun, 07 Jun 2020 08:17:49 GMT

@stuart

There has been a couple of users reporting a similar problem with their sim and the moderators were able to fix the problem within the account. That however is no longer an option for you now that you have changed your sim card. I suppose it cant hurt to see if the moderators will give you an account credit equal to the cost of your sim although they are under no obligation to do so.

Re: sim went bad

zblackma — Sun, 07 Jun 2020 10:22:30 GMT

@stuartwhere did you buy the sim from?

Re: sim went bad

kb_mv — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 19:16:11 GMT

@stuart I have had a sim fail with a different company and they replaced it free of charge. With any luck PM will do the same or give an account credit once it's determined that the sim is the problem.

Re: sim went bad

LurganIeUk — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 19:31:40 GMT

The process on my Telus prepaid account for a defective SIM was.......went to a Telus kiosk......very obliging and hard working young lady........bought new SIM.......she registered it......she called Telus....Telus credited my prepaid account.

Re: sim went bad

CalgaryBen — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 16:32:20 GMT

@stuart wrote:
I then took the sim from an other phone and put it in my phone and it worked. Put the bad sim in the other phone and it didn't work. I went back and forth several times and it was clear that my sim was bad. I got a new sim, changed the code in my account and everything is working perfectly.

I have not heard of sims failing, but mine did. It was not misused and had been running for months without any issues. Moderators can see my accounts amd ime numbers confirming the situation. Is there a warranty on the sim card?

Good job on the troubleshooting and fault isolation! As someone who works with SIM cards on a daily basis, I'd say they are indeed fairly robust and generally not prone to failure. But, like all electronics, there is the chance for random failure.

In our phones, we all use consumer grade SIM cards, and by contrast, the major SIM card manufacturers (e.g. Gemalto or Giesecke & Devrient, one of which is most likely the manufacturer of PM's SIMs) also produce "ruggedized" or industrial grade SIM cards. The ruggedized SIMs are generally used for M2M applications such as automotive telematics, and are made to withstand temperature and humidity extremes, vibration, etc., and last over 10 years. (And don't bother trying to get a "ruggedized" PM SIM -- I doubt they exist; TELUS does offer "ruggedized" SIMs for M2M applications as part of their enterprise offering.)

I'm not suggesting you're subjecting your SIM card to any of these conditions! All I'm saying is that since consumer SIM cards are not designed for these, and only rated for mean 5-10 years lifespan, it means the manufacturers intend for consumer-grade SIMs to be "consumable" items. Since 5-10 years is the mean, you could have received one in the lower percentile where premature failure occurred.

I actually keep some spare PM SIM cards handy just in case one of mine gives out, so that there's no wait in the event I need one. Also handy to have in case I want to convert a friend or family member to being a PM customer, of course. 😉

Re: sim went bad

geopublic — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 16:55:46 GMT

@stuart If that happens again no need to swap SIMs just submit a ticket to Public Mobile and ask them to reset your account. Much better and cheaper. 🙂