topic Re: Broken sim card in Get Support

Broken sim card

Nigel — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 20:34:46 GMT

My SIM card stopped working! It says no sim but it’s in the phone. What do I do?

Re: Broken sim card

mimmo — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 17:03:11 GMT

@Nigel probably best to try the sim in a different phone and see what happens. if the same issue you have a sim problem and you need to buy a new one.

you can buy sims online or in stores (wow mobile k mobile and many walmarts)

walmarts might say they only sell sim cards on activation but this is not true as explained by shazia yesterday in a post https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Retail/Purchasing-SIM-s-at-Walmart/m-p/222318#M238

Re: Broken sim card

closng — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 17:30:14 GMT

@mimmowrote:
@Nigel probably best to try the sim in a different phone and see what happens. if the same issue you have a sim problem and you need to buy a new one.

you can buy sims online or in stores (wow mobile k mobile and many walmarts)

walmarts might say they only sell sim cards on activation but this is not true as explained by shazia yesterday in a post https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Retail/Purchasing-SIM-s-at-Walmart/m-p/222318#M238

Hi @Nigel,

To add to what @mimmo said, if you do need a new SIM card, once you've purchased a new one, you can go into the self-serve portal and update the SIM card number to the new SIM card you've purchased and you should be back in service.

Re: Broken sim card

mimmo — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 17:31:14 GMT

@closng thanks for completing my reply. I knew i forgot something 🙂

Re: Broken sim card

will13am — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 19:47:48 GMT

@Nigel, before going out and getting a new SIM card, I would try reinserting the SIM card a couple of times. Sometimes contacts could be sticky and not reading the SIM card properly. Rarely do SIM cards go bad when there is no physical damage. If there is another phone handy, it can be used to confirm whether the SIM is defective or not.

Re: Broken sim card

Civic_E — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 21:25:21 GMT

@NigelSIM card usually don't get broken. It's most likely your phone. Try a friend's SIM card in your phone to confirm.

Re: Broken sim card

computergeek541 — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 22:09:54 GMT

Sim cards can also be purchased online from https://store.publicmobile.ca/cart . Other than the sim card itself, I would say that it's more likely that there's a problem with the reader in your phone, or an issue with the service, although a service issue shouldn't make your phone report "no sim card". I would also try cleaning the electrical contacts of your sim card.

Re: Broken sim card

Korth — Fri, 23 Feb 2018 08:32:32 GMT

@Nigel

Try cleaning the electrical contacts. Use an electrical contact cleaner, a commercial product (like CAIG DeoxIT or Stabilant-22 or a d-limonene) is best but is also very overkill, common isospropyl is a weaker solvent but it's good enough for this application ("electrical-grade" >99% isopropyl is preferred, but any drugstore ~70% isopropyl will do if it doesn't have perfumes or other additives which may leave a conductive residue). Avoid using old electrical cleaners which contain 1,1,1-trichloroethane (powerful but evil carcinogenic stuff) or which contain ketone/acetone (nail polish, etc, which can cause more damage than it fixes).

Use lint-free wipes or "microweave" cloth, Q-tips, an old (but clean) toothbrush, try to mechanically scrub the (often invisible) oxidation off the electrical contacts. On the SIM card. In the phone itself, if that's possible (which it usually isn't without a takeapart).

Even an "improper" cleaning is still better than nothing, even a "perfect" cleaning may not fix your "broken" SIM card issue (if it's "broken" from some other cause) ... but it's cheap and easy and fast and nothing to lose, worth a shot.