Cellular Data Not Working After Changing SIM Card

[robcoombs]

I recently returned from the US, where I was using a different SIM card for US service.  Since putting my Public Mobile SIM back in my iPhone I haven't been able to use cellular data.  Calls and SMS work fine.  I've confirmed the cellular network settings, reset the phone, and done a DFU reset (which wipes and loads iOS back on the phone).  The phone shows 3G and won't show LTE.  I'm able to put the same SIM card in another iPhone SE and it works fine (showing LTE).  I also put a working SIM card from Telus in this phone and it doesn't work (same issue, shows 3G and no cell data works).  Is there possibly a block or other issue with my phone on Public Mobile/Telus, or is my phone broken (the strange thing is it worked fine on LTE until I swapped back to Public Mobile when I returned to Canada)?

[loeleo]

Was having this exact problem and managed to fix it without any resets! Seems the SIM card I was using while abroad had a profile in my phone with its own APN profile which was overriding my settings back in Canada.

My solution: Settings > VPN & Device Management (I could also find this by searching “profile”) > Should see profile here from previous SIM country > Delete profile

[robcoombs]

Yes, unfortunately the only way I was able to fix it was to completely wipe the phone and start with a fresh phone. If you take a backup and restore it, you will end up in the same situation (assuming your problem is the same as mine was). I didn't keep a lot of photos on my phone, so it wasn't as bad (but still painful). It's been a few years, but if I remember correctly, I turned on syncing of everything to iCloud (not a backup but toggling all the sync options in your iCloud settings). Assuming you have enough iCloud storage that should "backup" all your important data. If you don't have enough iCloud storage you can purchase one month of extra storage, it's cheap (only $2 for 50GB for instance). For apps I wrote down which apps I had installed so I could download them again after wiping the phone. If it makes you feel any better, I never had the problem again after swapping sim cards, so it shouldn't be something you have to do every time you swap sims. Good luck!

[elnidosmith]

Hi robcoombs,

Thank you for the update to your post with your solution. I have the same issue and suspect I may need to do the same thing as you (wipe my phone and start fresh). Do I really have to wipe everything? That sounds like a huge inconvenience to lose all of my photos etc – can you give me any tips how to make the process easier?! Did you download anything from an iCloud backup for example?

Thank you!

[CalgaryBen]

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@roshan20menezes wrote:

Now when I did a "Restore from the Backup" I'm assuming the Profiles have come back again which gets me to square one!
Please guide me!!!

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Is this an iPhone?  If so: Settings --> General --> Reset --> Reset Network Settings.  Enter passcode if applicable, confirm, and let the phone reboot.  You'll also need to re-connect to all  your WiFi hotspots, but at least cellular data should be restored.

[roshan20menezes]

Hey there
I just want to tell and share that Even I have been facing this problem.

It started when I was in Adelaide, I got a new Sim and I only worked for calls and text. 
Though the sim was working fine (in all aspects, data, network) but only data wasn't working. 
I was getting an LTE but still not data could be accessed. The sim was tried in different phones where it worked well.
Solution: I took a whole backup and Erased my complete phone and then the phone was able to use the data from the sim.

Now after almost 4 months I've had to change my sim again from one network to another, and now the same problem has started.
The only change: I took a backup> then I did erase my phone> then the sim was able to use the data from the network.

Now when I did a "Restore from the Backup" I'm assuming the Profiles have come back again which gets me to square one!
Please guide me!!!

[robcoombs]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.  I wanted to follow up with the problem and solution.  It turns out the profile for the other SIM card I was using (AOW) was still resident in the phone, even though it wasn't showing in the settings and had been deleted.  As a result the phone was trying to connect to AOW instead of Public Mobile.  The solution was to wipe the phone and start fresh.  I had wiped the phone but restored from a backup earlier, but the backup includes any profiles.

[robcoombs]

I confirmed through the PM self-serve site.

Thank you for the link to message the moderators, I wasn't sure how to do that.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

[koimr1]

Hmmph.

When you confirmed you had data left, did you use your phone's logging/tracking or verify on PM Self-Serve?

Hopefully someone else can chime in with something more helpful but at this point I would send a message to the moderators to see if there's an issue with your account.

You can do so by clicking here and providing your email address, phone number and a description of your problem.

[jp2]

Your tests with 2 phones and different sims makes it sound like a phone issue. Unfortunately, I don't know much about iPhones but if all the settings are the same between the phones I would suspect a hardware issue. 

BTW thank you for posting such a great description of your issue and doing some of your own troubleshooting. It's not often we get such a good OP.

[robcoombs]

Yeah, calls and text are working fine.

Yeah, I've toggled LTE more than once to ensure that wasn't the issue.  LTE is turned on.

No, 3G doesn't work.  The phone shows 3G but no cellular data is working.  I get an alert on the phone that cellular data isn't activated when I try to use Safari (and I've confirmed that cell data is enabled for Safari).  I've confirmed that I have plenty of data left on my account (almost 4 GB).

Thanks, I checked my APN settings and they are correct.  I also checked for a carrier update in case that was an issue (and confirmed the carrier settings were the same as on another iPhone that works fine).  I compared all of the settings between one iPhone SE that works and my phone that doesn't and they are all the same.  It's really strange.

[koimr1]

Are calls and texting working?

You are absolutely certain that you don't have "3G-only" set in your network settings?

Does 3G data work at all, at least?

Finally, check your APN settings: How do I set up data/APN on my smartphone?