Do I have to ask the credit card company to cancel billing for a locked SIM card?

[Randomuser1]

My kid got a new phone and transferred his SIM card to it, but it said the card was PIN locked (no one remembers setting that up), and now it won't work in either the old or the new phone. We can't get into his account to change anything or to cancel service either because it wants to text the phone number first. So a) is the SIM salvageable? b) if it isn't, is the number salvageable? c) if it isn't, do I have to ask my credit card company to stop payment to Public Mobile for it, or is there a way to get in to stop his plan? I'm currently getting billed for a plan on a SIM / number that is not usable.

thanks

[maximum_gato]

@Randomuser1 

I had something similar happen to me a couple of years ago when testing my Sim card in another phone to see if it was carrier locked. When I put my Sim back in my phone I got that message. I had to use the default code 1234 everytime my phone powered off. (Careful putting the wrong code in 3 times locks the Sim card requiring a PUK code from pm customer support.) I had to do that for about 6 months until someone mentioned how to disable that function on the settings of my phone. ( Samsung galaxy A320).

You can get the Samsung phone unlocked by starting an online chat or by calling their toll free # 1 800 726 7864. 

[Randomuser1]

OK will do thanks!

[Priority]

@Randomuser1 What phone are you using yourself? Is it Unlocked and also using Public, Koodo or Telus? If yes, put his SIM Card into your phone and see if it asks for a SIM PIN.

if it doesn't and works than the Samsung that your sister gave you is Carrier locked and the SIM Card is fine the phone just needs to be unlocked from the Carrier it was purchased from.

If it asks for a SIM PIN in your Carrier Unlocked phone as well, than you'll definitely need a new SIM Card. 

[Priority]

@Randomuser1 if the Samsung your sister gave you was Previously used with Telus, Koodo, or Public Mobile than his SIM card should work in that phone without needing a Network Unlock Code. 

Just to confirm that it's not the SIM Card, ask your sister which Provider she originally Purchased the Samsung she gave to you from. If it's not Telus or Koodo than this may be a simple Carrier Lock issue and might not be the SIM Card at all.

Although I suspect it's a SIM PIN if the issue showed up after putting the SIM Card back into the Motorola, please just double check. 

Can you post a screenshot or picture of the message the Samsung is showing you when you insert the Public Mobile SIM Card just so I can try to double check?

Also(apologize if you already said and I missed it), but do you know which model number the Samsung is that your sister gave to your son?

[Randomuser1]

Both Motorola and Samsung gave the message "SIM network PIN blocked. Enter SIM network PUK." The Motorola was last functioning on Public Mobile about a month ago. This message appeared for the first time on the Samsung, then he put the SIM back into the Motorola and it said the same thing.

The Samsung also currently shows "Invalid SIM card. Network locked SIM card inserted." - I don't know if the Motorola shows this message as well as it seems to be dead now.

[Randomuser1]

So the Motorola he has had for ages. It's an older one I bought refurbished, it was getting slow but worked fine until he tried swapping the SIM card into the Samsung. The Samsung was my sister's old phone, she hadn't used it for a while but I thought she was on Public Mobile. I'll check that. After he switched it and it didn't work, he switched it back to the Motorola again, and on both phones the message "SIM network PIN blocked. Enter SIM network PUK." appeared. To make things more complicated the Motorola now seems to have died altogether so I can't test things on it anymore.

[Priority · Accepted solution]

@Randomuser1 This is usually a SIM Card related issue and unfortunately if you don't know the PIN than you'll have to buy and set up his current Subscription on a New SIM Card. 

If you cannot access the Account in order to change the SIM Card, you can contact the Customer Service Agent to have them update it on his Account manually from the backend. 

'Contact a Customer Support Agent' https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

[Randomuser1]

OK I will ask about that. I think she might have been on Public Mobile as well, but will confirm.

It seems like maybe there are two problems then, though. He got the same message about entering a PUK when he put the SIM card back in the original phone (the Motorola which that specific SIM card had been previously used in with Public Mobile).

[Randomuser1]

On the pull-down menu the status says "Invalid SIM card. Network locked SIM card inserted."

[Randomuser1]

Yes, it's an older Samsung phone. The message is "SIM network PIN blocked. Enter SIM network PUK." (the same message also showed up when he put it back into the Motorola he was using before).

[Randomuser1]

It's a physical SIM card. We were on vacation about a month ago and a family member gave him an old phone of theirs, and he swapped the card in. When he tried to use it, it said "SIM network PIN blocked. Enter SIM network PUK." He tried typing in some number he found on the SIM card but it didn't work. Then he tried switching the card back to his old phone and it gave the same message (so now the SIM won't work on either phone).

[dust2dust]

What was the exact message the phone said? Is this a Samsung phone?