Switching SIM back and forth

[arlolior]

Not sure if anyone else does this but worth a shot.

I switched my SIM semi-regularly between my iPhone and my Android when I was on Chatr and Telus. Is this something I can do pretty painlessly with PM or is it a headache?

[srlawren]

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@CalgaryBen wrote:

If you don't de-register, then other iPhones will incorrectly be told that your number is able to receive iMessages, so delivery could be delayed.  I believe if the iPhone doesn't maintain a "keep-alive" heartbeat for iMessage, it'll time out and possibly implicitly de-register, but being proactive will mitigate delays.

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@CalgaryBen I think it depends how frequently "regularly" switching between iPhone and Android actually means.  Doesn't de-registering yourself from iMessage potentially take some time to take effect?  If you were going back and forth several times in a day for example, maybe you're a mobile app developer and for some reason aren't using emulators for your testing but instead switching back and forth between the platforms repeatedly, I think this would just confuse iMessage and you'd be better to do without.  This is probably an extreme example, but as @arlolior didn't really give us more detail, it's hard to say for sure.

[CalgaryBen]

@arlolior,

It's a good idea to "de-register" your iPhone from the iMessage servers before moving the SIM card to the non-iOS phone if you have friends who use iPhones to contact you.  You can do so via Settings --> Messages --> iMessage (disable).  If you don't, they'll usually still be able to contact you, but only after their iMessage delivery expires and gets converted to SMS (assuming they have this setting enabled, which it is by default).

Basically when you enable/activate iMessage on your iPhone, it sends some SMS to the iMessage servers saying "Hey, I'm an iPhone at 123-456-7890. Register me for iMessages!".  Then, if another iPhone user tries to message you and their iMessage is enabled, their phone checks with the iMessage server to find out: "I'm going to message 123-456-7890 -- are they registered for iMessage?".

If you don't de-register, then other iPhones will incorrectly be told that your number is able to receive iMessages, so delivery could be delayed.  I believe if the iPhone doesn't maintain a "keep-alive" heartbeat for iMessage, it'll time out and possibly implicitly de-register, but being proactive will mitigate delays.

[srlawren]

@arlolior I'm no iMessage expert, but I would think you could run into issues with friends trying to iMessage you while your SIM is in your Android phone.  I guess if you leave iMessage delivered turned off and rely only on SMS/MMS even on your iPhone, that wouldn't be an issue, but I'm not 100% sure.  @CalgaryBen any ideas?  🙂

[Alex888]

As long as both phones are compatible it shouldn't be a problem. PM doesn't lock the SIM card to the phone like some other companies.

[popping]

@arlolior

Moving PM SIM card between iPhone and Android phone is fine as long as you do not insert another carrier SIM card in the phone without SIM card.  If you do, your phone will send out a few text messages for initialization purpose.  It will be fine if your PM plan has unlimited text messages.  But if you have the $10 plan with only 50 outgoing text messages.  It will eat up your 50 text message if you do it too often.

For an example, after you moved the PM SIM from an iPhone to an Android phone, you insert another carrier SIM, may be Rogers SIM, in the iPhone.  That iPhone will send a few text message to Apple server because your iPhone detected that you had change carrier.  Whole process will repeated again if you insert the PM SIM card again back to that iPhone because that iPhone detected that you changed from a Rogers SIM to a PM SIM.

There is no such problem if you delicated your iPhone and Android phones for the same PM SIM card without using other SIM card.

[Anonymous]

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@arlolior wrote:

Not sure if anyone else does this but worth a shot.

I switched my SIM semi-regularly between my iPhone and my Android when I was on Chatr and Telus. Is this something I can do pretty painlessly with PM or is it a headache?

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I don't think it matters to the carrier. It's kinda the point of the SIM idea. Put it into any compatible, unlocked phone anywhere that allows BYOP.

What are you seemingly answering saying "worth a shot" though?

[Murco]

I havent had any problems with switching sim cards.

[Lieux]

No problemo either for me @arlolior..i did it..

[RossN]

I don,t believe that would be a problem I do it often just be aware that settings are similar on both phones ex: cellular on or off