"NO SIM" New Customer, Phone does NOT see SIM

[tagor]

I am a new customer.  I ordered two sim cards (for two different phones).
The cards arrived today.
I decided to start with my Samsung Galaxy S5.  I set up my account, ported my number.
Everything seems ok with that, called Virgin, the port went through. Virgin account cancelled.
When I call my number I get the Public Mobile voice mail.  (Make me think port to Public Mobile successful)
PROBLEM:  The phone will NOT see my new Public Mobile SIM card.
It boots up and says "NO SIM" Emergency calls only.
I searched the community, and saw a similar post where the SIM was too thin, and they solved it with a piece of tape on the back to "thicken" it a little.  Tried this, it did not help.
I put my Virgin SIM back in, it works, with "no service" message. (because my account is cancelled)
Put Public Mobile SIM back, still says "NO SIM"  The phone is NOT seeing the SIM.  (Different from "no service")
So I tried the second SIM I received from Public mobile for my other phone. (Not activated)
Get the same message "NO SIM"
I then tried BOTH Public Mobile SIM's in my other phone (Blackberry)  Same message: "NO SIM"
I need help!   Is it possible I have TWO defective Public Mobile SIM's?????
To summarize:
Two new Public Mobile SIM cards. (One active and one not)
Two phones (Blackberry and Galaxy S5)
Both phones work with Virgin SIM cards.
Neither Phone will recognise EITHER new Public Mobile SIM (one active and one not)
I am now WITHOUT Phone service, Please HELP!

BOTH PHONES ARE UNLOCKED and COMPATIBLE with PM

[tagor]

Thanks Shazia,

I just sent you two PM's

[tagor]

Yes absolutely UNLOCKED.

No worries, I understand the need for clarity.

I bought the Blackberry DIRECT from Blackberry in Waterloo (Employee)

The Samsung was from Bell, but was unlocked by them, with a payment to them.

I have since used it on "Virgin", AND "Speak-Out" networks, so I am 100% sure it is Unlocked.

Have you seen the number of people with the same problem as me???

There are at least 5-6 now.

This MUST be a SIM card problem with Public Mobile??????

[Shazia_K]

@leeyh99,

If you hover over your pointer above my name, you will see the option of sending a private message.

Thanks,

Shazia

[srlawren]

@tagor so sorry to hear about this 😞  (@Tyler21, too)

I just wanted to double check on thing, and please bear with me as I don't intend this question to be condescending or negative.  I wanted to confirm:  I know you bought the phones for full price, but did you buy them FROM a carrier (Bell, Virgin, etc), or direct from the vendor (Samsung, BlackBerry) or third party like Amazon or Expansys etc.  The reason I ask is that, and bear with me as you may alredy know this, but most often even when you buy a phone for the contract-free, "MTM" full price from a carrier, the phone you are getting is indeed carrier-locked to them.  This is very annoying, but unfortuantely true most of the time.  And just because you could use them on Bell and Virgin (the only two you listed--maybe there were more so again please I mean no disrespect) still doesn't necessarily ensure they are carrier-unlocked, since Virgin runs on the Bell network.  In much the same was a Koodo and Telus-locked phones work fine on PM, I presume Bell and Virgin-locked phones work fine with either carrier.

[leeyh99]

Thank you, @Shazia_K how to send you private message?

[Luddite]

Good morning @leeyh99 @tagor, overnight I wondered if the SIM card number in your account is the same as the one you are trying; perhaps it's off by 1 digit. If so, go to the Change SIM page in your account and enter it again. 

@tagor Look for my private message in the little envelope to the right of your user name.

[Shazia_K]

Good morning @leeyh99 @tagor,

I'm sorry to hear about the issue with your SIM cards,

Please send me a private message along the account info and the SIM card numbers, I will gladly look into this for you. 

Thanks.

Shazia

[leeyh99]

What to do? I am a new comer to this city and country and stuck at this step. Which number to use to contact custermer service? 

[leeyh99]

I had the same issue: ordered SIM card and activated it two days ago,got no SIM card information and tried a few phones with same result. 

[Tyler21]

DUDE, I'm having the exact same issue, was with rogers, then wind, now public. Every sim has always worked and the phone is unlocked. Rebooting does nothing, nothing works, now I'm going to try and order a new sim but I really can't go three days without a phone and think after spending $150 i'd rather not spend another $20 for them to ship it here quicker. 

[tagor]

Again, thanks a lot for your help....

I am afraid to activate the second SIM on my account because it shows the same "NO SIM" message in both phones.  ( From any experience I have with cell phones, this message only shows when the phone thinks there is NO SIM inserted, not a wrong or inactive SIM)

I did order two new SIM cards tonight. (but they will not get here until at least WED/Thurs next week.)

I have noticed at least 3-4 similar posts to mine, in both this forum and the hardware forum.

Maybe there is a bigger problem with new SIM's???

I won't be able to log on tomorrow (Friday June 3rd) until about 3:30 pm, when I get home from work.

Hopefully there will be more information then.

[Luddite]

OK last thought as I head off to bed.

Order two SIMs tonight; one at time however even though you can use the same email address.

Gamble that SIM #2 is good and activate it on the account that has been created. You do that on the tab Change SIM under Plans and Add-ons. I would only do this if you see "No Service" when installed but not if you see "No SIM" or "Enter Code".

I will check in the morning for uopdates to your situation. Hopefully you can log on now an then during "normal" working hours tomorrow.

[tagor]

Thanks for your assistance.

How does one contact the moderators/customer service if I need to do it??

My postal code is N1T1K7 (Cambridge Ontario)

Even if Public Mobile could rush ship the two new SIMs it would be a help, I think paying $20 in this case would be a little unfair.

[Luddite]

@tagor They have been notified BUT in the worst case scenario you need to cope without a reply for 24 hours. 

It would be very odd but one can imagine a whole batch of SIMs being defective. Have you tried rebooting the phone?

If you are willing to post your postal code, there may be a member nearby willing to do the SIM exchange experiment.

Sorry, I am out of ideas for now. I am sure PM will resolve whatever is causing your problem, though it can take a bit of time.

Good luck.

[tagor]

Yes, Please notify the moderators for me.  (How does one contact a moderator, or a PM service agent for help??)

Unless something very strange just happened, I am 100% sure the phones are both unlocked.

I can log into my account, and yes everything looks good and active. (Phone number is correct, plans are correct, if I call my number it goes straight to Public Mobile Voice Mail, which is of course not set up) So I can only assume the account is active and working properly.

I chose the 90 day - ontario talk, canada text, 120 gig data for $195

It is PAID, so I have a lot invested in getting this account working.

The only thing that makse sense to me would be two defective SIM cards???

I see some other recent posts with similar problems...

Is it possible there is a bad batch of SIMs?

I have ordered 2 new SIM's but don't really want to wait a week to get them in the mail, and $20 for rush service seems a litle unfair in this situation. Hopefully there is a solution.

If you have any other suggestions, I am ALL ears, I do need help.

[Luddite]

@tagor Really a mess. We will do our best to get you out of this jam. This will alert the moderators @Kalla_A  @Mary_M and @Shazia_K to your issue for consideration tomorrow. If you do not hear from them by noon let us know.

In the meantime:

a) Log into your account. Is Status "Active" and the plan as expected? What plan did you choose? Does it show the phone number you expect; i.e. your Virgin number?

b) The "No SIM" message invariably means the phone is locked. But this seems quite unlikely since you have used them with both the Bell and Rogers networks. If you know someone with PM service the definitive test would be swapping SIMs to discover which phones connect. 

c) Based on my limited testing an unlocked phone shows "No Service" with an unactivated PM SIM.

d) An emergency fall back measure is a VOIP app. I like the one from fongo.com; free calling across Canada. Of course, you will need to connect to wifi.

e) I have seen reports of "unlocked" phones locking to carrier when a new SIM is installed.

[tagor]

100% sure.

BOTH Phones are UNLOCKED (Bought NEW) at FULL price by myself with NO contracts.

Samsung Galaxy S5 and Blackberry Z10 (both fairly new phones bought in Canada)

They are both compatible, checked on Public Mobile before ordering SIM's

I have had these phones on different networks, Bell, Virgin, etc...

They are Unlocked. And other SIM's work in them...

Again, I am getting a "NO SIM" message, like the phones do not "see" the SIM cards.

Other Sims (Virgin, and Speak Out) work fine in these phones.

ANY chance Public Mobile has a batch of defective SIM's ??????

Any other suggestions???

I am desperate as I have already ported my number and activated my account.

Should a NON activated Public Mobile SIM at least be recognised by the phone, showing a "no service" message?   

I have two SIMS, one should be fully active on my account, and the other is fresh out of the envelope from Public Mobile (not active)

Neither one seems to be recognised by either phone.

[IWIK]

We are 100% sure these phones are unlocked AND compatible? I know pre-android BlackBerry's (and possibly the Priv as well) came up with a dialog to enter the unlock code when you insert a foreign sim into a locked phone. Sounds like you're not getting that though.

Have you checked http://willmyphonework.net/ to see if the bands are supported?