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Stuck at "SIM CARD UPDATING" message

rgutter
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I bought a JETHRO SC330v2 phone for my technologically challenged brother and signed him up with PM. He's been a happy user for almost a month. But today he called to say he's been staring at "SIM CARD UPDATING" message for hours.

 

Google-searched and found only two relevant matches for the term, one of which is on this forum ('SIM card updating'). And sure enough. the poster was using the same phone. However, in my brother's case, there shouldn't have been any phone number requiring a SIM update. 

 

I'm hoping there's a solution that can leave him with the both the phone and provider. Any suggestions on how to proceed? 

12 REPLIES 12

coolspot
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I'm having the same problem with a JETHRO phone - SIM CARD UPDATING...

 

Were you abel to resolve this?

rgutter
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

 @Luddite Hadn't noiced that; worth a spin. Thanks - I'll have him give it a try.

Hi @srlawren

I think operators can push "over the air" (OTA) updates to SIM cards, but I don't know how often that's done.

 

This issue seems like a device problem though. Just my guess...

Luddite
Oracle
Oracle

@rgutter If you're still having a problem, consider forcing the phone to use only the 3G network; auto selection and 2G are useless for PM as it only operates on 3G. I'm wondering whether the phone is set to auto and it is searching for 2G.

The following is from https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/f19135_166a8dbe0fee426b989b683e1747684e.pdf

 

Got to Connections pg 49
1 Select Menu, Settings, and press OK

2 Select Connections and press OK Depending on the network operator, you can use the following services:
Network selection:
You can choose between automatic or manual Network selection and choose 3G.


>>> ALERT: I am not a CSA. Je ne suis pas un Agent du soutien à la clientèle.

rgutter
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

@wetcoaster @srlawren @Carld123 @hairbag1 Thanks for the suggestions. I should let you know that my brother is intellectually challenged and living in a group home, so communications can be a tad frustrating and his answers off the mark.

 

He did pass the phone to the group home manager this morning, who "did something", and the phone worked when it was returned. Later in the day though the message returned and the phone became inoperable again for most of the day until about an hour ago. Note that this seems to conform to the descrition recorded here - same phone, different network.

rgutter
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

The account seems fine and is set to Active. We haven't hit the 1st renewal date yet, and it Auto Pay is set up.

 

I think carriers do send updates automatically at times - for example, when regional access numbers change. And perhaps on client phone number change requests. But I think only PM/TELUS could tell us if this is so, and whether an update was sent last week, perhaps only in Quebec.

 

Thanks,

Richard

 

 

 

 

rgutter
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I think carriers do send updates automatically at times - for example, when regional access numbers change. But I think only PM/TELUS could tell us if this is so, and whether an update was sent last week 

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@rgutter I'm not sure what "SIM CARD UPDATING" means, to be honest.  To the best of my knowledge, the carriers do not send out updates to the SIM card.  The SIM card is basically a unqiue identifier of you to the network (I'm oversimplifying here).  I don't think there's anything the carriers push to the SIM cards.  @sheytoon is this assumption correct?

 

Since the serivce worked for "nearly a month" and then all of a sudden is stuck in this updating message on the phone, I'm thinking there's a couple of possible issues:

 

1) Could the plan have hit it's renewal date and the renewal failed?  Did you set up Auto Pay?  Can you sign into the self-serve account and check if the status is showing as Active?

 

2) If the account is showing as active, you might want to reach out to the moderator team via private message to check if there are any back-end issues with the account.  You can read how to do that here: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Knowledge-Base/How-to-Get-Help/ta-p/251745

 

My personal theory here is that the SIM CARD UPDATING message is probably a red herring (or at least, an inaccurate error message) that is masking the fact that the account is inactive, or has an issue in the back-end.  This is just a theory, however.


>>> ALERT: I am not a moderator. For account or activation assistance, please click here.

Carld123
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@rgutter

Did he try the reboot/factory resets as mentioned by @wetcoaster in the reply earlier?

rgutter
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I think I see what's happening...

 

I had the phone delivered to my brother in Montreal. To make things simple for him - he's a shut-in with no undertanding of anything technological - I bought the SIM locally, activated it on my phone and sent it to him. As I mentioned, once he inserted it all was fine for a few weeks.

 

Now PM has for some reason issued an update. As he's running a 3G dumb (feature) phone, it can neither install nor reject the update. I'm guessing that if he found an unlocked phone (that can accomodate a full sized SIM), he could install it there, let the SIM update and then re-insert it. Or he might be able to find someone  willing to physically take the phone to whatever retailers support PM in Montreal, e.g., Walmart.

 

That might be workable. I do need to know how often these updates are issued, though, because given his particular situation it will be too much of a problem to do this every few weeks.  Which would be a shame - I'd really like to keep him on PM, especially as I've been thinking of switching to it too.

 

Can someone comment on / confirm / correct my understanding of the problem?

hairbag1
Mayor / Maire

Along with above suggestions...turn phone off and remove sim card...wait for a minute then put sim back in and reboot. Good luck.

wetcoaster
Mayor / Maire

Simple trouble shooting first:

- Reboot the phone?

- does the self-serve account look normal?

- does the SIM work correctly in another unlocked phone?

- network reset?

- factory reset? ( Back-up your data, comtacts, pics, etc first)

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