cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Invalid SIM

thelmachaulk
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Since switching to PM I keep getting an error message that SIM is invalid or No SIM detected. This happens 2-3 times per week. After taking the SIM out and turning phone off a few times the service works again. This did not happen with my Bell SIM. I have only been with PM a few months and now considering a different service. Please help with this issue if possible. 

28 REPLIES 28

DougJarvis
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Go to backup and reset and go to network settings reset and try that.

Alan53
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Hi All, allow me to jump in here; I just experienced the same situation, "Invalid Sim". Very frustrating as a new customer just filling in the sign up form. Turns out, I'm visually impaired, or stupid or the instructions for sign-up suck. When I put the sim card in my phone and turned it on, the sign-up form  liked me and I was online.  Marvelous. Yay me!

 

Alan

Anonymous
Not applicable

@Tav wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

@Tav wrote:

According to Public Mobiles terms and conditions:

 

Screenshot 2019-01-19 at 2.38.04 PM.png

 

Is this always the case?


No. That's wording from a promo. The frequent promo when they offer free sim and next term free.


Is that promo active? If not someone should remove that from the terms and conditions.


It is not a current promo. I think the only promo now is the autopay/500MB.

Edit: and Koho.

Tav
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@Anonymous wrote:

@Tav wrote:

According to Public Mobiles terms and conditions:

 

Screenshot 2019-01-19 at 2.38.04 PM.png

 

Is this always the case?


No. That's wording from a promo. The frequent promo when they offer free sim and next term free.


Is that promo active? If not someone should remove that from the terms and conditions.

 

Edit: @Anonymous thanks for clearing that up!

Anonymous
Not applicable

@Tav wrote:

According to Public Mobiles terms and conditions:

 

Screenshot 2019-01-19 at 2.38.04 PM.png

 

Is this always the case?


No. That's wording from a promo. The frequent promo when they offer free sim and next term free.

 

Edit: @Tav: That's also a list of footnotes. When a promo comes out it'll use #10 as a footnote. Same as footnote #9 just above.

But again the wording could be clearer.

Tav
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

In the terms and conditions section of the plans page (closer to the bottom). According to this the sim should always be free if you activate in-store.

Screenshot 2019-01-19 at 2.47.43 PM.png

mimmo
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@Tav wrote:

According to Public Mobiles terms and conditions:

 

Screenshot 2019-01-19 at 2.38.04 PM.png

 

Is this always the case?


@Tav where is that screenshot from.  It is likely just for a specific offer.

 

Sims usually cost $10 with or without activation  

Tav
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

According to Public Mobiles terms and conditions:

 

Screenshot 2019-01-19 at 2.38.04 PM.png

 

Is this always the case?

Tav
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@stonechucker wrote:

@Tav, Koodo and Telus are already giving away the $30 SIM for online activations (with or without a phone purchase), and I believe shipping is also free.  The cost of doing business.

 

In the store, $30 cost for the SIM, no waiving of the 'connection fee' whether you purchase a phone or not.  Making the customer pay for a person to sell them the SIM and put it in the phone when activating the plan.


The amount of people that don't notice or care about their $30 fee is more than enough to cover the folks that are savvy enough to do it online for free. Kind of a trickle down effect that evens out the cost of it being "free" which still turns a profit in the end. 

 

Sure the parent company could cover it but that doesn't make the Public Mobile brand sustainable.

 

With all of Public Mobiles promos my sim paid for itself on my second month and when my 6 month promo runs out I could still buy a sim every month and still be saving money compared to my old providor.

 

Should the sims just randomly fail? No

 

Is Public Mobile saving me loads of money? Yes

 

Is $11.50 taxes in for a new sim gonna stop me from putting food on the table? No

 

Would I complain my sim failed? Most likely but service is already so cheap I'd have a hard time justifying it.

@Tav, Koodo and Telus are already giving away the $30 SIM for online activations (with or without a phone purchase), and I believe shipping is also free.  The cost of doing business.

 

In the store, $30 cost for the SIM, no waiving of the 'connection fee' whether you purchase a phone or not.  Making the customer pay for a person to sell them the SIM and put it in the phone when activating the plan.

Tav
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@DrRosenRosen wrote:

If the cost of the sim is so small, then PM should have no problem standing by their product and refunding OP the 10 bucks. I'm experiencing the same issues with my sim card and was researching solutions when i came across this thread. I am suprised at how many people believe that its the users responsibility to pay again for a product that should work. 


This may be a controversial statement but I don't think Public Mobile should foot the bill for the sim.

 

I can't really see a sim card failing unless it was an issue with the phone itself. If Public Mobile sold cell phones then I could then see the cost of a replacement sim card being covered by the company but since they don't then they have no idea what kind of phone or what kind of condition the customer is using. Kind of a warranty grey area if you will.

 

Yeah, they could probably write it off as the cost of doing business but businesses aren't in the business of charity. We would all probably see that as an increase in our bills somewhere along the line be that an increase in prices or a decrease or removal of rewards. Who would want that? Less for less is the Public Mobile slogan after all. 

@DrRosenRosen, in this case, the SIM has been functioning until now, and for whatever reason, we do not know the cause of this problem.

 

SIMs *should* be able to just do what they do - sit in a stationary position in a cell phone, and not move from that point.  If the SIM is in a tray that also accepts a microSD media card, and the user is continually swapping cards, the phone contact points could be getting damaged, the sim could be getting damaged, and as suggested earlier, debris could be interfering also.

 

I'm a long time thinker that the SIM should always be free, as, in order to use a cellular phone currently in Canada, you must be able to get a SIM from your desired carrier.  The SIM is considered in my mind as a user fee.  It should be provided as part of the cost of the plan.

DrRosenRosen
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

If the cost of the sim is so small, then PM should have no problem standing by their product and refunding OP the 10 bucks. I'm experiencing the same issues with my sim card and was researching solutions when i came across this thread. I am suprised at how many people believe that its the users responsibility to pay again for a product that should work. 


@Carld123 wrote:

@thelmachaulk wrote:

Since switching to PM I keep getting an error message that SIM is invalid or No SIM detected. This happens 2-3 times per week. After taking the SIM out and turning phone off a few times the service works again. This did not happen with my Bell SIM. I have only been with PM a few months and now considering a different service. Please help with this issue if possible. 


@thelmachaulk

Same happened to me..I cut a couple tiny pieces of tape and put them on the back of the sim....making it a little thicker seemed to work..no more issues.


Using tape is a risky proposition.  If the tape snags, it would be tough to remove it from the SIM slot.  I get the suspicious feeling the SIM reader on the phone may be the culprit.  Perhaps some lint got into the slot and is affecting the connection.  SIM cards rarely fail if ever. 

Tav
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@thelmachaulk What model phone are you using?

What version OS is it running? Do you have an Android phone with a custom ROM by chance?

 

Certain phones and/or certain ROMs can be known to give issues with sim cards.

 

I have an old Moto G2 with LineageOS running on it and it gave sim errors for a few months just because of some known bugs in the software. Just had to wait on updates for it to sort itself out.

thelmachaulk
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Hi, thanks for the help.

GreatCanadian
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@tehowennathe wrote:

@stonechucker wrote:

The cost of the SIM is so small, it's the same as 2 or 5 cups of coffee, depending on where you purchase your morning brew.  Cut the caffeine for a bit.


Plus any carrier that offers Bring your own phone will charge $10 for a sim card. You will pay same for SIM on any carrier but plan cost will not be the same or network for that matter.


And if the problem is the phone or the sim card, you are in the same boat again.

 

GC

tehowennathe
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@stonechucker wrote:

The cost of the SIM is so small, it's the same as 2 or 5 cups of coffee, depending on where you purchase your morning brew.  Cut the caffeine for a bit.


Plus any carrier that offers Bring your own phone will charge $10 for a sim card. You will pay same for SIM on any carrier but plan cost will not be the same or network for that matter.

The cost of the SIM is so small, it's the same as 2 or 5 cups of coffee, depending on where you purchase your morning brew.  Cut the caffeine for a bit.

tehowennathe
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@GreatCanadian wrote:

@thelmachaulk wrote:

Have tried everything you suggest except new SIM, FYI: I have no plans on returning to Bell but there are other cheaper services out there. This has happened ever since purchasing the SIM to join PM and don't feel I should have to purchase a new SIM. It should be replaced but since there is no way to contact customer service about the issue I am considering switching. I use my phone for work and need 100% service as I had with the Bell SIM since PM works on the Bell network.


Well, if you refuse to believe that the issue is NOT Public Mobile, then feel free to move to the other cheaper services that you mention. But it has been suggested that you try a new $10 sim (or find someone with Public Mobile and try their sim in your phone, or your sim in someone else's telus, koodo, or unlocked phone). But since you believe the issue is Public Mobile, when the rest of us are telling you it isn't, then perhaps we should stop wasting our collective breath.

 

GC


I agree if they believe it's PM then they should switch to what ever carrier they speak of. I been a customer 5 years and it's never been carrier. It in past has been phone or SIM card. A happy customer who believes they should get a $10 SIM. I have unlimited canada wide and calling to US from Canada with unlimited text and 8GB data paying $26 after rewards. Who can say their carrier gets them that low. If they can find a carrier like that then by all means they can switch. 

GreatCanadian
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@thelmachaulk wrote:

Have tried everything you suggest except new SIM, FYI: I have no plans on returning to Bell but there are other cheaper services out there. This has happened ever since purchasing the SIM to join PM and don't feel I should have to purchase a new SIM. It should be replaced but since there is no way to contact customer service about the issue I am considering switching. I use my phone for work and need 100% service as I had with the Bell SIM since PM works on the Bell network.


Well, if you refuse to believe that the issue is NOT Public Mobile, then feel free to move to the other cheaper services that you mention. But it has been suggested that you try a new $10 sim (or find someone with Public Mobile and try their sim in your phone, or your sim in someone else's telus, koodo, or unlocked phone). But since you believe the issue is Public Mobile, when the rest of us are telling you it isn't, then perhaps we should stop wasting our collective breath.

 

GC

tehowennathe
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

Try putting your SIM card in a friend's unlocked phone. If issue happens it's your SIM card. If nothing happens it's your phone. My phone did that once and required a factory reset to solve issue. 

Carld123
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@thelmachaulk

Customer service is the moderator team..if you havent, send them a private message as mentioned earlier and see what happens...

thelmachaulk
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Have tried everything you suggest except new SIM, FYI: I have no plans on returning to Bell but there are other cheaper services out there. This has happened ever since purchasing the SIM to join PM and don't feel I should have to purchase a new SIM. It should be replaced but since there is no way to contact customer service about the issue I am considering switching. I use my phone for work and need 100% service as I had with the Bell SIM since PM works on the Bell network.

Dunkgirl
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@thelmachaulk Before purchasing a new sim, try @Carld123 tape trick first.

Alex888
Mayor / Maire

It sounds like the SIM card may be defective. If you bought it in store you should ask them for a replacement, if you bought it on PM you should contact a moderator here and ask for a replacement.

 

As a temporary fix you could try putting a small piece of tape across the back of the SIM to improve the contact with the phone. Or if you have a phone with dual SIM card slots, try the other slot.

Carld123
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@thelmachaulk wrote:

Since switching to PM I keep getting an error message that SIM is invalid or No SIM detected. This happens 2-3 times per week. After taking the SIM out and turning phone off a few times the service works again. This did not happen with my Bell SIM. I have only been with PM a few months and now considering a different service. Please help with this issue if possible. 


@thelmachaulk

Same happened to me..I cut a couple tiny pieces of tape and put them on the back of the sim....making it a little thicker seemed to work..no more issues.

Dunkgirl
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@thelmachaulk wrote:

Since switching to PM I keep getting an error message that SIM is invalid or No SIM detected. This happens 2-3 times per week. After taking the SIM out and turning phone off a few times the service works again. This did not happen with my Bell SIM. I have only been with PM a few months and now considering a different service. Please help with this issue if possible. 


@thelmachaulkBell and public mobile both use the exact same network. You came to public mobile to save money, there is nothing wrong with the service but there may be something wrong with your sim port / sim card. Try cleaning your contacts on the sim and phone  and check for bent pins or pins that do not properly spring back in place when gently pushed in. If that doesn't work think about the amount of money you save per month for being with public mobile vs bell then ask yourself if a possible $10 solution is too high to buy a new sim card and worth going back to bell, one of the highest priced cell phone providers in Canada. If buying a new sim does not solve your issue then your phone has developed an issue and any other provider you switch to will have the same problem.

Need Help? Let's chat.