Finding your PUK code

[Korth]

The search engines hit all sorts of results for this question, but (like this example) they invariably boil down to just three options:

1) Look for the PUK code written somewhere on the SIM card or its packaging.

2) Look for the PUK code written somewhere in your service contract or account information.

3) Contact your mobile operator to obtain the PUK code.

Public Mobile's SIM cards do not disclose the PUK code anywhere on the card, the plastics, the packaging, the brochure, or the receipt.

We don't get proper individualized contracts. And I haven't found a PUK anywhere in Self-Serve.

So we simply have no choice but to contact PM if we want our PUK codes.

But there may be other options ...

An app called Sim Puk Code (which runs on the phone/device) and dev tools like Dekart Sim Explorer (which require an $8 piece of hardware usually known as a USB SIM card reader and a Windows computer). These dev softwares are quite costly but there's quite a few of them available so I'm sure one or two of them will offer a limited-use trial period. And there's always the option of manually editing data through WinHex as a workaround for stupid bit-entrenched software restrictions, lol.

Has anyone tried these tools? I'm leery of risking my own SIM cards by setting off any anti-tamper mechanisms, but then again I do have a few spares so I guess I can afford to activate one on a cheap plan (while I allow my main plan to become suspended) and play around with the data on the spare SIM during the last few days of the first billing cycle.

[Korth]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

There isn't any reason to need the SIM card's PUK unless you don't know the SIM card's PIN.

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Simple reason is that somebody put a lock on my stuff without giving me a key to open it.

I am conscious of this - and want to know my PUKs - because I know somebody who had to obtain his PUK the hard way, basically no phone (no ability to use the phone) for a couple days while awaiting response, in this instance a frustratingly stupid inconvenience which just caused problems instead of adding useful security.

His story isn't likely to happen to my phone. But why do the carriers treat PUKs as precious things, why does PM seem so reluctant to simply reveal the PUK in Self-Serve?

[computergeek541]

@Korth 

If it has never been changed by someone, your SIM card's PIN is 1234.

[Korth]

I typically put a couple PINs on my phone itself - for screenlock, for settings. But I think they're stored in the phone's software-based NVRAM. I doubt they're stored on the SIM card since I can swap it into other devices which have their own PINs. And I don't recall ever entering a SIM card PIN during setup.

So I guess I don't know my SIM card PIN. Just like I don't know my SIM card PUK.

Or am I overlooking something?

[computergeek541]

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@Korth wrote:

An app called Sim Puk Code (which runs on the phone/device) and dev tools like Dekart Sim Explorer (which require an $8 piece of hardware usually known as a USB SIM card reader and a Windows computer). These dev softwares are quite costly but there's quite a few of them available so I'm sure one or two of them will offer a limited-use trial period. And there's always the option of manually editing data through WinHex as a workaround for stupid bit-entrenched software restrictions, lol.

There isn't any reason to need the SIM card's PUK unless you don't know the SIM card's PIN. Someone could pull a prank on someone and lock the sim card and then change the default PIN, or someone could go into the PIN settings and deliberately enter the PIN incorrect a bunch of times. As for relying on  sofware to do this, I don't have experience as to if that app works, but it's fairly easy to keep a spare sim card.

[CFPartDeux]

@Korth  Well, if you try it, I'm sure a few folks around here would be interested to hear about what you find out.