Database Users

Orange 3G Sim Card

Hi all,
I bought a shiny new HTC Trinity and put my Orange contract SIM card into it. It didn't seem to come up with 3G connection anywhere I was using it. I read on the forums that you have to sometimes get 3G enabled by your service provider.
So, I phoned Orange and he told me a I need a new 3G SIM card. I said that's fine but he said that I wasn't allowed to have one because my previous phone (the one which I had bought with the Orange contract) was not a 3G phone. I wasn't even allowed to buy a new 3G SIM card either.
I said that I would leave Orange (although this was an empty threat cos I still have 6 of my 18 months of contract left) and he said that there was nothing he could do.
Has anyone else had a similar situation to this? Is there anything I can do? Do I definitely need a 3G SIM card to get 3G on my phone?
Thanks in advance

rich1986 said:
Do I definitely need a 3G SIM card to get 3G on my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately yes, this is the case.
rich1986 said:
Is there anything I can do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you have 6 months left of an 18 mth contract.......hmmmm........Do you want to stay with Orange? if so and you monthly spend is above £35.00 then you should be able to upgrade for free ( free phone and no upgrade fee) especially if you agree to another 18 month.

That's the thing. I want to move to T-Mobile I think. Their data plan seems so much better than any other provider. Thanks for your advice though

sounds pretty crazy business to refuse to sell a customer a product

Ah OK, I dont blame you for moving - though I dont think to much of t-mobile customer services, but there data plans are great.
I dont really notice that much diffrence in speed though between 2.5 and 3G anyway.

If you do want to move to t-mobile rather go for one of the business tariff's. This way you get similar bundles/deals, but get a dedicated customer service rep, free insureance and voicemail, and easy upgrades.

New Sim card

So after having problems with the new Radio i called up t mobile to just give them BS and they were like maybe it is your 7 year old SIM card causing you the problems. I didn't think it mattered that much at all. So they told me to go get a new SIM card in the store. Free of charge. After getting the new SIM card, i have full 3G all the time no matter where i am at in the twin cities in MN. Not sure why the new SIM card fixed it but it did.

Thats cool. I had the same problem with my g1 the sim just died 2 nights ago. I went into the store they told me $20. But I had 2 old sim cards at home. I called them up actived it and it was free

Wow, that is one old sim card...I didn't even know tmobile has been in the usa that long. Mine is 3 years old and has not had any 3G issues.

well i have been with t-mobile since they were called voicestream. which if i remember right means i have been with them for over 7 years now.

Prod1702 said:
So after having problems with the new Radio i called up t mobile to just give them BS and they were like maybe it is your 7 year old SIM card causing you the problems. I didn't think it mattered that much at all. So they told me to go get a new SIM card in the store. Free of charge. After getting the new SIM card, i have full 3G all the time no matter where i am at in the twin cities in MN. Not sure why the new SIM card fixed it but it did.
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Click to collapse
In general, the SIM card does very little, but it does have some info on it, and so forth. ie, AT&T 3G only works if you have an AT&T 3G sim card... I do not know the technical reasons behind it, but old sim cards can cause issues, especially with 3G.

I too have been with them for 7 years now, and I get 3G. But now I am wondering if I'm not getting it in certain areas, or getting less than perfect connection because of my old sim card?

Prod1702 said:
well i have been with t-mobile since they were called voicestream. which if i remember right means i have been with them for over 7 years now.
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Click to collapse
I have been, too. And it's really annoying that it says "Vstream" in the carrier field on the lock screen...
Does yours do that?
My last two phones (SE P900 and SE P1i) both were smart enough to pull the actual carrier information and displayed T-Mobile (or whoever I was roaming on)... how can this phone not see that?
I've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out what file in the ROM translates the carrier info to the text.. where the hell does it pull that from?
I'm assuming if I go over to Tmobile I can get a new SIM that will have the proper carrier info, but... hell... I'm lazy and I'm not having any 3G issues... and I dont' want them to charge me.
Any ideas? So far you're the only other person I've seen that's also been a Vstream member.
Oh and.. yes... I started with Voice Stream by importing the very first color phone (AFAIK).. the SE T68i. I bought it in spring 2002 right when it came out http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=116
So... I've had this sim card for just shy of 8 years.

mikebeatrice said:
I have been, too. And it's really annoying that it says "Vstream" in the carrier field on the lock screen...
Does yours do that?
My last two phones (SE P900 and SE P1i) both were smart enough to pull the actual carrier information and displayed T-Mobile (or whoever I was roaming on)... how can this phone not see that?
I've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out what file in the ROM translates the carrier info to the text.. where the hell does it pull that from?
I'm assuming if I go over to Tmobile I can get a new SIM that will have the proper carrier info, but... hell... I'm lazy and I'm not having any 3G issues... and I dont' want them to charge me.
Any ideas? So far you're the only other person I've seen that's also been a Vstream member.
Oh and.. yes... I started with Voice Stream by importing the very first color phone (AFAIK).. the SE T68i. I bought it in spring 2002 right when it came out http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=116
So... I've had this sim card for just shy of 8 years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Holy Crap I remember that phone!

pjcforpres said:
In general, the SIM card does very little, but it does have some info on it, and so forth. ie, AT&T 3G only works if you have an AT&T 3G sim card... I do not know the technical reasons behind it, but old sim cards can cause issues, especially with 3G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can tell you that you don't need a "3G" USIM to use the AT&T UMTS network. They way you're supposed to build a 3g network is by requiring 64K or better encryption on SIM cards. 2G Sims are 32K. AT&T, being the lazy cheapskates they are hacked it into their deployment so that they didn't have to give everyone new cards. It's stupid because they tell all their front line staff to give people new cards anyway.
In my years working for them, I can count on one hand the number of people who have had 3G issues "caused" by a 2G card. In all of those cases it was probably a coincidence. I. Fact I never had any reception issue fixed by a new card. OTA updates? Yes, of course. You don't need to waste your time fetching a new card. Just a phone call and it's done.
So if you're concerned, have a customer service agent update your SIM profile. A new card is a waste of time, the only time you might see a benefit is when changing a card triggers the OTA sim update.

ATnTdude said:
I can tell you that you don't need a "3G" USIM to use the AT&T UMTS network. They way you're supposed to build a 3g network is by requiring 64K or better encryption on SIM cards. 2G Sims are 32K. AT&T, being the lazy cheapskates they are hacked it into their deployment so that they didn't have to give everyone new cards. It's stupid because they tell all their front line staff to give people new cards anyway.
In my years working for them, I can count on one hand the number of people who have had 3G issues "caused" by a 2G card. In all of those cases it was probably a coincidence. I. Fact I never had any reception issue fixed by a new card. OTA updates? Yes, of course. You don't need to waste your time fetching a new card. Just a phone call and it's done.
So if you're concerned, have a customer service agent update your SIM profile. A new card is a waste of time, the only time you might see a benefit is when changing a card triggers the OTA sim update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting... I know that SIMs very rarely are the true source, and the only time I had heard of it being so was when people had a 2G SIM when using a 3G device; ie the 32K versus 64K encryption. I thought there was no way around it, for technical reasons beyond my knowledge base. My limited understanding was that the 32K SIMs were missing certain technical protocol for a 3G network to recognize them as part of the 3G network, essentially.
I work for a carrier, btw, and am one of the few sales agents in my area that even knows how to refresh services and what not... actually, I used to have to call up CS and explain to them what needed to be done until my manager gave me the power to do it myself.

pjcforpres said:
Interesting... I know that SIMs very rarely are the true source, and the only time I had heard of it being so was when people had a 2G SIM when using a 3G device; ie the 32K versus 64K encryption. I thought there was no way around it, for technical reasons beyond my knowledge base. My limited understanding was that the 32K SIMs were missing certain technical protocol for a 3G network to recognize them as part of the 3G network, essentially.
I work for a carrier, btw, and am one of the few sales agents in my area that even knows how to refresh services and what not... actually, I used to have to call up CS and explain to them what needed to be done until my manager gave me the power to do it myself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I stopped in Tmobile today and they replaced my SIM for free since it was nearly 8 years old (and was saying Vstream, which was annoying). Pretty sure it was a 32k sim. I didn't think I was having 3G/2G connectivity issues, but I'm pretty sure after I got the new SIM in there it started locking onto 3G signals faster and stays there steadily. I noticed it mainly on my train ride home where I would regularly drop to 2G... seemed like it didn't happen nearly as much.

mikebeatrice said:
... Oh and.. yes... I started with Voice Stream by importing the very first color phone (AFAIK).. the SE T68i. I bought it in spring 2002 right when it came out http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=116
So... I've had this sim card for just shy of 8 years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Off-topic but LOL. SE T68i... I still have mine as a "backup" phone (SIM unlocked). It's small and it still works... Was actually a great phone.
Cheers,
Kermee

Kermee said:
Off-topic but LOL. SE T68i... I still have mine as a "backup" phone (SIM unlocked). It's small and it still works... Was actually a great phone.
Cheers,
Kermee
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I gave mine to my friend when I picked up the P900. He's gone through another phone since then (treo 650... he managed to put it in the clothes washer within 6 months of getting it) and is now back on the T68i.
Those SE phones are REALLY solid. I've always had a great experience with them, I just got sick of importing them to the US (and in the case of the P1i, not working on Tmob's 3G network.. bastard)... of course they announce the X10 coming to the US on Tmob like a week after I get the Nexus... ah well.
But.. yea.. T68i... one tough little bastard of a phone. The original battery is finally starting to not hold as good of a charge. Not too shabby for an 8 year old phone that's been used almost every day.

No HSPA+ speed, try getting free replacement Sim card

So I've been disappointed with the network speed of my G2, and I confirmed with T-Mobile's coverage map that HSPA+ is live in my town. Went online and chatted with TMO's customer service (which is always great IMO), and he said I need to replace my old sim card with a free new one that is 3G/4G compatible. He put a note on my account and said I just need to stop by one of their stores to switch it out! Going on my lunch break today. Geez, I've had the phone for over a month and this was the problem all along. Will update later, hope this helps anyone in the same boat.

Hey Keith,
Dude the SIM card won't do a thing....They told me the same thing, and it actually made my speed slower the first few days...
As for the HSPA+ speeds, it seems there is a bug witht eh G2. Thesre are other posts in this forum that talk about waiting for another OTA to fix that maybe by the end of the month, maybe Dec. Once the my4g came out it was evident that the G2 was not hitting the speeds available.
I usually get about 2.5 Mbps, but have hit ocasionally the 4's, and once 6 point something...
Hope it helps.

Crey, that sucks but I'm going to try the new simcard anyway
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

Sim card has nothing to do with your hspa speeds. All your sim card does is let the phone know your info. It doesn't control / affect your 3g / hspa speeds. Go for it though. If that makes you feel comfortable its worth the shot then. Just letting you know so you won't be disappointed in the end. Gl bro.
[G2/HTC Vision]

Yeah, I went into the store a few days after getting the phone to get my sim replaced. For some reason whenever I buy a new phone they always take the new sim out of the box and put it behind their counter and take my old sim and put it in the new phone. Hopefully the new sim they gave me is the latest and greatest. Anyone know what the new sims look like?
KeithRVA said:
So I've been disappointed with the network speed of my G2, and I confirmed with T-Mobile's coverage map that HSPA+ is live in my town. Went online and chatted with TMO's customer service (which is always great IMO), and he said I need to replace my old sim card with a free new one that is 3G/4G compatible. He put a note on my account and said I just need to stop by one of their stores to switch it out! Going on my lunch break today. Geez, I've had the phone for over a month and this was the problem all along. Will update later, hope this helps anyone in the same boat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

luis86dr said:
Sim card has nothing to do with your hspa speeds. All your sim card does is let the phone know your info. It doesn't control / affect your 3g / hspa speeds. Go for it though. If that makes you feel comfortable its worth the shot then. Just letting you know so you won't be disappointed in the end. Gl bro.
[G2/HTC Vision]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The TMo rep is full of it then. He said I was getting a "new 3G/4G compatible simcard". Well, it's worth a shot but I'll know not to take the card back if it doesn't work.

Can't remember his name, but there was a user who commented on a previous post similar to this. His sim card was about 8 years old and he was hitting about 7 mb/s with hspa. I think its just your area. I inserted the sim that came with the phone and I get crappy hspa speeds. My area isn't fully supported. I top out at 3.5 mb/s. So its all depending on your area bro. Give it time. Hspa will expand more. Its brand new.
[G2/HTC Vision]

While it won't do much for speeds, getting a new UICC SIM is good as the older sim cars are running into what is known as ' sim exhaustion' from reaching their registration limit (90,000 times) while this may seem like a lot, it doesn't take much with the newer 3G/HSPA towers.
Each time you enter the radius of a new tower, your device registers to it (basic description) - your phone does this a lot each day, especially if you travel a good deal.
The new UICC sim cards do not have a registration limit, and do not reach exhaustion. They are marked on one side of the sim by the numbers TM 9073. If you don't see that, your sim isn't UICC.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

Got my new simcard, it does have the TM9073 marking, and the gold contact area on the back looks different, its smaller. Ran a speedtest inside the T-Mobile store and got 4mbp down and 3mbp up. Not great but better than I ever got with my old simcard. Back inside my office I ran speedtest again and it was the same as before, a crappy 1.30mbp down and a little better 1.5mbp up. But still a little boost from the old card. Guess it's worth it to get a new free simcard if you have an old one.

If you can get a new SIM card, it'll be worth it. Though I doubt it will have any influence on network speed, I know I had to get a new one. Mine was running on seven years old!
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

After reading this thread, I called T-Mo as well and the 2nd tech i talked to saw that I had the old G1 card in my phone and arranged a free one to be picked up at a local store (this after the first time i called was told that it was the cookies in my browser causing the internet speed to be slow and wanted to remotely delete them (they can do that?) I was like WHOA!!! I LIKE MY COOKIES!! she then told me it was because i needed to pull the battery once a week and because i had not been doing that, that also was causing the slow data..lol hung up on her and called back) even though i didn't see any increase in my office, i did see an increase on the street..nyc.

[Q] t-mobile 4g malfunction

I tried to look for this problem, but couldn't find anything relevant...
finally got my unlocked nexus 4 in the mail today!
was super excited, cut my existing t-mobile sim card (I'm on a contract with them) and was able to connect to their network (can make calls and receive texts). When I try to connect to 4G, it takes ages to load a page. it takes the same page about 10 times as fast to load on 2G when i force 2G. Sometimes the page would time out and not load at all..
has anyone else experienced this problem?

Get a real microsim card, those cut sims don't work very well. They're free. I got one from tmobile and I have no problems with my 4g connection, blazing fast.

the sim worked fine on my t-mobile G2, but i guess i'll try to order a real micro anyways.

Did you set up the proper APNs? Check into that before anything else.
Sent from my Nexus 4

Ajfink said:
Did you set up the proper APNs? Check into that before anything else.
Sent from my Nexus 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
was the first thing i checked. got info from here

MusicMan374 said:
Get a real microsim card, those cut sims don't work very well. They're free. I got one from tmobile and I have no problems with my 4g connection, blazing fast.
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Click to collapse
Makes no difference. I cut my own sim. What makes a difference is OP had a G2 and the sim cards have since been updated and he needs a newer sim card.
[email protected] said:
the sim worked fine on my t-mobile G2, but i guess i'll try to order a real micro anyways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See above, OP
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

I tried to find a way to order a microsim online, and failed. So, I went to the t-mob online chat support, waited about 15 min, and the guy told me that i had to call in or go to a store and that a replacement would not be free of charge.
So, I called in, waited about 15 seconds, and the guy sent a microsim my way for free..
I believe magic is at work here..
will let you know if the new sim solves the problem

Yes! please let us know, im having the same issue!

silvioalcan said:
Yes! please let us know, im having the same issue!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when i bought my nexus 4 from a tmobile store, the sim card that came with the phone which was also activated at purchase only let me have speeds of ~39kbps download and ~9kbps upload. this lasted me for about 2 hours and i returned to the store and complained. they swapped it out with a new sim card and i've been getting about 8mbps download and 1.2mbps upload here in Salt Lake City.
not real sure what my point is, but, sim replacement is fairly easy and would be my suggestion after my experience.

well.. I got my new sim card last night and realized that the speeds have nothing to do with my sim card, but probably with the local tower. before i got the new sim card, I sometimes got decent speeds (~4mbps) and sometimes it wouldnt connect. When I got the new sim card, the speedtest gave me 4 kbps.. about 10 miles away from here I got 5 mbps.
So the old sim card behaved exactly as the new one =/
I never had this problem with the G2, though. And I would get speeds up to 20 mbps on the same network..
So this is still very upsetting and confusing

[email protected] said:
well.. I got my new sim card last night and realized that the speeds have nothing to do with my sim card, but probably with the local tower. before i got the new sim card, I sometimes got decent speeds (~4mbps) and sometimes it wouldnt connect. When I got the new sim card, the speedtest gave me 4 kbps.. about 10 miles away from here I got 5 mbps.
So the old sim card behaved exactly as the new one =/
I never had this problem with the G2, though. And I would get speeds up to 20 mbps on the same network..
So this is still very upsetting and confusing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might be a localized problem with the tower, call t-mobile, and they'll have technicians come out and look at it. Or, try another android phone and see if you have the same problem, that'll tell you whether or not it's the phone, if it's the phone, get a warranty replacement, might be a problem with the radio hardware.

[email protected] said:
well.. I got my new sim card last night and realized that the speeds have nothing to do with my sim card, but probably with the local tower. before i got the new sim card, I sometimes got decent speeds (~4mbps) and sometimes it wouldnt connect. When I got the new sim card, the speedtest gave me 4 kbps.. about 10 miles away from here I got 5 mbps.
So the old sim card behaved exactly as the new one =/
I never had this problem with the G2, though. And I would get speeds up to 20 mbps on the same network..
So this is still very upsetting and confusing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It isn't even possible for the G2 to reach speeds that high..
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

[email protected] said:
well.. I got my new sim card last night and realized that the speeds have nothing to do with my sim card, but probably with the local tower. before i got the new sim card, I sometimes got decent speeds (~4mbps) and sometimes it wouldnt connect. When I got the new sim card, the speedtest gave me 4 kbps.. about 10 miles away from here I got 5 mbps.
So the old sim card behaved exactly as the new one =/
I never had this problem with the G2, though. And I would get speeds up to 20 mbps on the same network..
So this is still very upsetting and confusing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same happened to me, its because they've been refarming their 3g network towers. just call T-Mobile customer service and tell them your 3g/4g data isn't working anymore and tell them the address where its not working and they'll fix it. it took a couple days
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

hmm, data service is fine here. getting around 12-14 down and 1 up...
if its not the sim and your APN seems fine, try contacting Tmo and see if its on thier end. If not maybe its simply a defected device =/

I cut my SGSII simcard and it works perfectly, it is because of the G2 using an older version simcard.

Cut my SIM card they gave me earlier this year when I switched from AT&T with my Galaxy Nexus. Also works fine. Also, you shouldn't have to mess with the APN settings. At all. Should do it automatically.

[Q] Carrier Problems

Hello,
After waiting for over 30 minutes on phone with Straight Talk, the representative told me they don't have micro-sim for T-mobile in my area. Solavei doesn't support Nexus 4 yet. There is no end to carrier woes. I was thinking of getting T-Mobile connection as a lot of people are reporting higher speeds on T-mobile. Any of you in the same problem.
Thanks.

If you want Straight Talk T-Mobile, you'll need to get a regular SIM, cut it to Micro-SIM size, and hope it works. Or, perhaps try T-Mobile prepaid. You c an get $30/month unlimited text/data with 100 minutes of talk if you activate online.
There aren't really many carriers issues, I think, just certain choices and the occasional AT&T issue with data speeds/plans/getting them to work properly due to the way they do things.

Ajfink said:
If you want Straight Talk T-Mobile, you'll need to get a regular SIM, cut it to Micro-SIM size, and hope it works. Or, perhaps try T-Mobile prepaid. You c an get $30/month unlimited text/data with 100 minutes of talk if you activate online.
There aren't really many carriers issues, I think, just certain choices and the occasional AT&T issue with data speeds/plans/getting them to work properly due to the way they do things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think I want to get into trouble of cutting sim cards. I might just get Solavei using Samsung S3 sim card which is a micro card and hope it works.

donniezazen said:
I don't think I want to get into trouble of cutting sim cards. I might just get Solavei using Samsung S3 sim card which is a micro card and hope it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no trouble for cutting sim cards. And why don't you try AT&T on straight talk?

I'm on ST t mobile and cut my card data is faster but no signal inside buildings
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

facetubespam said:
There is no trouble for cutting sim cards. And why don't you try AT&T on straight talk?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might. I wanted to give T-Mobile a try. I have been reading that T-Mobile runs 42Mbps and ATT runs 21Mbps.
I have ordered Solavei using S3 IMEI. Hope it works.
godefoy said:
I'm on ST t mobile and cut my card data is faster but no signal inside buildings
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are all same.
Sent from Nexusverse

donniezazen said:
Hello,
After waiting for over 30 minutes on phone with Straight Talk, the representative told me they don't have micro-sim for T-mobile in my area. Solavei doesn't support Nexus 4 yet. There is no end to carrier woes. I was thinking of getting T-Mobile connection as a lot of people are reporting higher speeds on T-mobile. Any of you in the same problem.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have decent T-Mo coverage in your area, I'd recommend trying it. I fell into the AT&T "You don't have an AT&T aprroved 4G device and therefore we can't give you a 4G plan" hole and no amount of explanation with 2 different CSRs resolved it. I could have given them an IMEI from one of the phones in their store, but decided that I'm trying too hard to get them to keep my money. I already had a T-Mo account (wanted to try out both for a few days before deciding). The port happened in 4 hours on a Saturday morning. I'm happy with my coverage and speeds so far.

harsubs said:
If you have decent T-Mo coverage in your area, I'd recommend trying it. I fell into the AT&T "You don't have an AT&T aprroved 4G device and therefore we can't give you a 4G plan" hole and no amount of explanation with 2 different CSRs resolved it. I could have given them an IMEI from one of the phones in their store, but decided that I'm trying too hard to get them to keep my money. I already had a T-Mo account (wanted to try out both for a few days before deciding). The port happened in 4 hours on a Saturday morning. I'm happy with my coverage and speeds so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Solavei doesn't yet support Nexus 4 but I used Samsung S3's IMEI to get a micro Sim. Hope it works.
Also I am porting my number to Google voice so I will be able to give both att and t- moo try without any hassle.
Sent from Nexusverse