It is in the software update are? What does it relate to in S4?
General info in UICC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UICC
It deals with the GSM SIM card.
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cellfreak said:
It deals with the GSM SIM card.
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Could you be more specific?
sim card
Sprint rep said you can lock your sim. So it cant be used by someone else.
---------- Post added at 12:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:28 AM ----------
The UICC are Sprint cards they are not like the AT&T SIM cards. But they both can have PIN locks put on them to keep your data on them a little safer.
cellfreak said:
Sprint rep said you can lock your sim. So it cant be used by someone else.
---------- Post added at 12:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:28 AM ----------
The UICC are Sprint cards they are not like the AT&T SIM cards. But they both can have PIN locks put on them to keep your data on them a little safer.
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thanks for info
any info on how to lock it??
alexd51 said:
any info on how to lock it??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow.. this is sort of an old thread for google to be leading me to.. but uh... i think everyone here has a total missunderstanding of Sprint's SIM cards... They're UICC... Which, I guess some people on here already can see that it is. But, what they don't seem to understand, is that this style of SIM card does NOT contain ANY personal information about you... there is NO NEED TO LOCK IT... because its ALREADY LOCKED... UICC SIM cards, are simply there to give you access to LTE, nothing more, nothing less. They have a 'personalized code' that is linked to your device, and will ONLY work on that device. You CAN NOT take the SIM card, and put it into another device, even if its the same exact model, and expect it to work. They are locked to your device PERMANENTLY. No ifs, ands, or buts. You can however, unlock your DEVICE to work with other SIM cards. So yes, you CAN put an AT&T SIM card into the phone, and have it work, but ONLY if your DEVICE is unlocked by the carrier and thus be allowed to access other networks. Though, I'm pretty sure you have to get a UICC SIM from them, which unless things have changed within the last few years, I hear is kind of difficult to get from GSM carriers.
So, to answer Alex's question: you do not need to lock it, for it is already locked permanently to your device. There is no personal information stored on the UICC SIM card, so there is nothing to be gained by someone who somehow gains physical access to the SIM card. Not only will it simply just not work unless they are using the physical linked device, but there is no information to be retrieved from it what so ever. Your phone number is not saved on it, text messages aren't saved on it, contacts aren't saved on it, email addresses are not saved on it. It is basically just a 'security chip' to allow Sprint and other UICC SIM card using carriers to make sure only authentic devices are allowed to use their LTE networks.
This can also be demonstrated by people who have bought sprint phones off of ebay and people don't include the UICC SIM card that came with the device. They most likely wont ever be able to use LTE on that device unless they somehow convince the people at a sprint store to trade the device in for one with a UICC SIM, or on more rarer cases: have them contact someone who can order a replacement and be able to 'link' it to the device. My brother has had this happen twice to him. He'd buy a phone off of Ebay, and it wont have the SIM. not thinking it was a big deal, he just tried to activate it via the Sprint website, and with one, it simply wouldn't activate, and the other just wouldnt' get LTE. He had to take it into the store, and they luckily were willing to exchange the device for one with a UICC SIM, and for the one that just wouldnt' connect to LTE, they managed to have a blank one in the store and they had to ship the phone and the SIM off to some place to have them 'linked'. Its a hard coded issue, not simply a software issue...
SO, bottom line: Don't worry about 'locking' the UICC SIMs.... they wont really 'lock', because they already are, and there is no real reason/gain to do so anyway.
the menu item is to unlock the uicc slot for international sims OTA... thats how we originally unlocked the S4, by using an meid that was unlocked already, hitting that menu option, and going back to our meid.......
Almost Not Quite
HikariNoKitsune said:
Wow.. this is sort of an old thread for google to be leading me to.. but uh... i think everyone here has a total missunderstanding of Sprint's SIM cards... They're UICC... Which, I guess some people on here already can see that it is. But, what they don't seem to understand, is that this style of SIM card does NOT contain ANY personal information about you... there is NO NEED TO LOCK IT... because its ALREADY LOCKED... UICC SIM cards, are simply there to give you access to LTE, nothing more, nothing less. They have a 'personalized code' that is linked to your device, and will ONLY work on that device. You CAN NOT take the SIM card, and put it into another device, even if its the same exact model, and expect it to work. They are locked to your device PERMANENTLY. No ifs, ands, or buts. You can however, unlock your DEVICE to work with other SIM cards. So yes, you CAN put an AT&T SIM card into the phone, and have it work, but ONLY if your DEVICE is unlocked by the carrier and thus be allowed to access other networks. Though, I'm pretty sure you have to get a UICC SIM from them, which unless things have changed within the last few years, I hear is kind of difficult to get from GSM carriers.
So, to answer Alex's question: you do not need to lock it, for it is already locked permanently to your device. There is no personal information stored on the UICC SIM card, so there is nothing to be gained by someone who somehow gains physical access to the SIM card. Not only will it simply just not work unless they are using the physical linked device, but there is no information to be retrieved from it what so ever. Your phone number is not saved on it, text messages aren't saved on it, contacts aren't saved on it, email addresses are not saved on it. It is basically just a 'security chip' to allow Sprint and other UICC SIM card using carriers to make sure only authentic devices are allowed to use their LTE networks.
This can also be demonstrated by people who have bought sprint phones off of ebay and people don't include the UICC SIM card that came with the device. They most likely wont ever be able to use LTE on that device unless they somehow convince the people at a sprint store to trade the device in for one with a UICC SIM, or on more rarer cases: have them contact someone who can order a replacement and be able to 'link' it to the device. My brother has had this happen twice to him. He'd buy a phone off of Ebay, and it wont have the SIM. not thinking it was a big deal, he just tried to activate it via the Sprint website, and with one, it simply wouldn't activate, and the other just wouldnt' get LTE. He had to take it into the store, and they luckily were willing to exchange the device for one with a UICC SIM, and for the one that just wouldnt' connect to LTE, they managed to have a blank one in the store and they had to ship the phone and the SIM off to some place to have them 'linked'. Its a hard coded issue, not simply a software issue...
SO, bottom line: Don't worry about 'locking' the UICC SIMs.... they wont really 'lock', because they already are, and there is no real reason/gain to do so anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought a Galaxy Note 3 which did not have any SIM card, I simply went into the local sprint store and they gave me a UICC SIM free of charge. Then after a little time with tech support on the line figuring out that they had incorrectly linked my new SIM to the old account and correctly linking it to the proper account for the Note 3 my LTE was up and running. Although I have heard as well that some locations they do run short on the SIM cards but keep calling some local stores and one can definitely be found at least from my prior experience.
On a less contradictory note, excellent explanation of the UICC SIM card usage in regards to accessing LTE
HikariNoKitsune said:
Wow.. this is sort of an old thread for google to be leading me to.. but uh... i think everyone here has a total missunderstanding of Sprint's SIM cards... They're UICC... Which, I guess some people on here already can see that it is. But, what they don't seem to understand, is that this style of SIM card does NOT contain ANY personal information about you... there is NO NEED TO LOCK IT... because its ALREADY LOCKED... UICC SIM cards, are simply there to give you access to LTE, nothing more, nothing less. They have a 'personalized code' that is linked to your device, and will ONLY work on that device. You CAN NOT take the SIM card, and put it into another device, even if its the same exact model, and expect it to work. They are locked to your device PERMANENTLY. No ifs, ands, or buts. You can however, unlock your DEVICE to work with other SIM cards. So yes, you CAN put an AT&T SIM card into the phone, and have it work, but ONLY if your DEVICE is unlocked by the carrier and thus be allowed to access other networks. Though, I'm pretty sure you have to get a UICC SIM from them, which unless things have changed within the last few years, I hear is kind of difficult to get from GSM carriers.
So, to answer Alex's question: you do not need to lock it, for it is already locked permanently to your device. There is no personal information stored on the UICC SIM card, so there is nothing to be gained by someone who somehow gains physical access to the SIM card. Not only will it simply just not work unless they are using the physical linked device, but there is no information to be retrieved from it what so ever. Your phone number is not saved on it, text messages aren't saved on it, contacts aren't saved on it, email addresses are not saved on it. It is basically just a 'security chip' to allow Sprint and other UICC SIM card using carriers to make sure only authentic devices are allowed to use their LTE networks.
This can also be demonstrated by people who have bought sprint phones off of ebay and people don't include the UICC SIM card that came with the device. They most likely wont ever be able to use LTE on that device unless they somehow convince the people at a sprint store to trade the device in for one with a UICC SIM, or on more rarer cases: have them contact someone who can order a replacement and be able to 'link' it to the device. My brother has had this happen twice to him. He'd buy a phone off of Ebay, and it wont have the SIM. not thinking it was a big deal, he just tried to activate it via the Sprint website, and with one, it simply wouldn't activate, and the other just wouldnt' get LTE. He had to take it into the store, and they luckily were willing to exchange the device for one with a UICC SIM, and for the one that just wouldnt' connect to LTE, they managed to have a blank one in the store and they had to ship the phone and the SIM off to some place to have them 'linked'. Its a hard coded issue, not simply a software issue...
SO, bottom line: Don't worry about 'locking' the UICC SIMs.... they wont really 'lock', because they already are, and there is no real reason/gain to do so anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is really inaccurate. You can switch the UICC SIM buddy. Even when you're doing the swap yourself over sprint.com you'll get a pop up alerting you the device uses a sim and if you want to use the original one that came with device or use another. Hope no one bought a sim less device on ebay and read this, you probably gave them a heart attack..
Also when the Note 4 and Note Edge where having signal problems many service centers were swapping out the SIM cards. I don't know why your brother was giving such runaround, a new sim would had his device up and running with lte. Sounds like your sprint store is ran by reps who know nothing.
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AndroiBoi420 said:
I bought a Galaxy Note 3 which did not have any SIM card, I simply went into the local sprint store and they gave me a UICC SIM free of charge. Then after a little time with tech support on the line figuring out that they had incorrectly linked my new SIM to the old account and correctly linking it to the proper account for the Note 3 my LTE was up and running. Although I have heard as well that some locations they do run short on the SIM cards but keep calling some local stores and one can definitely be found at least from my prior experience.
On a less contradictory note, excellent explanation of the UICC SIM card usage in regards to accessing LTE
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Click to collapse
RayTrue04 said:
This is really inaccurate. You can switch the UICC SIM buddy. Even when you're doing the swap yourself over sprint.com you'll get a pop up alerting you the device uses a sim and if you want to use the original one that came with device or use another. Hope no one bought a sim less device on ebay and read this, you probably gave them a heart attack..
Also when the Note 4 and Note Edge where having signal problems many service centers were swapping out the SIM cards. I don't know why your brother was giving such runaround, a new sim would had his device up and running with lte. Sounds like your sprint store is ran by reps who know nothing.
Sent from my SM-N915P using XDA Free mobile app
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Click to collapse
AndroiBoi420 Now-a-days it depends on the device. If the carrier has a blank SIM, most phones 'now' will allow you to put it in. My brother's cases were back when LTE for sprint was just then becoming a 'thing'.
As for RayTrue04... I'm sorry, but that's completely accurate... you CAN NOT take the SIM card out of, say, a Galaxy S6 and put it into a Galaxy Note 5... It WILL, NOT, WORK. I've tried it, plenty of other people have tried it. IT. DOES. NOT. WORK. The SIMs are LOCKED to ONE device and ONLY that device. You CAN however, go off and get a BLANK SIM card and shove them in and they will work.
But in any case, my posting was about why locking the SIM card does absolutely nothing, because nothing personally identifiable is stored on them. So, if you sold the phone on eBay, and left the SIM in it, you're 100% fine, because the only thing that SIM card has on it, is the HEX key that allows the device to be identified by the network. But taking that SIM card out with hopes of just shoving it into your 'next device' will not work, and will just leave you frustrated and upset when you try everything you can to get it working. Every device that uses this type of SIM, has to have its OWN card, NOT some other device's card. Replacing it with a blank one is perfectly viable. But it just depends on your device, and if they have any around in stock to just throw at you anyway. Most sales/service reps are generally nice and will just give you the card if that's the case. But I do know of some who do everything 'by the book' and will charge you for the SIM AND its activation because that is what they are technically 'supposed to do'.
HikariNoKitsune said:
As for RayTrue04... I'm sorry, but that's completely accurate... you CAN NOT take the SIM card out of, say, a Galaxy S6 and put it into a Galaxy Note 5... It WILL, NOT, WORK. I've tried it, plenty of other people have tried it. IT. DOES. NOT. WORK. The SIMs are LOCKED to ONE device and ONLY that device. You CAN however, go off and get a BLANK SIM card and shove them in and they will work.
But in any case, my posting was about why locking the SIM card does absolutely nothing, because nothing personally identifiable is stored on them. So, if you sold the phone on eBay, and left the SIM in it, you're 100% fine, because the only thing that SIM card has on it, is the HEX key that allows the device to be identified by the network. But taking that SIM card out with hopes of just shoving it into your 'next device' will not work, and will just leave you frustrated and upset when you try everything you can to get it working. Every device that uses this type of SIM, has to have its OWN card, NOT some other device's card. Replacing it with a blank one is perfectly viable. But it just depends on your device, and if they have any around in stock to just throw at you anyway. Most sales/service reps are generally nice and will just give you the card if that's the case. But I do know of some who do everything 'by the book' and will charge you for the SIM AND its activation because that is what they are technically 'supposed to do'.
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Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2937387
I've also successfully activated an LG G2's SIM on my Note Edge. They're not locked to one device. It just needs to be a Sprint registered SIM and deactivated at the moment of activating whatever device you plan on using. One thing is though, not all SIM cards are interchangeable with certain devices.
Sent from my SM-N915P using XDA Free mobile app
HikariNoKitsune said:
Wow.. this is sort of an old thread for google to be leading me to.. but uh... i think everyone here has a total missunderstanding of Sprint's SIM cards... They're UICC... Which, I guess some people on here already can see that it is. But, what they don't seem to understand, is that this style of SIM card does NOT contain ANY personal information about you... there is NO NEED TO LOCK IT... because its ALREADY LOCKED... UICC SIM cards, are simply there to give you access to LTE, nothing more, nothing less. They have a 'personalized code' that is linked to your device, and will ONLY work on that device. You CAN NOT take the SIM card, and put it into another device, even if its the same exact model, and expect it to work. They are locked to your device PERMANENTLY. No ifs, ands, or buts. You can however, unlock your DEVICE to work with other SIM cards. So yes, you CAN put an AT&T SIM card into the phone, and have it work, but ONLY if your DEVICE is unlocked by the carrier and thus be allowed to access other networks. Though, I'm pretty sure you have to get a UICC SIM from them, which unless things have changed within the last few years, I hear is kind of difficult to get from GSM carriers.
So, to answer Alex's question: you do not need to lock it, for it is already locked permanently to your device. There is no personal information stored on the UICC SIM card, so there is nothing to be gained by someone who somehow gains physical access to the SIM card. Not only will it simply just not work unless they are using the physical linked device, but there is no information to be retrieved from it what so ever. Your phone number is not saved on it, text messages aren't saved on it, contacts aren't saved on it, email addresses are not saved on it. It is basically just a 'security chip' to allow Sprint and other UICC SIM card using carriers to make sure only authentic devices are allowed to use their LTE networks.
This can also be demonstrated by people who have bought sprint phones off of ebay and people don't include the UICC SIM card that came with the device. They most likely wont ever be able to use LTE on that device unless they somehow convince the people at a sprint store to trade the device in for one with a UICC SIM, or on more rarer cases: have them contact someone who can order a replacement and be able to 'link' it to the device. My brother has had this happen twice to him. He'd buy a phone off of Ebay, and it wont have the SIM. not thinking it was a big deal, he just tried to activate it via the Sprint website, and with one, it simply wouldn't activate, and the other just wouldnt' get LTE. He had to take it into the store, and they luckily were willing to exchange the device for one with a UICC SIM, and for the one that just wouldnt' connect to LTE, they managed to have a blank one in the store and they had to ship the phone and the SIM off to some place to have them 'linked'. Its a hard coded issue, not simply a software issue...
SO, bottom line: Don't worry about 'locking' the UICC SIMs.... they wont really 'lock', because they already are, and there is no real reason/gain to do so anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So after reading all the answers, best thing to do is ask Sprint b4 buying one off ebay
Thank you!!! This was most helpful & very well stated/Explained!!! Good job?
Just a bit more info on sim swapping, some sim swaps are compatable and some are not...if you swap a sim just call in to tech support for your provider and have your IMEI(essentially vin number of your phone) updated in there systems to avoid any confusion in provisioning or features, a common issue is inibility to access data on your device.
Sim cards are free of charge to replace through some providers such as AT&T.
Just a tid bit of info from your friendly neighborhood tier 3 tech support agent.
Uicc unlock??
HikariNoKitsune said:
Wow.. this is sort of an old thread for google to be leading me to.. but uh... i think everyone here has a total missunderstanding of Sprint's SIM cards... They're UICC... Which, I guess some people on here already can see that it is. But, what they don't seem to understand, is that this style of SIM card does NOT contain ANY personal information about you... there is NO NEED TO LOCK IT... because its ALREADY LOCKED... UICC SIM cards, are simply there to give you access to LTE, nothing more, nothing less. They have a 'personalized code' that is linked to your device, and will ONLY work on that device. You CAN NOT take the SIM card, and put it into another device, even if its the same exact model, and expect it to work. They are locked to your device PERMANENTLY. No ifs, ands, or buts. You can however, unlock your DEVICE to work with other SIM cards. So yes, you CAN put an AT&T SIM card into the phone, and have it work, but ONLY if your DEVICE is unlocked by the carrier and thus be allowed to access other networks. Though, I'm pretty sure you have to get a UICC SIM from them, which unless things have changed within the last few years, I hear is kind of difficult to get from GSM carriers.
So, to answer Alex's question: you do not need to lock it, for it is already locked permanently to your device. There is no personal information stored on the UICC SIM card, so there is nothing to be gained by someone who somehow gains physical access to the SIM card. Not only will it simply just not work unless they are using the physical linked device, but there is no information to be retrieved from it what so ever. Your phone number is not saved on it, text messages aren't saved on it, contacts aren't saved on it, email addresses are not saved on it. It is basically just a 'security chip' to allow Sprint and other UICC SIM card using carriers to make sure only authentic devices are allowed to use their LTE networks.
This can also be demonstrated by people who have bought sprint phones off of ebay and people don't include the UICC SIM card that came with the device. They most likely wont ever be able to use LTE on that device unless they somehow convince the people at a sprint store to trade the device in for one with a UICC SIM, or on more rarer cases: have them contact someone who can order a replacement and be able to 'link' it to the device. My brother has had this happen twice to him. He'd buy a phone off of Ebay, and it wont have the SIM. not thinking it was a big deal, he just tried to activate it via the Sprint website, and with one, it simply wouldn't activate, and the other just wouldnt' get LTE. He had to take it into the store, and they luckily were willing to exchange the device for one with a UICC SIM, and for the one that just wouldnt' connect to LTE, they managed to have a blank one in the store and they had to ship the phone and the SIM off to some place to have them 'linked'. Its a hard coded issue, not simply a software issue...
SO, bottom line: Don't worry about 'locking' the UICC SIMs.... they wont really 'lock', because they already are, and there is no real reason/gain to do so anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So i asked sprint for an unlock. They said they granted the unlock for iphone6 an galaxy gs6. Gs6 says uicc now able to accept international sim, but when said sim put in nothing happens.
Thank you for the DETAILED answer to help those of us who do not understand a lot of the technological terms that most products come with nowadays and makes it difficult for regular people without a college degree to comprehend and even some like me who have an extensive college degree (but just wasn't my thing)! (A lot of regular people THINK they are knowledgable that really are not and then they get mad when the language isn't down to their level because it then becomes even MORE difficult for them to understand the technical product they want all their friends to think that they "know all about".)
For all the tl;dr out there...
UICC Sim Unlock is an option provided to unlock the sim slot for use outside of the US and is only prevalent on Sprint devices (and its prepaid subsidiaries) to provide LTE service while using a Sprint account.
Older UICC Sim Cards are only tied to the device they are activated with and are not usually to be swapped between phones. They carry only your access to the LTE network and do not hold any account or phone information. Newer UICC cards can be passed across devices for the same purpose if the new device is linked to the same account the sim was activated on from the original device. In most cases the sim is actually blank and only calls to the tower to allow LTE service because its more convenient than activating/reactivating a sim.
Selecting UICC Unlock sends a request to Sprint to unlock the sim slot for use with GSM carriers outside of the US, providing you have properly closed the associated account and paid off the phone (or else your still SOL) and cannot be used to grant access to US based GSM carriers because Sprint locked the sim slot and the phones capabilities out of the US GSM band spectrum. That is unless you search hard enough on XDA on how to do it properly, which since LP is hit or miss and nobody seems to have simple enough answers like "yes" or "no" to the questions about Baseband version (in the latest GSM unlock attempts anyway).
Still tl;dr for you? Basically its an almost useless security feature to stop you from jumping ship from Sprint service to their competitors. Unless your moving outside of North America or sending your (ELIGIBLE!) device across seas, don't worry about it because it is of no use to you
Yet you can take your sim out and use it on a Nexus 6
This is illegal, companies are no longer allowed to lock the sim to their own devices. Thus the unlock messages everyone is getting on their devices.