cutting a sim card down-is it hard?

[gale65]

I just ordered the Nexus 5 and I want to use the sim that is in my Galaxy Nexus. (We don't have LTE coverage here). From what I'm reading the Galaxy Nexus has a regular sim (I can't remember now what it was when I got it) and the Nexus 5 takes a micro sim. How hard is it to cut down a regular sim to fit in a micro sim slot? What cutter is the best one?

 

[BRAINZ2013]

You dont want to do that if I was you I would order . someone did this last week and had to buy a card .

 

[SolApathy]

It's really not that difficult, you can find a lot of videos on YouTube showing you how. It's all about patience.

 

[gale65]

My plan is to buy one of those cutters. A punch, sorta. I'll check youtube too-thanks!

 

[zipred]

I gave my sim to my dog, in mere minutes he chewed it into the perfect size.

He then demanded six dog treats, a fair deal at twice the price....

 

[gale65]

My dog is very reasonable. I bet she'll do it for 3 treats.

 

[AndroidProf]

Easy thing but just make sure you don't mess with the chip in the SIM, and its best to also contact your carrier whether you should cut it. Some carrier have different SIMs for such devices.

 

[gale65]

I just thought of something else. If I change sims I lose my reserve (straight talk).

I have some net10 sims around here somewhere that I can use on my old phone. I'm only activating it when they'll be gone from home for a weekend or something. They don't really use a phone otherwise.

 

[charliecc]

Not sure how it works over in the USA, but over here, you just contact your operator, they send you a micro SIM (90% of the time free of charge), then you request the number gets flipped to the new SIM.

Your account remains the same, so in your case you wouldn't lose straight talk.

Like I say, might not be the same in the US.

 

[gale65]

I think that might be possible with a regular contract type carrier. ST is a pay as you go type of operation and there isn't really even a store for it. I can get cards at walmart but their wireless department is usually not even open. Not sure why they have it.

 

[mikedt]

When I bought a new phone that required a micro-SIM rather than the mini-SIM I already had. The store used a punch to cut it down to size.

 

[charliecc]

I think that might be possible with a regular contract type carrier. ST is a pay as you go type of operation and there isn't really even a store for it. I can get cards at walmart but their wireless department is usually not even open. Not sure why they have it.

I used this in the past (http://www.thechinacellphone.com/micro_sim_template.pdf) and it worked fine. Just make sure you have a very sharp knife.

I got impatient waiting for the new SIM, think I lasted about 3 hours before deciding to do it myself. I did however have the backup of the new SIM coming in case I screwed it up.

 

[JBentleyR]

This begs the question: why don't they make all SIM cards as micro-SIM? They could then be used very easily in any phone by mounting in a conversion carrier which, I understand, are very easily obtained. When I received my micro-SIM card, it came with two carriers, with no charge for card or carriers.

Is there any advantage to having the larger formats anyway?

 

[BynoUK]

The larger format is just the older one as far as I'm aware, most modern phones use micro now.

I took a stanley knife to my sim freehand and it worked out ok (I don't recommend this tactic to everyone)

 

[mikedt]

This begs the question: why don't they make all SIM cards as micro-SIM? They could then be used very easily in any phone by mounting in a conversion carrier which, I understand, are very easily obtained. When I received my micro-SIM card, it came with two carriers, with no charge for card or carriers.

Is there any advantage to having the larger formats anyway?

SIMs I've seen recently come ready for both sizes in the press-out card, mini and micro. And you just press-out the size you require for your phone. My SIM had to be punched to the smaller size, because I've had it for over three years now, from when micro wasn't such a common size. BTW I say "mini" for the larger size, because the original standard SIM was credit card sized.

 

[Mehta23]

I managed to do mine temporarily while I was waiting for ma new micro sim to ship.
I'd say have a go on an old sim for practice, and if you feel confident then go for your existing SIM.

I'd probably recommend getting one of those puncher things, but it might not be worth it you're only going to use it once...

 

[Omar Days]

Who remembers when sim cards were the size of credit cards?!

Edit: Just seen what mikedt said! Crazy amount of space wasted with those!

 

[gale65]

SIMs I've seen recently come ready for both sizes in the press-out card, mini and micro. And you just press-out the size you require for your phone. My SIM had to be punched to the smaller size, because I've had it for over three years now, from when micro wasn't such a common size. BTW I say "mini" for the larger size, because the original standard SIM was credit card sized.

My sim is only 2 yrs old. Maybe it would be worth it to crack off my case and check the sim card out before I go ordering new sims or punches.

eta: no such luck. It's not perforated.

 

[mistergoof]

I find it amazing its so difficult in the US. In the UK I took my phone to Vodafone store,asked for micro sim and for my number to transfered.10 mins later N5 is functional.

 

[jlede]

I find it amazing its so difficult in the US. In the UK I took my phone to Vodafone store,asked for micro sim and for my number to transfered.10 mins later N5 is functional.

It's not difficult in the US it's just the person that posted this thread is making it difficult I went to a local metroPCS store(Basically T-Mobile) and asked for my number and service to be switched to my nexus 5 they where done in about 10 minutes

 

[gale65]

Will another carrier's store cut mine down? I don't mean to to make it difficult but Straight Talk, which is my carrier, has no store. The only "store" they have is Walmart and i can guarantee they can't change my number to a new sim. They weren't even sure what I was talking about when I asked if they had a sim cutter.

Anyway it's all good since I ordered a new sim and will just go that route. I won't make your lives difficult any more.

 

[Hook]

Will another carrier's store cut mine down? I don't mean to to make it difficult but Straight Talk, which is my carrier, has no store. The only "store" they have is Walmart and i can guarantee they can't change my number to a new sim. They weren't even sure what I was talking about when I asked if they had a sim cutter.

Anyway it's all good since I ordered a new sim and will just go that route. I won't make your lives difficult any more.

One of the reasons I've stayed with AT&T (Gophone), even though they aren't the cheapest, is the quality of their CS. I don't need it often, but when I do, it is extremely responsive. When I got my Nexus 5, they gave me a new SIM on the spot in the AT&T store. When I had some problems locking in LTE, they probed the towers, pulled some data from my phone, sent it to their networking center in Washington state and 12 hours later I had LTE. And those are only two recent examples.

But, hey, don't worry about making things difficult. We love to help (or confuse ).

 

[MartinS]

I'm still using a cut down SIM which I used a SIM cutter/punch to cut out.
They are only a few