Help Phone doesn't recognise replacement SIM card

[benawhile]

Hi

Before Christmas I bought a Moto g and asked my network, Virgin, to mail me a micro SIM for it. They sent a nano SIM, and the retailer, phones4u, used the adapter provided and fired up the phone with the nano SIM. The phone worked fine up till and after I downloaded and installed KitKat, but in the meantime I had been arranging with the network, Virgin, to supply a different SIM because of this:

https://motorola-global-portal.cust..._detail/a_id/97317/p/30,6720,9050/action/auth

Which is Motorola's warning that I am not supposed to use a nano with an adapter, so I called Virgin and asked for a micro.

They said they don't supply micro any more and suggested they send a full size SIM and I take it to the local Virgin shop for cutting down, which I did, took the SIM home and put the old one in my old phone and the new one in the Moto g , texted to activate from the old phone.

The new SIM didn't seem to activate, or wasn't recognised, on the unlock screen it said "No SIM card" and there was the little SIM icon in top right with the little red "no entry" sign, but when I put it in the old phone it worked fine , so it WAS activated, but the Moto g wouldn't recognise it. Maybe because the moto g doesn't like the way the SIM was cut, or has it got a fault?

For what it's worth, the Moto g downloaded and installed an update just before I put in the new SIM, the first upate after KitKat.

So I went back to phones4u, who worked on it, can't remember what they did but it was something like checking some settings or re-entering them, said they could find nothing wrong with the phone, so I went back again to the Virgin shop, who could offer no help in the shop, so as advised in the Motorola forum I went home and asked Virgin to send ANOTHER SIM, this time going back to a ″nano/micro″, probably what they had sent the first time. As expected, it came today and it was a nano SIM with a micro adapter.

So, expecting the problem to be finally solved, I texted to activate from the old phone, with the new SIM in the Moto g , and waited for it to activate. After an hour, it was still displaying ″No SIM″, so I placed it in the old L6 and it registered straight away. Put it back in the Moto g and still the Moto g doesn't recognise it. SO surely there is something wrong with the phone?

As soon as I have time I will take it back to phone4u but does anyone have a suggestion in the meantime?

 

[Hook]

I don't think you can say the phone is defective when you haven't tried what it needs-- a micro SIM. I know, it isn't because you haven't been trying. It doesn't seem to like Nano SIMs, even with the adapter, and cutting down a full size SIM requires some care. It may be that the Moto G is fussy about SIM placement without being defective. If that is the case, you'll have the same problem with a new phone.

Is there another carrier you can try besides Virgin Mobile?

 

[benawhile]

I don't understand it. It was working fine with the first nano SIM in the adapter. I don't want to change my network. I want a SIM that works. There must be something else I could try? What about a factory reset or re-boot?

 

[saptech]

You can try a factory reset but remember this.

Which is Motorola's warning that I am not supposed to use a nano with an adapter

A micro sim will and does work!

 

[benawhile]

I will try anything!

i am baffled as to why no one is reported to be investigating this constructively.
Either as to that or as to why I am the only person in the world that has this problem!

First, before anyone asks, I have at no time attempted insertion of an empty adapter. Such action has caused trouble for a lot of people.

I have tried to investigate myself and found two significant things:
1
From the internet and visual inspection one thing I have established is that my supplied adapter actually is slightly thicker than the SIM material and this is claimed to be responsible for damage in other phone makes.
2
Looking in my SIM slot the first row of three pins seems to have been compressed quite flush with the "floor" of the slot. From the overall design it would seem that anyone inserting the SIM, particularly a SIM and adapter that was too thick, at a slight downward angle (i.e.toward the face of the phone) would cause the pins to be bent by the edge of the adapter, from where they emerge from the floor, and while there may be enough pressure for a contact after one insertion, any further removal and insertion would make the problem worse. One would have to be familiar with the mechanics of the slot to perfect a method of inserting the SIM that would cause no further damage, either with slight upward tension or sliding in in a direct horizontal. All this may explain why the first row of pins is (bent?) flush, but peering inside one can just make out that the other row of pins is distinctly proud of the slot floor.

From the above I think that I would at least be safer trying another cut down SIM, rather than continued trials with an adapter, taking care not to use any downward leverage as it is slid into place. That is if I am lucky enough to be given a replacement phone. At present it looks to me that even if I got a micro SIM from another network it would still not "take".

There is another possibility with regard to the construction and mechanism of the SIM slot which may be misleading me: Is it possible that the first three pins are held down, away from the card deliberately and released to contact the card only when it is fully inserted, by the same spring mechanism that alternately allows the SIM to click in to place and then springs it out again at the next press?

 

[Hook]

My point above was simply that your problem is that VM won't give you a Micro SIM. If it were me and they refused to give me a correct SIM, I would have another carrier or MVNO.

Ultimately, you *need* the proper type of SIM to find out if there is a problem with the phone. Period. Yes, you can cut down another full size SIM, but if it doesn't work you are left with the ambiguity of is it the phone or the cut-down. Either VM can supply you the correct SIM or they can't. If they won't, move on.

Go ahead and get the phone replaced as defective if you can. Might not be a bad idea at this point. But the above still applies.

 

[benawhile]

Well, I took it to Phones4u and they compared it with a new phone and confirmed that the front row of SIM contacts is damaged. It might be to do with the micro adapter but they weren't convinced, and I remember now that the first time I took out the SIM myself I didn't realise that it "clicked " in and out with lateral pressure so I tried pressing DOWN on the edge to get enough friction to prise it out, (like I did on my old Samsung G600) and I think that is what probably caused the damage. So I will have to pay for a repair.
Thanks for all your time! I will use a cut SIM in future rather than a micro and take care only to exert lateral pressure when inserting and removing. Looking back, I may have caused this damage even if i had used the correct SIM, due to a bad technique of removing.
I will be looking at option of repairing myself, (I did successfully replace a LCD screen on my Samsing G600 recently) and would appreciate any help locating a new set of SIM pins.

Having said that I am nonetheless really annoyed at VM for not supplying the correct SIM

 

[benawhile]

HI
Latest update is that I have had to ask Phones4u to repair the phone. Estimate

 

[pgoncalv]

I don't understand it. It was working fine with the first nano SIM in the adapter. I don't want to change my network. I want a SIM that works. There must be something else I could try? What about a factory reset or re-boot?

I am having similar issues with a nano SIM (with the adapter) and a new phone.
I bought a second phone with tesco mobile (no adapter). I am now getting the same issue - no reception, it's as if the SIM is not inserted.
I then used a couple of SIM adapter apps to see if anything is detected - nothing is.
Both phones have the latest kitkat android.
Is this a coincidence?
Unless this will be fixed quickly, I am going to try and return the lot...
I understand that if the phones are locked to one network operator and another microsim is inserted, a prompt would come up asking for the unlock code? (I get no such prompts anyway)
Before anyone asks, yes both sims work perfectly well using other phones...

 

[benawhile]

OK, are you saying you think you may have damaged the SIM pins or cradle?
If you read all my posts up to Jan 25th update, you'll see my sad and sorry tale. In the end my issue was entirely due to user damage. With a magnifying glass, I could see the damaged pins in the SIM slot.
But I still think Virgin are naughty not to supply micro SIMs, and I should have had specific instruction from Phones4u and on the Motorola guide about SIM insertion and removal. Motorola have implicitly acknowledged to me on their own user forum that the guide was inadequate. See Jan 24 post by eaccents.

https://forums.motorola.com/posts/befb295666?commentId=759009#759009

Hope to get my phone back from repair in another weeks time. Will have to carry on carefully with the Virgin nano SIM and adapter. BTW now I see that Google have sold Motorola to Lenovo.

 

[pgoncalv]

OK, are you saying you think you may have damaged the SIM pins or cradle?
If you read all my posts up to Jan 25th update, you'll see my sad and sorry tale. In the end my issue was entirely due to user damage. With a magnifying glass, I could see the damaged pins in the SIM slot.
But I still think Virgin are naughty not to supply micro SIMs, and I should have had specific instruction from Phones4u and on the Motorola guide about SIM insertion and removal. Motorola have implicitly acknowledged to me on their own user forum that the guide was inadequate. See Jan 24 post by eaccents.

https://forums.motorola.com/posts/befb295666?commentId=759009#759009

Hope to get my phone back from repair in another weeks time. Will have to carry on carefully with the Virgin nano SIM and adapter. BTW now I see that Google have sold Motorola to Lenovo.

Similar issue but different problem!
The phones are pretty much brand new.
I also used a microsim (without adapter) and it also does not work!

 

[MrMister]

Did you get a solution to this? Did you end up using a nano and adapter?

In a similar situation with Moto E. I have a nano (also use a iPhone 5), and want to use an adapter in the Moto E, but manual specifically says don't. This might mean I have to send the phone back

 

[benawhile]

I ended up with the phone SIM slot being repaired, and phones4u waived the charges unexpectedly.
I continued to use the Virgin nano SIM in a micro adapter with no further trouble.

Most importantly I now know that I broke the SIM slot by trying to prise the SIM out without first pushing it in till it "click released", which was at that time not explained in the Motorola guide, nor by the phones4u staff.

This all happened several months ago now. Everything is OK. Maybe the guide has improved, and maybe Virgin now supply micro SIMs?

Anyway that is my solution. I satisfied myself that the Virgin adapter was adequate.

Incidentally I also found out that you should never try inserting an EMPTY adapter

 

[MrMister]

I ended up with the phone SIM slot being repaired, and phones4u waived the charges unexpectedly.
I continued to use the Virgin nano SIM in a micro adapter with no further trouble.

Most importantly I now know that I broke the SIM slot by trying to prise the SIM out without first pushing it in till it "click released", which was at that time not explained in the Motorola guide, nor by the phones4u staff.

This all happened several months ago now. Everything is OK. Maybe the guide has improved, and maybe Virgin now supply micro SIMs?

Anyway that is my solution. I satisfied myself that the Virgin adapter was adequate.

Incidentally I also found out that you should never try inserting an EMPTY adapter

Thanks

So although mine is going to be the Moto E, do you think now you can use the Moto G with a nano and adapter fine, as long as it's in the adapter and you "push in" to get it out?

If this can't then I'll have to send back the Moto E unopened as use nano with my 5s

 

[benawhile]

Yes, good luck! And don't put any metal in the same pocket as the phone, my rear camera glass has cracked, even though I had the back cover extra, which unfortunately has a hole in it for the lens, allowing maybe my keys to damage it!

 

[csaravindh]

Thanks benawhile.
This also happened to me.
All this started when i had to remove my sim from my phone to get the sim number. I guess that action has damaged one of the sim pins.
After that my phone will recognize the sim for moment when it is inserted and shows no sim symbol after few seconds.
After reading this forum i carefully examined my sim pins and yes one of them had bend downwards. Luckily the broken sim pin was in the outer side and it was atleast reacheable.
I have no patience to walk into a service centre to get it repaired and hence decided to do it myself. I used a safety pin to reach the bent sim pin and twisted it upwards enough to touch the sim card (ofcourse i did it without sim card and later inserted the sim)
Inserting the sim later was bit tough as it had to push the pin and travel all the way inside.
For now my moto g is working fine although i cannot keep removing or replacing sim cards - decided to stick the same sim.

Lesson learnt- Removing and inserting a sim from moto g might cause damage to your sim pin. The design of sim slot isn't so great so please don't play with it.

Other than this the phone is performing well for the past 7 months since dec2013