Recycling SIMS?

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Paul Hovnanian P.E. - 29 Aug 2006 21:03 GMT

I just returned from The Netherlands where I picked up a reasonably
priced prepaid plan. One interesting note: the SIM chip they gave me
appears to be used. They just had it taped back into the hole in the
card from which it was originally punched (?) and that was taped to a
piece of paper with a PIN number. Everything seemed to work OK and I
didn't have to pay for anything except the minutes.

So, my question is: can SIM card be transferred from account to account?
Between different service providers? Does this present any sort of
security risk? I'm assuming that the phone store just reprograms these
things with the appropriate plan and carrier data. Is this correct?

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Todd H. - 29 Aug 2006 21:29 GMT

> So, my question is: can SIM card be transferred from account to
> account?

Cingular (at least one I ewnt to with a used sim i was given with a
Cingular phone from a person who switched to Verizon) won't reactivate
it.

> Between different service providers? Does this present any sort of
> security risk? I'm assuming that the phone store just reprograms
> these things with the appropriate plan and carrier data. Is this
> correct?

I think they are locked to carriers, but I'm not sure.

It'd essentially be like reissuing an ESN on a non-GSM phone wouldn't
it? Tis an interesting question.

--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

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Paul Hovnanian P.E. - 30 Aug 2006 03:02 GMT

> > So, my question is: can SIM card be transferred from account to
> > account?
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> It'd essentially be like reissuing an ESN on a non-GSM phone wouldn't
> it? Tis an interesting question.

Well, the ESN on old phones, being tied to the phone, were reassigned a
new phone number when phones were resold, so reusing a SIM would be
logically similar (assuming its internal storage was cleared of personal
information).

The reason I ask is two-fold. First, I may want to switch plans, phone
numbers, etc. with a Cingular SIM, staying with Cingular. I had to pay
for that chip and I don't want to have to keep buying new ones for every
change. The other reason is that the prepaid one I picked up in Europe
had a couple of dozen networks pre configured on the chip and a menu
option to select between them. Not so with my Cingular (US) SIM. Also,
the EU SIM has a provision for assigning multiple phone numbers, so I'm
guessing that it might be possible to get multiple prepaid plans for the
one SIM and, by switching networks and phone numbers, avoid roaming
charges when crossing borders.

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Grant Edwards - 30 Aug 2006 15:05 GMT

> The reason I ask is two-fold. First, I may want to switch plans, phone
> numbers, etc. with a Cingular SIM, staying with Cingular. I had to pay
> for that chip

Really? Cingular gave me mine for free. And it was a
brand-new one -- I watched him punch it out of the card.

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John Navas - 30 Aug 2006 06:39 GMT

>I just returned from The Netherlands where I picked up a reasonably
>priced prepaid plan. One interesting note: the SIM chip they gave me
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>security risk? I'm assuming that the phone store just reprograms these
>things with the appropriate plan and carrier data. Is this correct?

There's little risk with prepaid. That won't be done with postpaid.

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Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

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