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Can't get SIM working

J

jdcnosse

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 19, 2012
16
0
I followed the Instructions listed here to get a gophone SIM card working with the iphone. I even restored the iPhone 3GS with the SIM card in it and reset network settings. It is an orange/white SIM card, and I currently have the cheapo phone on the really cheap 10¢ minute plan (only using this to make sure it can get an AT&T signal.

Strangely when booting up, it said "Searching..." then just said "No Signal." I did get this used off of craigslist but the original owner never mentioned that the cell radio didn't work. I've also tried a T-Mobile SIMcard in the device (not unlocked).

Any ideas on how to get it to work?

It is running iOS 5.1 with modem firmware 05.16.05, possibly able to downgrade to IOS 5.0.1, or upgrading the firmware if it's not unlockable.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B176 Safari/7534.48.3)

Whoops forgot the link. Haha I got the instructions from here http://modmyi.com/forums/t/754109-iphone-gophone.html
 
jdcnosse said:
It is running iOS 5.1 with modem firmware 05.16.05, possibly able to downgrade to IOS 5.0.1, or upgrading the firmware if it's not unlockable.
Click to expand...

That's because your baseband version 05.16.05 is not unlockable.
The only way to unlock that phone is by installing the ipad bb and be carefull if you choose that route.
If your 3GS is new you can fry the cellular radio, wifi and BT function by installing the 06.15.00 baseband.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B176 Safari/7534.48.3)

Applejuiced said:
jdcnosse said:
It is running iOS 5.1 with modem firmware 05.16.05, possibly able to downgrade to IOS 5.0.1, or upgrading the firmware if it's not unlockable.
Click to expand...

That's because your baseband version 05.16.05 is not unlockable.
The only way to unlock that phone is by installing the ipad bb and be carefull if you choose that route.
If your 3GS is new you can fry the cellular radio, wifi and BT function by installing the 06.15.00 baseband.
Click to expand...

I didn't think I needed an unlocked baseband to use a gophone SIM, because its still AT&T...

I also believe it's an older 3GS because when I was jailbreaking it the first time, I found out it has the Old boot rom
 
jdcnosse said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B176 Safari/7534.48.3)



I didn't think I needed an unlocked baseband to use a gophone SIM, because its still AT&T...

I also believe it's an older 3GS because when I was jailbreaking it the first time, I found out it has the Old boot rom
Click to expand...

Oh sorry, I thought you were trying to use a Tmobile sim.
Yes on prepaid AT&T you dont need it unlocked.
Make sure the sim you're trying to use is not locked to a specific cellphone cause AT&T does that.
If you can get a prepaid sim from AT&T dont give them the imei number of the phone just tell them you have the phone at home. Then the sim should work from what I heard.
 
Applejuiced said:
Oh sorry, I thought you were trying to use a Tmobile sim.
Yes on prepaid AT&T you dont need it unlocked.
Make sure the sim you're trying to use is not locked to a specific cellphone cause AT&T does that.
If you can get a prepaid sim from AT&T dont give them the imei number of the phone just tell them you have the phone at home. Then the sim should work from what I heard.
Click to expand...

Do they charge for lost SIMs? Like if I say I lost my old one, will they charge me for another?

I'm only trying to get this to work on prepaid AT&T because I bought it used off craigslist, and want to make sure that it works with AT&T before I trade it away to a friend of mine. Don't wanna trade something that doesn't work lol
 
jdcnosse said:
Do they charge for lost SIMs? Like if I say I lost my old one, will they charge me for another?

I'm only trying to get this to work on prepaid AT&T because I bought it used off craigslist, and want to make sure that it works with AT&T before I trade it away to a friend of mine. Don't wanna trade something that doesn't work lol
Click to expand...

I doubt they will charge u for a sim replacement.
They're dirt cheap anyway.
 
Applejuiced said:
I doubt they will charge u for a sim replacement.
They're dirt cheap anyway.
Click to expand...

Haha true. Thanks anyways. I only ask because my girlfriend's sister got a new phone on T-mobile, and since she still had her SIM card, they didn't give her a new one. She had to keep her same old one.
 
Alright, I'm posting this here in this thread because it's similar and related lol

I got my iPhone 3GS jailbroken with redsn0w (and untethered, yay old bootrom!) running iOS 5.1 (baseband 06.15.00), and I've even unlocked it with ultrasn0w, but I still get an invalid SIM message with the prepaid AT&T SIM. I'm assuming this is because I'm using one of the orange gophone SIMs that is locked to the phone it's sold with, but I'd thought I'd just check to see if there's anything else I can do, because well...if it's supposed to be unlocked

I ordered a t-mobile SIM off eBay for like $2 so I can always wait for that to arrive to make sure it's unlocked.
 

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Applejuiced said:
Just to double check I'd use redsnow to reflash the ipad baseband to make sure its in correct state.
Click to expand...

Alright I'll have to try that. I originally downgraded to 4.1 to flash it, and used and older version of redsn0w (0.9.6 i think?)
 
jdcnosse said:
Alright I'll have to try that. I originally downgraded to 4.1 to flash it, and used and older version of redsn0w (0.9.6 i think?)
Click to expand...

If you downgraded to official 4.1 and not custom JB 4.1 then you messed up the ipad bb and you need to reflash it.
If you ever try to restore to any official firmware version on an iphone that has the 06.15.00 bb then you put the baseband in an inconsistent state and it wont recognize any sims at all.
You will have to reflash the ipad bb to fix this issue.
 
Applejuiced said:
Oh sorry, I thought you were trying to use a Tmobile sim.
Yes on prepaid AT&T you dont need it unlocked.
Make sure the sim you're trying to use is not locked to a specific cellphone cause AT&T does that.
If you can get a prepaid sim from AT&T dont give them the imei number of the phone just tell them you have the phone at home. Then the sim should work from what I heard.
Click to expand...

I think AT&T can detect when you're using an iPhone. I'm sure a lot of people wish there was a way to make sure AT&T never found out.
 
moonman239 said:
I think AT&T can detect when you're using an iPhone. I'm sure a lot of people wish there was a way to make sure AT&T never found out.
Click to expand...

Yes, they can detect right away what device you're using to connect to their network.
But if you're on prepaid plan they cant add an iphone data plan unlike if you're on a post paid monthly plan.
 
Applejuiced said:
If you downgraded to official 4.1 and not custom JB 4.1 then you messed up the ipad bb and you need to reflash it.
If you ever try to restore to any official firmware version on an iphone that has the 06.15.00 bb then you put the baseband in an inconsistent state and it wont recognize any sims at all.
You will have to reflash the ipad bb to fix this issue.
Click to expand...

Makes sense lol I'm not entirely sure if it was official or not, but I will probably just restart the whole process.


Applejuiced said:
Yes, they can detect right away what device you're using to connect to their network.
But if you're on prepaid plan they cant add an iphone data plan unlike if you're on a post paid monthly plan.
Click to expand...

Yes, because when using the GoPhone SIM, it look like I am starting to get signal (I get 1 out of 5 bars apparently) but then it changes to "Invalid SIM" after awhile, which is why I assume it's that locked phone-SIM problem. I just tried a T-mobile SIM, it said "No Service" but I didn't reflash the ipad bb before.
 
If you got to a corporate location they won't charge you for a sim, the only iPhone that will technically work with everything no problem on prepaid is the original iphone, the 3G and up will work for calls and texts but data is iffy at best since they don't provision the plans for iPhones, although they do have separate data plans for smart phones to be used n prepaid with android And windows
 
TechSpec87 said:
If you got to a corporate location they won't charge you for a sim, the only iPhone that will technically work with everything no problem on prepaid is the original iphone, the 3G and up will work for calls and texts but data is iffy at best since they don't provision the plans for iPhones, although they do have separate data plans for smart phones to be used n prepaid with android And windows
Click to expand...

Well yes, that I do understand but I dot really need data, at least not for my simple network test. Lol
 
Wirelessly posted

Also, forgot to ask...is there anything specific I should/should not do when getting the replacement SIM? Like telling them it's a GoPhone or anything like that...
 
That's what I figured, in that I wouldn't want to give any information about the phone I have, since I don't want the same SIM again lol

Thanks for all your help too!
 
Update: so apparently because I didn't register my name with the account, it just says "Prepaid customer" I have to call customer service
 
If it hasn't been locked to a specific phone, then you just need to jailbreak the iPhone, then get ultrasn0w from cydia, that is if your baseband can be unlocked. If it cant, you'll need to flash the iPad baseband (which there's no going back from, and will probably break your GPS) so you can use ultrasn0w
 
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