Worked temporarily, I'm guessing this is a fault inside the carrier not making contact with the sim contacts correctly.
If I was in your position, I'd kick this upstairs at Apple.....Its not acceptable, and a senior apple rep should help you out.
My contacts are all imac and laptop related, but phone apple, be polite, and ask to speak to a senior member of staff.
In the meantime, I will contact my apple friends to see if I can get you a other contact.
DON'T drop this.....it's not right.