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To a point I am, I am still trying to conceive a theory on why some people's phones seem to not work despite the SIM issues.

Because their sim is cut either correctly or just enough to not touch the tray to gold.

or

They have a very strong signal that is compensating for this flaw in some way. I have been able to confirm that location effects this problem.

Also

What if when people "death grip" their phone, they are actually squeezing the internal frame enough to make contact with the sim tray.

All i know is that the sim card is suppose to be cut with equal plastic to suspend it in a certain position. Our sim cards are not cut right, or the sim tray is not right.


Either way something happened with your sim card and the problem went away. The only thing that happened to your sim card is it was moved.
 
Worked partially for me, in that instead of going to 'No Service' it just loses 2-3 bars.
Plus, when I avoid the corner, I'm now getting full bars which didn't happen before this manoeuvre.

(O2: payasgo microsim)

of note, we should point out there are likely 2 issues.

1. normal hand attention when you cover the antenna, which will happen with every phone

2. signal loss completely which seems exaggerated on the iPhone 4 when the antennas are shorted.

so I think some loss can easily considered "normal".

arn
 
Ugh... things certainly took a turn for the worse for me.

Careful putting that SIM back in. I don't know what is going on but now I just get this:

failurex.png


Guess I'm going to visit the AT&T store tomorrow.
 
i admit this could be psychological, but my bars seemes to drop almost INSTANTLY after my attempts .. LOL something seems to be going on, but it could just be the shrooms.......i am now waiting 16 more minutes.. and i put electrical tape on the side of the sim card to boot

will advise

Perhaps this really is the cause of all the problems.

If you put the tray/SIM in a certain way, then you have the problem. Some positions are worse/better than others.

Some people may have discovered an optimum position which makes the problem virtually disappear.

Perhaps in your case, the way you put it in has made the problem worse, while those that are having success have found the sweet spot that makes it work well.
 
I just wanted consider speculation on that very issue! Can we please just speculate, a little? I mean, could others be allowed to continue speculating, even though you have it all figured?

Sorry, got lost in the excitement and forgot what this forum was about.

Please continue! ;)
 
Video?

I know this is silly, but can we get a video of someone doing this? Very excited about this if it truly is a fix.
 
No fix for me. Scotch tape ended up causing some problems on its own (No SIM)... so I trimmed the card a bit and I seem to have it insulated now.

IMG_0028.JPG

Still the same issue for me. I did initially follow the guide at first when I used the tape. I'll leave my SIM out overnight in hopes that it fixes it, but like others, I don't think having it powered off for an extended time does anything.

Before deathgrip:
IMG_0026.PNG

After deathgrip:
IMG_0027.PNG

:(
 
No fix for me. Scotch tape ended up causing some problems on its own (No SIM)... so I trimmed the card a bit and I seem to have it insulated now.

Still the same issue for me. I did initially follow the guide at first when I used the tape. I'll leave my SIM out overnight in hopes that it fixes it, but like others, I don't think having it powered off for an extended time does anything.

:(

You were never supposed to trim the whole thing. Neither did I scotch tape it.
 
i don't see how touching the left corner with just one finger could be affected in any way by the sim touching the tray (which someone states has a special coating preventing from it reacting with the sim's surface). remember that video when someone gets the signal to drop simply by placing a key on the lower left seam? there's no "squeeze" applied to the phone at all.

this will just result in people getting false hope, cutting up their sims, and then trying to get a new one. in worst case, someone will use some thick tape which will end up jamming the sim door, and possibly ruining the phone.
 
I can just see Steve Jobs now:

"See, I told you it wasn't a problem with the phone."

Response: "But the issue apparently has something to do with the microSIM."

SJ: "We don't make those, that's AT&T's problem."
R: "Yes but the issue comes not from the microSIM but the tray it sits in, which is something that Apple designed."
SJ: "Well, no, the microSIMs aren't working right in our trays, it's not our fault."
R: "But it sure appears that way."
SJ: "What, do you believe everything you see?"
R: "No."
SJ: "So, the fault lies with the microSIMs because they don't fit our perfect trays, not our problem."
R: "It's not quite that easy, you'--"
SJ: "No, I don't."

and that's about it.


you are now banned at attempts of being funny
 
You were never supposed to trim the whole thing. Neither did I scotch tape it.

Though I think scotch tape isn't a terrible idea (in terms of long-term damage) I really do think that trimming the card is a risky idea.

I would definitely not recommend this just as Jav is saying here.
 
nm, Speak of the devil, I think I jinxed it.

I placed the gold contacts in the center of the SIM and gently placed it in the tray (not completely) so it didn't touch the edge of the tray sides. I just lightly jammed it into my iPhone, heard a nice click, and it works!
 
i'm still gonna say, do not tape the sim card.

people are gonna use a variety of different tapes. there's gonna be tapes out there that will harm the sim card.

tape the tray instead! it's safer.
 
I don't know why people are scotch taping or cutting their sim. You shouldn't have to do any of that. Don't damage your phone or put yourself simless.
 
Ugh... things certainly took a turn for the worse for me.

Careful putting that SIM back in. I don't know what is going on but now I just get this:

Guess I'm going to visit the AT&T store tomorrow.

Which is why people need to be careful with this, and the reason I'm not interested in continually pulling mine out and reinserting it over and over just to keep testing in the hopes that it'll work one time like the phone actually should.

Folks, microSIMS or SIMs for that matter aren't meant for a lot of use in terms of moving around/swapping them out over and over, they're meant to get put into place and stay there, only removed for specific purposes, etc.

If Apple is aware of this, and this is a known problem to them even if they haven't admitted it yet, and you somehow damage the microSIM slot, or the contacts inside the phone by inserting/ejecting/inserting over and over, you could "break" the phone and Apple could just give you the finger when you attempt to do a return, if that turns out to be the resulting conclusion.

Don't break your phones just trying to make them work - it's not worth it. If the microSIM slot/tray/contacts are manufactured in a way that makes them susceptible to failure that would be considered a manufacturing/design flaw or defect - if that's the case let Apple handle it.

Don't go breakin' the damned phones just to try and prove a point...
 
i don't see how touching the left corner with just one finger could be affected in any way by the sim touching the tray (which someone states has a special coating preventing from it reacting with the sim's surface). remember that video when someone gets the signal to drop simply by placing a key on the lower left seam? there's no "squeeze" applied to the phone at all.

Not an engineer by any means, but I believe that if you are bridging the gap with anything (fingers, keys, your tongue) and the card is contacting the antenna itself, then the disruption within the antenna could be rendering the sim-card crippled leading to the reception issues.
 
i don't see how touching the left corner with just one finger could be affected in any way by the sim touching the tray (which someone states has a special coating preventing from it reacting with the sim's surface). remember that video when someone gets the signal to drop simply by placing a key on the lower left seam? there's no "squeeze" applied to the phone at all.

this will just result in people getting false hope, cutting up their sims, and then trying to get a new one.

The key test is perplexing to this fix.
 
IMPORTANT!!!!!

For those who are still exhibiting problems after this maneuver, make sure you reset your network settings. Pay attention, as you will/should notice your VM is also reset.

I pulled mine for some pics for the forum (turned our terrible) and screwed mine up for 30 min. Its back on 3G now, and working again.

These sims/trays/connections are very very tricky. I suspect if you keep on it (be careful) you may get success. As for the sim failures, they maybe really bad cuts, and shorting out.
 
No fix for me. Scotch tape ended up causing some problems on its own (No SIM)... so I trimmed the card a bit and I seem to have it insulated now.

Wow, if that's your microSIM you've got damned good protection all around the contacts on the microSIM itself, geez. If only most of ours had that level of spacing around it...
 
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