Telus store told my parents to buy a new SIM card. A remedy to poor cellular speeds because SIM cards wear out...Need info please.

[smmmokin]

My mind frame right now is someone took advantage of my parents. I've dug deep and wonder how can a stationary sim card wear out. Sim card hasn't been removed since the iphone 8 was new. 

 

Do sim cards go bad? Looking online I am meant to think yes but maybe my anger is blinding me.

 

This one is new to me and when you look for answers it's insane what comes up. Going by search results, sim cards wear out over time.

 

No water damage to the phone, cracks, anything. It makes zero sense because a SIM card is a "Hi, it's me. Lets use your phone hardware and get on the data highway""

 

If you know more than I do I please ask you share. 

 

 

[Eigenvektor]

Yeah, no. They don't wear out⁽¹⁾. As you say, they're essentially just an "ID" that your phone needs to connect to a mobile network.

 

1) The contacts might, if you're constantly moving it in and out of your phone, or they're corroded somehow, but the card itself shouldn't wear out

[SorryBella]

8 minutes ago, smmmokin said:

Do sim cards go bad? Looking online I am meant to think yes but maybe my anger is blinding me.

It took like a dozen phone swap and nearly 10 years for my dad's SIM card (which he switch the ownership to me by the time it fails) for it to break, it keeps failing to authenticate me to the network at every boot, i was fully locked out of using the mobile data because of it. What im implying here is that they do go bad but it takes an absurdly long time that takes basically blindest of loyalty to one carrier (i mean i cant fault them, even in crowded Java and Bali Telkomsel is the only few carriers that can actually do decent speed for navigation)

[smmmokin]

12 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

Yeah, no. They don't wear out⁽¹⁾. As you say, they're essentially just an "ID" that your phone needs to connect to a mobile network.

 

1) The contacts might, if you're constantly moving it in and out of your phone, or they're corroded somehow, but the card itself shouldn't wear out

 

You were 1 of two replies as of now. Thank you friend. It didn't make sense and makes me wonder why so many search results say they go bad. Search enough and many people don't even mention removing and adding over and over is the cause. They say they wear out.

 

Thanks friend.

[smmmokin]

6 minutes ago, SorryClaire said:

It took like a dozen phone swap and nearly 10 years for my dad's SIM card (which he switch the ownership to me by the time it fails) for it to break, it keeps failing to authenticate me to the network at every boot, i was fully locked out of using the mobile data because of it. What im implying here is that they do go bad but it takes an absurdly long time that takes basically blindest of loyalty to one carrier (i mean i cant fault them, even in crowded Java and Bali Telkomsel is the only few carriers that can actually do decent speed for navigation)

You were the second comment. Not once does the connection drop. The problem is at times the cellular connection is poor. 

 

"Your sim card is old and that's the reason" - Telus

 

Any of you with parents, keep them informed. This pisses me off. Thank you for sharing friend. 

[BiotechBen]

When my friend upgraded her phone from an A50 to an s23, the Verizon rep goes "you need a 5G sim card" and I politely held my tongue from making a remark about what makes it a 5G sim card. Meanwhile I've had the same sim card since my potato Nokia windows phone, and I've got mmWave compatibility on my S22+

[Mayday793]

I agree with the sentiment that the sim card is merely a ID for the phone, but its not crazy that sim cards over time could gain additional features? I've read that sometimes you need to get a new sim card to enable 5g connectivity, I think its a likely scenario if phone providers made new sim cards that tell phones "yes the provider of this sim card has 5g", which enables 5g on the phone. 
Again, this is all dumb engineering. I dont see why the SIM card has to be tied to the feature set enabled, but that would explain why providers would want you to get a new SIM card at least, not that the SIM card is worn out.

[SorryBella]

31 minutes ago, smmmokin said:

The problem is at times the cellular connection is poor. 

You might wanna cross check other complaints in your region to see if it is a common thread, which would be time for you to swap carrier.

16 minutes ago, Mayday793 said:

I think its a likely scenario if phone providers made new sim cards that tell phones "yes the provider of this sim card has 5g"

Ive been thru the rote of it same with @BiotechBen, that SIM was fine since HSDPA all the way up to 4G refresh that Telkomsel did in 2021-22. Its never the sim unless it is intentional obsolescence and blocking.

[Poinkachu]

One of the two sim cards in my phone is since..... mid blackberry era IIRC.

At some point it even took a dip in a muddy flood water.

 

[LinusTech]

lol terrible...

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

They must've been desperate for that 10 bucks... 

[kitnoman]

Personally, the answer is yes and no. Do sim card degrade if it's left untouched inside the phone? No, it would either work or not, once the goldplate is scratched to oblivion. However, older sim cards might not get the full network speed if it's a technology behind. I remember that I just keep on cutting my old sim card from standard, to macro to nano size. By the time I switch to an iphone 6, while sometimes it registers on my screen as 4g or lte, the speed is only similar to 3g speed, since that's what the sim card is "allowed" to get. 

Used to work as a product trainer for customer care support. From experience, the shadiest people in the industry are really store agents. It's like they need to be as they have a quota. So to some that's just $10-15, but to them that's one sale. But they could also be telling the truth. for example if your parents ask if they will get the "fastest "5G network speed" using only 4g/lte sim card. Short answer is no. However, it's been a few years since I left, so I really don't know how much 5G is 5G now a days, as during that time, 5g, was just renamed from lte. There's also coverage and other issues.

[trag1c]

1 hour ago, BiotechBen said:

When my friend upgraded her phone from an A50 to an s23, the Verizon rep goes "you need a 5G sim card" and I politely held my tongue from making a remark about what makes it a 5G sim card. Meanwhile I've had the same sim card since my potato Nokia windows phone, and I've got mmWave compatibility on my S22+

It's probably more so that the specific carrier doesn't want to go through the effort of remotely reprovisioning the sim to allow access for a specific APNs and radio networks / bands. If the networks were specifically for phones it would be a lot simpler, but with IoT and M2M applications carriers will sometimes offer older networks and/or lower data rate networks for cheaper so they have access controls on different radio network technologies. If the carrier doesn't have different plans for different networks you most likely could use the same sim. If they sell access to specific radio networks then they will probably give you a new card.

 

So basically for regular consumers they will just have a stack of pre-provisioned sim cards that just need a phone number and account number associated with them.

 

At my work we design, build, and sell M2M/IIoT devices so we will provision our own SIMs through carrier web portals. When we buy a stack of sims they are automatically associated with our account but lack much in the way of configuration as each one needs a plan or data pool to be selected as well as things like APNs and radio networks. Among other things.

[smmmokin]

On 4/7/2023 at 1:57 AM, trag1c said:

It's probably more so that the specific carrier doesn't want to go through the effort of remotely reprovisioning the sim to allow access for a specific APNs and radio networks / bands. If the networks were specifically for phones it would be a lot simpler, but with IoT and M2M applications carriers will sometimes offer older networks and/or lower data rate networks for cheaper so they have access controls on different radio network technologies. If the carrier doesn't have different plans for different networks you most likely could use the same sim. If they sell access to specific radio networks then they will probably give you a new card.

 

So basically for regular consumers they will just have a stack of pre-provisioned sim cards that just need a phone number and account number associated with them.

 

At my work we design, build, and sell M2M/IIoT devices so we will provision our own SIMs through carrier web portals. When we buy a stack of sims they are automatically associated with our account but lack much in the way of configuration as each one needs a plan or data pool to be selected as well as things like APNs and radio networks. Among other things.

Appreciate you taking the time friend. Thank you for the info.

[smmmokin]

On 4/7/2023 at 1:46 AM, kitnoman said:

Personally, the answer is yes and no. Do sim card degrade if it's left untouched inside the phone? No, it would either work or not, once the goldplate is scratched to oblivion. However, older sim cards might not get the full network speed if it's a technology behind. I remember that I just keep on cutting my old sim card from standard, to macro to nano size. By the time I switch to an iphone 6, while sometimes it registers on my screen as 4g or lte, the speed is only similar to 3g speed, since that's what the sim card is "allowed" to get. 

Used to work as a product trainer for customer care support. From experience, the shadiest people in the industry are really store agents. It's like they need to be as they have a quota. So to some that's just $10-15, but to them that's one sale. But they could also be telling the truth. for example if your parents ask if they will get the "fastest "5G network speed" using only 4g/lte sim card. Short answer is no. However, it's been a few years since I left, so I really don't know how much 5G is 5G now a days, as during that time, 5g, was just renamed from lte. There's also coverage and other issues.

Thanks friend. Like 99% of citizens faster mobile speeds are useless because of the cost. Blows my mind how fast networks say they are but at those speeds your monthly data is gone in less than 10 minutes if you go for it. Parents have a nano sim as old as mine. It's frustrating.

[smmmokin]

On 4/7/2023 at 1:03 AM, LinusTech said:

lol terrible...

lol

 

Edit: Thanks for replying to give this attention. Gotta say I'm just shouting out the lol generation. I think too much lol...oh FFS lol...yup.

Edited April 10, 2023 by smmmokin
Don't want to come across in a way I am not.

[Snake jr]

I have had no service  on boost since March 3 and they are sending me new sim but it's Been 3 days and it's not at my house and I only had service  for 4 months how is it my sim card and it's the same one there supposed to be  sending I don't think they sent and I am only wanting the att boost sim cuz it's the only one that works  at my house and a boost  store wants to charge  me 50 dollars  for sim replacement and I did and fcc complaint  on them for it