Q: iPhone 5 and "NO SIM CARD INSTALLED" error

Got my new SIM from AT&T this afternoon. They said I was the 2nd one to come into that store with the issue. Sounds like they had found this thread or the one on MacRumors as well. Anyway, so far so good. Hopefully it stays that way.

Same problem with my husband's iphone5. I ordered the phone online and was delivered this morning (Tues). I set it up and made an hour trip to his work just to give his new phone. He's excited and thankful for my effort of bringing it. He was able to use for 2 hours, but got an error NO SIM CARD INSTALLED after maybe 4 or 5 calls he said. Soooo frustrating... I called AT&T, i need to bring my phone to them to have it check.

I had the same issue with ATT 16GB , I dont know if you guys noticed it, if you look closely at the sim tray it sticks out little on the top , you can feel it by sliding your finger nail on the side of the phone and I showed it to the apple genius at the apple store and he agreed with me and I tested on the demo phone it was different, he said some phone trays might be faulty, they were out of stock with the phones so he was not able to give me a replacement. I cannot beleive new phone to have that kind of defect, so I called ATT and ordered an exchange for Samsung Galaxy s3.

Had the same issue crop up with my iPhone 5 last night.  Reboots restored service for variable lengths of time. 

I broke out the first aid kit, popped out the SIM card with a small paperclip and swabbed the SIM with a alcohol prep pad.  The SIM did appear cleaner after the wash.  The phone is working and cleaning has patched the issue, time will tell if it solves the problem.

Incidentally, I had the very same issue with my 4S.  Random SIM card errors.  I reboot it to restore service, which always worked.  Lately, for the last few months, the issue hasn't popped up again despite me having never cleaned the SIM or taken any other action.  Huh.

My phone (Verizon) was doing this about 4-5 times a day, the first time the day I activated it.  Itook mine to a local Verizon store, where after 4 employees looked at it (and watched a youtube video on how to change a SIM card!), they had to call tech support.  90 mintues of my life gone, but for now it seems to be working with the new card.  Time will tell, though. 

Add me to the list. Bought the phone Friday and it's been working fine - until today. Received a call around 9:30 am, then at 11:30 discovered I was unable to make a call, browse the web, or receive calls, all failing with the "No SIM card installed" message. Upper-left corner which usually shows ATT, or at worse "No service", shows "No SIM". Took it to the Apple store and got a replacement SIM card, which AT&T installed for me at their nearby store. Now it works again but the whole thing was a PITA cuz I had to schlep across town and wait for a tech to be available to help me. The idea that these new nano-SIMs don't seat properly or that the carrier may be too loose is troubling since if that's the problem I can expect random failures in future.

Same here. Received my iPhone last night. Everything went ok, made first call and after that... No SIM card installed .

Turned off and on  got a signal.  Them a few hours later the same thing.  But it took 3 tries to get phone working.

Hope there is a fix for this.

Anyone had the same problem with their replacement sim? Mines been fine since the replacement was installed Monday.

My SIM card was replaced the second day I had the phone and I have not had any further problems.

I had my SIM card replaced on Monday and its working perfect. 

I had my SIM card replaced x2 days ago and I have not had any issues since. Prior to that I had to restart my phone approx 7 times becuase of " NO SIM CARD" message.

Add me to the list of faulty sim cards.  I just spoke to a very nice lady at ATT and she said the new nano sim cards are having some issues - some of them are faulty.  She said the same thing happened last time they switched the sim cards. I am headed to the ATT store to pick up my new sim card free of charge and should be fixed. Will report back if there are any issues in the future.  Sorry so many of us are having these issues, however find it comforting that it's not just my new iPhone 5.

Best of luck everyone!

Useful reports here. After the first two days of "No Sim Card", I took mine out, cleaned it, restarted without it, as was suggested, restarted, and it has been working since. Now I don't know if I should try for a new card or...? Is anyone else in this situation? I wonder if ATT will issue free cards if/when warranty on phone runs out.

I tried taking it out, cleaned the card.  Worked a for a awhile and than it finally just stop working.  That's when I had it replaced.  3 days now working fine...

Add me to this list too.  BUT, I am not 100% sure its my new iPhone 5 as much as io6.  I had a iPhone 4 that was really reliable, upgraded to IO6 last week.  On Saturday, my 4 started the same --  no sim card -- I stopped by AT&T but they had a 1 hour wait so just said whatever.

Sunday am it was working again but then hubby gave me the iPhone 5 he had gotten me for our anniversery.  Worked great for a few days, yesturday and today (Thurs) I am constantly getting no sim card errors.  I restored it today, no help, turning it off and on again seems to help but can't (wont) do that all the time.  WIll head back to AT&T this weekend to see what is up.