Sim Card Failure No Sim with iPhone 4S Anyone Else?

I had this same issue with my 4s. I ended up just taking the phone to the Apple store where they replaced the phone. The replacement phone was a new one as far as I could tell. I witnessed teh unboxing, removing the plastic, etc. In the end though, the phone could have been a refurb, but I really couldn't tell.

The Apple store genius did tell me to contact Verizon for a new sim card. I have not called Verizon to replace the sim card yet. I have been using the phone without a sim with no apparent issues.

Rey

Same issue here in Slovakia EU - TMobile carrier. My new iPhone 4S with iOS 5.0.1 is doing the same. I never had any problem on my older iPhone 4 with the same SIM card. ( The whole issue is here discussions.apple.com/message/16692668 )

hm.. tape on cutted SIM card didn't help.. Ordered a new SIM and now all works flawless! 🙂

I believe we can conclude that Apple is not in total control of the older SIM cards requiring differant voltage some how - I'm now a happy camper

Just updated to 5.0.1 with no problems.

Had "sim failure" and "invalid sim" with the original sim that came with phone (October 20). AT&T replaced sim with new micro-sim (not cut-down version) and has been fine since.

IOS 5.0.1 did not do any harm on my phone.

2 week old iPhone 4s Black 32gb, worked flawlessly until this morning. Evidently self updated OTA to 5.0.1 at some point in the last day (?last night). Woke up this morning with No SIM failure. FWIW, I have the phone set to sync wirelessly and to iCloud backups and was not jostled/dropped.

Tried to reseat the SIM card, no dice.

Tried to clean the SIM card, no dice.

Tried to tape the card in creative locations based on other website info, no dice.

Tried on/off/airplane mode/shaking/tapping, soft reset no change (3-4 iterations)

Tried reset all settings, cleared the phone. Phone cannot be reactivated without SIM in place, which the phone failed to recognize was present.

Took it to AT&T retail outlet, new SIM card placed and phone booted right up. Phone working fine now.

Strange timing around the iOS 5.0.1 update, but other than that not sure how related. Phone currently re-updated to 5.0.1 (since I had to restore) and working fine with the new SIM card.

Just wanted to give this info as I wasted a lot of time thinking this was related to software, shorted SIM card, etc but appears that I just had a bad SIM. Perhaps the update/reset cycle somehow bricked the SIM, but a SIM changeout was all that was needed.

same here SIM card failure. had the the 4s for 2 weeks, yesteday it showed the network bars fine but i couldnt call or sms, today it died totally, saying no sim card.

apple, and espascially Steve Jobs, where not trying to make good products, no, they are trying to make excellent products. A simple a task to have sim cards working in telephone shouldnt be anything we have to worrie about in the the year 2011. this is not excellent, its below all expectations. like having a mercedes whos stearing wheel is just not working. congratulations to whom it may concern!😠

Thats what i was told from Apple.

I have had the same problem. From the day i picked up my phone (on its release day) i have had the sim failure message. I have been given four replacement sim cards and this has not fixed the issue. Two days after the issue Optus said they would swap my phone for a brand new one but then instore they just decided to give me another sim. At the genious bar they said that it was a handset issue but would only give me a refurb phone and if i wanted a new one i would have to go through optus. I have now called optus 15 times and they are so far refusing to give me a new handset.

Putting another sim in the phone and then putting my sim back in seems to fix the issue for about 24 hours at a time but it is extremely annoying

All,

I had the same problems as listed in this forum (no service, invalid SIM, loosing network/carrier connectivity, etc.). So, yesterday (Friday CET) I got hold of a new micro-SIM to see if this would work, as the SIM I used was a normal SIM card cut to micro-SIM size from my old iPhone 3GS.

After running on this for about 24 hours I can honestly say that this has improved my iOS 5.0.1 experience dramatically! I can call people, send SMS, the works... without problems. Been using the phone the whole day.

However, I had 2 drops during calls today, but it's hard for me to blame it on 5.0.1 as the other end of the call might have been on a bad receiption. I experienced also 1 "searching... no service... then back to normal event" during the day, but this was about it. Still, it's a huge improvement compared to when I was running on my old SIM card....as this one kept dropping every couple of minutes due to the "no service" problem.

Just thought I'd let everyone here know this. Perhaps it might be of use to others.

I have a new iPhone 4s (black 32gb) and started to have the "sim failure' problem as well. about twice a day I get an out of the blue "Sim Failure". When I reboot and not touch my sim, it works fine again. I just switched from an iPhone 4s White-32gb and did not have this problem (with the same sim).

As I do not tough the sim when I reboot and it works again, I assume this is an actual error in software?

I've got an iPhone 4s 32 GB black. I had the sim card error last weekend when I was using my phone especially video and camera options. Restarted it and it was fine. Didn't have any problems all week. When I used the video camera this morning the sim card error came back! I'm off to AT&T to get a new sim card and see what happens.

I have the same problem!!! It suddenly lose network, say sim failure ! I have to restart the phone an it works again !!! Is it because I have a normal sim card that has been cut ?!? Did Apple commented something on that topic ?

same problems in Poland: brand new sim card, brand new iP 4S -> looses network, no service, no connectivity, sim invalid message and so on.

Well, should have stayed with my nokia 3210... 😟

Apple -> go ahead and fix this along with the battery consumption!

For the first 3 weeks I had my 4S I didn't have this problem (it was a new micro-SIM as I had a 3GS before). Then, the problem started but it's so random. Sometimes it happens several times a day, sometimes it goes several days without happening.

It's not heat either - at least not in my case as my phone never gets warm, except when on charge.

I can't see that it is caused by a faulty SIM as it seems to affect every carrier in every country and I can't believe that there is only one manufacturer of SIM cards and the chances of every manufacturer producing faulty SIMs simultaneously is practically zero.

Also, many people have previously used the "faulty" SIM in an iPhone4 without prroblems - and still have no problems if they put it back in their 4.

Seems to me that this is an OS issue or a h/w problem. I'd favour h/w as my old 3GS, which my wife now has, also runs 5.0.1 and doesn't have this problem and, seemingly, the iPhone4 isn't affected.

This problem, plus the battery life issues (which I also have) make the 4S less than impressive, especially since I had my 3GS for over two years and it worked flawlessly.

Exactly the same problem with a Virgin sim card, had to cut it down etc etc and it worked fine straight out of the box until I did the 5.01 software update, now I keep getting "SIM failure" messages and have to re-boot 3-4 times a day. Apple support say it is deffo a problem with Virgin sims and pointed me towards them as its not a problem with the handset!

Lets see what Virgin have to say.

Got same problem here..

I just bought 2 iphone 4s. one for me, and one for my sis.. literally both of them "no service", "sim failure", and so on.. even when i wake up in the morning, i see "SIM failure".. rebooting the phone makes it work again.

i wonder why apple has been picking up habits of producing flawed things.. i am getting dissapointed with apple products