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

I am having the issue too, it just happend to me a few days ago, I noticed a few days ago on the left top of my phone screen that it had been saying locked sim, at that point i could still make calls, everything was normal. Then I went to shut my phone down for the first time since it had been saying " locked sim", after I turned it back on today I could no longer make or receive calls.

I was instructed to take the sim card out all together , and that unless you are going to travel out side of the country there isn't even a need for it.

im still with out a phone just my luck my sim card won't even come out now i will have to make a trip to the verizon store.

I made a suggestion to verizon because I went through a yrs worth of some issues with ATT and the iphone.... Long story short there was a bug in the software when it would be connected with ITUNES, how I kmow this 1 week after saying the **** with the iphone ( which I loved) and still do, I just couldnt deal with the dropped calls, bad, bad signal etc......... 1 week later I was sent an email from apple that customers owning the iphone what ever it was at the time-- it was suggested to down load the up dated information and that would fix the bugs that were in the system. Eeeeh time will tell we shall see whose side it's on.

I got an iPhone 4S 32GB white from Norway Apple Store and activate it in Brazil with a SIM Card that I cut myself and that works very fine in the iPhone 4. After one day of working I put it to charge in a MacMini. It updated the software from 5.0 to 5.0.1, the next morning it was saying INVALLID SIMCARD.I´ve already asked for a new card at the TIM carrier. If a put it out or reboot the phone it work for some minutes, but goes back again to NO SERVICE.

Many hours, 2 new iPhone 4S' and 2 SIM cards later, my phone still says "No SIM". A small AT&T store in Bridgehampton told me today that they see customer with this problem each day. It really frustrates me that Apple - now for the second time - releases a product that has hardware issues (first the antenna and now the SIM tray). And if that wasn't enough, because I'm too far away from an Apple Store, Apple wants to charge me $25 to send me a replacement phone while I wait about 10 days for my second iPhone 4S (got it yesterday) to be fixed!!!

Update: Just turn OFF Wifi and restarted my phone. Now, I get a signal for the first time today! Don't know if it will last for more than a few minutes or if it's just a coincidence. Apple: When are you going to tell us what's going on???

I have a Verizon iPhone 4S 64 GB model the I purchased for Globla use. I called Verizon and activated the Global service for a recent trip to Spain. When it worked, it worked well, but the mistake I seem to have made was upgrading the firmware just prior to departure.

Every few hours my phone would drop service and report a SIM Failure. Reboots, inand out of Airplane mode, and disable/reactive cellular service would fail to reconnect the device. The worst experience was 3 hours without a connection. The area I was in had Vodaphone ES coverage the entire week and I always had full signal strength where I was staying.

Now that I just arrived back in the US, I would hope that the issue does not reappear now that I am on the Verizon CDMA network and no longer on GSM. Since I stil have an unlimited data plan, I will keep it on cellular data for a while and see if the issue resurfaces.

Can't you just remove the SIM?

I thought that Verizon CDMA service didn't use the SIM for access to the network.

(And then spare a thought for those of us using GSM who definitely can't remove our SIMs)

More news from Argentina. We have two iPhone 4S (5.0.1) working on Movistar and Claro networks. Both came from Canada, unlocked.

After all tests I can say this IS a software problem.

Movistar's iPhone is working fine with a 128Kb SIM that I cut down to a MicroSIM size. I couldn't set or edit "My Number" setting on Settings - Phone. I switched the SIM to my older iPhone 4 (5.0.1) changed it there and put it back. Now not only I can see the number but I can also edit it!

Claro's iPhone 4S is working with an original 64Kb MicroSIM (not cut down). Same problem with "My Number" setting. We are going to try to set the number on the same iPhone 4 from Movistar and let you know.

Both can't activate Facetime nor iMessage.

Regards

Same issues here.... This is super frustrating. I have a factory unlocked 4s... "SIM failure" and sometimes after several reboots "full bars" without being able to send or receive (calls and SMS). I am on a t-mobile SIM card that works perfectly on my iPhone 4 and does not o me much good on the 4s. 😠

Why does Apple not manage to aknowledge the problem like other companies do? It is "best practice" to admit the problems and bugs and help your customers with possible workarounds and an estimate time-frame to resolve the problem.

I am sick and tired of making Genius bar appointments and having phones replaced that show the same issues after replacement.

Apple get your act together acknowledge the problems and solve these issues quickly and professionaly. A phone that does not allow you to make calls is simply laughable.

I had my 'SIM FAILURE' iPhone 4S replaced by Apple (sent away and came back within 48hrs, very impressed). This was last Wednesday that I had it back and, touch wood, it's not shown the fault since. I'm sure I've jinxed it now and I'll see the error but for now the problem has gone and I hope it stays away.

Anyone that has this problem and lives too far from an Apple store to swap it, get them to send you a package to return it, they quoted 10 working days for return but it I sent it off on a Monday afternoon and got it back Wednesday morning, crazy fast service right there.

However there is clearly a problem which needs addressing here and I hope Apple help others to solve it like they have for me.

I'm having connectivity problems, 3G signal dropping. It seems random. I have an iPhone4S with iOS5.0.1 factory unlocked. SIM card form carrier Vodafone Spain is 128K and new. I am waiting for an iOS update to see if it solves the problem, if not i'll try ordering a new SIM card form my carrier. If it's not solved I will have to go to my local Apple Store in Barcelona and tell them for a replacement.

Hope it's software related and solved the next update.

@RaMarcus

Can you go into the 'About' page inside 'Settings/General' and tell us the version of the Modem Firmware, and also the Carrier version?

And the main Version number also?

I have noticed that one other person had mismatched numbers when they got a replacement phone ... and I'm curious whether Apple have downgraded the Modem firmware they're installing ...

Model: MD258Y

Operator: vf es 11.1 (Vodafone Spain)

Modem firmware: 1.0.13

I've read in other post that model starting with MD2 needs a replacement cause it has some kind of hardware issues, is it true? Do i have to order a replacement?

Problem Resolved!

I had the same issue with my new 4S which I had updated to iOS 5.0.1, whereas my wife's 4S on 5.0 was working fine. I myself cut both our SIMs down from a regular size. After scouring these discussion threads, I thought my only hope would be a bug fix from Apple. However, I thought I'd give a new SIM card a try. So I got a new uSIM card (a real uSIM, not cut down). For what it's worth, it was a 64K card, though some have said a 128K card is the solution. I put it in the iPhone's SIM tray and, taking a cue from some other posts (cgrossmeier's above), looked at the fit and noticed that the contacts on the left side (where there is very little gap between the contacts and the edge) did seem to be touching the tray, giving credence to the idea that the card is getting electrically shorted out. So I didn't put the card in right away, but rather first took it home and attached a bit of clear tape over the contacts, covering up about 1/8th inch of the card in total. Then I put the SIM in.

Working perfectly!

So I don't know whether the new SIM fixed it or whether the tape on the new SIM fixed it. For many, it does seem like the 5.0.1 update has triggered the issue. But anyway, tape thing worth a try.

I had the same issue (no service, invalid sim, searching...)

I did install iOS 5.1 (developers only) and everything looks fine now.

BRAZIL - TIM

iPhone 4S 64GB

iOS 5.1 (9B5117b)

Model: MD257C

Serial: C3.......

IMEI: 01 300....

Firmware Modem: 1.2.01-1

SIM 128k TIM carrier (cutted sim and micro-sim working)

SIM 64k VIVO carrier (cutted sim working too)

🙂

Tks Apple

PS: Sry my english

After reading all the threads on this, I'm pretty sure the tape thing is a red herring.

The difference between a SIM and a USIM seems to be the key to all of this. SIMs and USIMs have different security models and it seems entirely likely (at this stage, and without any confirmation), that Apple has decided to only support the more secure USIM. It is worth noting that genuine Micro-SIMs are *always* USIMs, so that only cut-down full size SIMs should be having this problem (Cut-down USIMs should work!). If you are having this problem with a genuine Micro-SIM from your carrier, you and they should both be speaking with Apple.

Unfortunately, supporting USIMs also seems to require action from the carriers. There are some carriers that cannot support the full USIM (ie UMTS) authentication model, and rely on a fallback to the SIM (ie GSM) model. It seems likely that these carriers will never be able to support the iPhone 4S (although they had no trouble with 3GS and 4).

The reason why the 128K 'SIM' has solved the problem for many people is that 128K SIMs are usually USIMs internally. This is due to the timing of the introduction of USIMs and the sizes available. It is possible, but extremely unlikely for SIMs to be available in 128K versions.

As for the tape and the tray ... the SIM tray is insulated in the crucial location. Have a close look at the colour of the metal on the outside, and compare with the colour of the rests for the Micro-SIM. The tray has been coated with some grey paint. I have tested it with multimeter probes, and I can confirm that is insulated.