iPhone 5 and "NO SIM CARD INSTALLED" error

I mentioned before that I had this problem as well. I tried to take out the sim card but I couldn't get it out, and instead when I poked the SIM card slot with a paperclip the slot went in a bit. After that I restarted the phone and haven't had a problem since. This was last Saturday around 3PM. It is not Thursday 9:51PM.

This is an update...

I called the apple support team 2 days ago, and they said to update to the most recent version of Itunes with my pc...then sync the phone thru the cpu... Sounded like a bunch of bs to me; but like the good boy I am, i did it. so far, no problems since the sync (approx 48hrs)... just another variable to the fire, I'll post an update in a week.

A follow up to my own post. So far, since I pulled the SIM and cleaned it there have been no further SIM card errors. I'm not sure if it was the cleaning or simply pulling out and reseating the SIM, though I guess it doesn't matter, since it was very easy to do even if it's irritating that I had to in the first place.

Count me in as well. I'm in Germany and got my iPhone 5 on monday. After putting the SIM in the first time, I got full signal but no data (had to add the APN settings via profile). After doing that, it worked for half an hour or so and then "NO SIM".

During my trip over the last few days I always had my iPhone 4S with me with a new Pay-as-you-go-card and regularly tried activating and deactivating airplane mode on the iPhone 5 or restarting it, putting the SIM out and in again. Yesterday on the train ride back it kept a good signal for about 8-9 hours. This morning it was lost again. After reading this thread now I tried to clean the SIM and the tray and put it back in. Now it's been working for about 10 minutes. If the problem persists, I'll need to visit the Apple Store with both my phones (4S shuts down at 15-20% battery every once in a while)....

So..I seem to constantly get lemon devices -_-

HYPOTHESIS:

There is a minor increase amount of flex in the iPhone 5 case as compared to the iPhone 4 and 4S. It is just enough movement to periodically cause the contacts on the SIM card to lose their connection to the contacts in the iPhone 5 (again, micrometers). This flex wasn't as apparent in the 4 and 4S.

Matt Beard's tape solution is perfect.

Count me as one of the many experiencing these problems. All was fine for the first three days after I got my phone. Then, three times in the last 12 hours, I've gotten the dreaded "No Sim" message. I get service after I reboot, but it is a hassle. And I never know when it's going to drop so now I have an unreliable phone. Hopefully a stop by my local AT&T store will fix this, but after all the hype, you'd think Apple could have gotten the manufacturing right.

Having the same issue. "NO SIM". Can restart, hard reset, sync, restore etc, none of that works.

The only temporary "fix" i've been able to find is to take the SIM out, and put it back in.

Pre-Ordered two from Verizon both came LATE. Once we finally got them mine worked fine but my dads won't activate. "NO SIM". Verizon send via overnight a new SIM saying that would fix it. NOPE! Same issue. After hours and hours of time on the phone with Verizon. And trying all of the suggests in this post I have a genius apt this evening. Verizon can't replace the phone until sometime next week. After already waiting a week I don't think my dad should wait any longer especially since we is headed out on a business trip for 2 weeks. I hope Apple will replace the phone. At this point I am very frustrated!

Just started having the same problem this morning. After turning on and off the phone at least 5 times and switching back and forth several times the airplane mode switch I was ready to go to the store (sprint) but I tried removing the SIM card ( with the phone off of course) and after removing it an placing it back in it seems to have worked. Its aleeady been about 3 hours since it first happened and im still good. I'm just saying so that you try this before doing anything else. Good Luck !

Updating my story. After having my SIM replaced by AT&T on Tuesday, I haven't had a problem since. Until that point, it was happening at least daily.

We received a new iPhone 5 on Verizon two days ago. This morning the phone displayed the error "No Sim Card Installed" and indicated "No Service". Rebooting the phone corrected the error. I called Verizon support, and they (apparently) did not yet have this issue in their database, but they logged the incident and said they would investigate and do whatever was necessary to correct the problem. They asked me to note any further incidents in the next three days, and said they would call me mid-week to see if the problem re-occurred.

I got my iPhone 5 last Friday and on Monday it gave me a msg that there was no SIM card. Went to apple that morning and was told that their computer system was down world wide and the could not help me to go to Sprint. Went to Sprint main store and was told it was a faulty SIM card but they had none to replace it with. Then they took my phone in the back and a few minutes later had it working. They had removed the card from a broken/returned phone and replaced my card. Left store and few minutes later got another MSG, sin card not assigned. Went back to Sprint and they had forgotten to go in the system and assign that card to my phone. No problems now for 6days!!!!!

Just an update over on my end. I had the card changed out by AT&T on the 23 and have not had a problem since.

Same issue with a 5-day-old AT&T phone. Off-on temporarily fixes. I tried restore as suggested on Apple support site. No change. I'll try AT&T today.

Here's the recommended Apple approach: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4148. I tried all of these steps and it did not address the problem. We'll see what happens with a new SIM card.