This is a detailed post on the major bad sim card symptoms every phone user should know, as it will help you to know when your sim card has gone bad or completely damaged.
As you’re here, I’m sure you’re having a hard time getting your phone or the sim slot to detect your sim card and you think your sim card is faulty, bad or probably damaged.
There you go with the question of the day, what is symptoms of a bad sim card?
The major systom of a bad sim card is not being able to detected by the sim slot or the phone itself. In most cases, it shows no sim card inserted or no service depending on the type of phone you’re using.
I want to know if my SIM card is bad or maybe the problem is from my sim slot as it doesn’t detect my sim card.
What are bad sim card symptoms
Bad sim card symptoms is the inability of a phone to detect a sim card, the sim card not showing a network service, sim card failure in a mobile phone, etc.
Now let’s take them one after the other, and below are some of the major symptoms of a bad sim card you should know;
1. No sim card inserted
Once your sim card is faulty, you will be seeing no sim card inserted on your mobile phone. Many a time this error message doesn’t mean that the sim card is faulty, but rather the sim slot isn’t detecting it.
To confirm that the problem of no sim card inserted is actually caused by the sim card, remove the sim card and insert another one.
I mean insert another sim into your mobile.
If it detects it, then you got to know that the sim card is dirty, faulty or damaged. This is one major bad sim card symptoms in a mobile phone.
To fix this problem if the sim card is damaged, you need to go contact your network provider and do a sim swap. By contacting your network provider they will tell you what to do or how to resolve the problem.
However, before contacting your network provider, I will advise you to clean the Sim card chip. Sometimes dirt can prevent a phone from detecting a sim card, so cleaning the sim chip helps a lot.
You need to be very careful while cleaning the sim card chip, use a very clean soft cloth to dust it off. You can damp cloth with water or probably use a rubbing alcohol for the cleaning. Please do this gently and don’t apply any force while cleaning the sim card.
After cleaning the sim card and nothing works, then you have to contact your network provider.
2. Symptoms of a bad sim card: No network detected
Another bad sim card symptoms is no network detected, and this is different from no sim card. In this case, the sim slot detected the sim card but nothing works.
You might think that it is a network issue but usually the problem is caused by your sim card. Wiping dirt from the sim card doesn’t work in this case cause the sim is faulty or damaged.
To be hundred percent sure that it isn’t a network issue but rather caused by your sim card, look around for a sim card with the same network provider and see if it is seeing a network. If it does, remove the sim card and insert it into your phone.
If it does detect the sim card, and there’s a network service, then the problem is caused by your sim card. I’ve seen this type of issue multiple times and that’s why I added to the list of bad sim card symptoms.
3. Phone going into flight mode
Here’s the third symptoms of a bad sim card, phone going into airplane mode on it’s own.
If you noticed that your phone suddenly goes into flight mode on its own, the problem is from the sim card. Number of cases has been reported and after a reasonable amount of research it was found out that the problem was caused by the sim card and not the sim slot.
The truth is, some of these problems can be caused by the sim slot especially if the sim slot is damaged. This is why you need to do a test and confirm that the problem is caused by the sim slot or probably the sim card.
Remove your sim from your phone and insert another sim into your phone. If you see a network service and it isn’t going into flight mode, then you should know that the sim card is damaged. If reverse is the case, that is your phone going into flight mode, the the problem is caused by the sim slot.
Phone going into offline mode on its own is one major bad sim card symptoms you should know and the only solution is changing the sim card to a new one. We do call it sim swap though it diifers from country to country or network provider.
4. SIM card contacts show only a phone number
This symptoms of a bad sim card is quite rare to see though it does happen. In this case, all your contacts will only display phone numbers and not the name which you saved the contact with.
Sometimes this can be caused by a network issue to the sim card, and the sim card isn’t damaged in this aspect.
Try rebooting your phone and if the problem still persist, take the sim card to your network and lay your complain.
5. Bad sim card symptoms: Sim card not ready
What are the bad sim card symptoms?
SIM card not ready.
I’m sure you’re seeing this on your phone cause it is one of the popular sim card issues being talked about. Mostly this error of sim card not ready is caused by a damaged sim chip.
If your sim chip is damaged or very faulty, you’ll start to experience sim card not ready.
Honestly, cleaning your sim card will not solve the problem sim card not ready. To resolve this issue of bad sim card symptoms, you need to take the sim card to your network provider. A sim replacement is the only solution to this problem.
6. Call dropping due to bad or damaged sim card
One of the symptoms of a bad sim card is call dropping, and you may never know which you will believe that your problem of call dropping was is caused by network service provider.
In reality, it was caused by your sim card which has already gone bad or damaged.
What you have to do is to remove your sim card and insert it into another phone compatible with your sim card. Make a call and check if you will experience call dropping on the other phone.
If it does then be rest assured that the problem is caused by your sim card as it has already gone bad or damaged. In this type of situation, sim replacement is the only option you have and you should contact your carrier network for the sim replacement.
You can read more:
- Sim toolkit: Everything you need to know
- Will a 4g sim work in a 5g phone (Learn more)
- Can i put my sim card in another phone (Will it work)
Can a sim card go bad?
Yes of course, sim card can go bad, get faulty or damaged if the sim chip is damaged. Once a sim card chip is damaged or tampered, be rest assured the sim will start having issues.
Some of the issues or the bad sim card symptoms which I’ve listed above, and mostly the only way to resolve the issue is by changing the sim (sim swap) or better still contacting your network provider.
Solution to a bad sim card
The only way to resolve a bad sim card in a given phone is by getting a sim replacement, and performing a sim swap.
SIM swap is the ability to move data and information from one sim to another sim card, and this includes the phone number.
Most people that do request for a sim swap are those that have a damaged or bad sim card. Once the sim card is already damaged, the only solution is to get a new sim card and do a sim swap.
You can read more on sim swap and how to get a new sim card with the same number.
Can a SIM card corrupt a phone?
Definitely no. A sim card cannot corrupt a phone no matter how badly damaged the sim card is. What corrupts a phone is nothing but a virus but with a good antivirus your phone is safe.
If you have a phone which is misbehaving or corrupt, don’t conclude that it is your sim card that caused the problem. I repeat again, a sim card can’t corrupt a phone but rather a virus or maybe you sd card getting corrupted.
How do SIM cards get corrupted
SIM card gets corrupted when the sim chip is damaged or tampered with. If you tampered with the sim card chip, it can get corrupted and you’ll start to see some of the listed bad sim card symptoms.
If a sim card chip is broken, be rest assured that it is damaged or corrupted, and again trying to clone a sim card will make it to be corrupted.
Can a SIM card be destroyed by water?
The answer is no. Sim card cannot be destroyed by water though that doesn’t mean that you should leave your sim card inside the water.
There are liquids that destroys the sim card chip but not water, water doesn’t damage the sim card at all. However, if your sim card falls into the water, make sure to dry it off with a soft clean cloth.
With all these said so far, by now you have known the bad sim card symptoms.
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As long as you experience or see sim card not ready, phone going into offline on it’s own, no sim card inserted, etc, they are the bad sim card symptoms you should know.
Will a bad sim card block phone numbers from my call list that I have not blocked
Yes reply my friends a d family that are not block keep getting blocked
Bad sim card cannot block a phone but rather will cause network problem on a mobile phone.
Check you phone contacts if you have mistakenly blocked the contacts from your contact list.
Webpage not available’ began popping up on 1 website, then 2, now a dozen. Many dropped calls and unable to redial- no signal. Does this sound like the SIM? Also, this phone is only 2 months old.
Bad sim do cause poor network reception and which affects t internet connectivity. Also bad sim card causes call dropping, but to confirm that truly the issue is from the sim card and not your carrier network, I will advise you to insert the sim card into another compatible phone and see if you will experience poor internet and call dropping.
Will a bad SIM card stop my texts from sending?
A bad sim card will cause a poor network reception which will hinder texts from getting sent or received.