How to check to see if sim card is activated (A How-to Guide)

Bought a new sim card and kinda confused if the sim card is activated, I will guide you through on how to check to see if sim card is activated.

One of the major features of a mobile phone is the sim card, without sim cards you can’t make calls. In fact, calling making is the major major benefit derived from using a sim card.

You can use your phone to browse without a SIM card, thanks to Wi-Fi connection. I will talk about this later on this post.

Now let’s go back to the question, how to check to see if sim card is activated.

How to check to see if sim card is activated

Check to see if sim card is activated

To check to see if your sim card is activated for mobile use, see the followings below;

1. Being able to make or receive calls

This is the very first thing to confirm if your sim card is activated or not, being able to make calls using the sim card or to receive calls.

If a sim card is not active or deactivated, you won’t makes or receive calls through the sim card. Depending on your network provider, you will be notified to activate your sim card in order to receive calls or make calls.

So this is the very first thing you need to check to see if sim card is activated or not.

2. Not receiving messages

This is similar to not being able to receive or makes calls, you can’t receive messages from the sim card. And the truth is, the messages will show sent on the sender’s phone but it won’t be delivered to you.

As long as your sim card isn’t activated, any messages sent to the mobile phone number will not go through.

3. Mobile network won’t show on your phone

To check to see if sim card is activated, your mobile network won’t display. The mobile network I’m talking about is the 4G LTE or 5G network.

This doesn’t mean you can’t use your phone to browse the internet, you can only browse the using Wi-Fi network. Mobile data won’t go through until you activate your sim card.

For those that use mobile network to browse network, I’m sorry your phone will look useless to you until you get a working sim card or maybe use the Wi-Fi.

Mobile network not showing is one of the thing to check to see if sim card is activated or not.

These are three methods you can use to know if your mobile sim is activated or maybe not active.

The quick solution

If you found out that your sim card is not active, the only solution to contact your network provider or probably go their office. Right there they should activate the sim card for you.

In my location, one need to register the sim card and the sim card will be active. Without the sim card registration, a sim card won’t be active or activated for mobile use.

To check to see if sim card is activated, try to make calls or receive calls, send a message and see if it will go through or try internet connection and see if it will work on your phone.


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Can you use a phone without a SIM card

The answer is yes. You can use a phone without a Sim card though if you don’t have a Wi-Fi connection, it may be worthless to you.

You can play offline games or online games using the Wi-Fi, read books offline or online, stream online videos or YouTube using the WiFi, Wi-Fi calls, etc.

You can do anything you want on your phone without a SIM card, but you can’t make calls or receive calls. You can’t receive messages or even voicemail.

Please kindly know that this is different from Wi-Fi calls. You can perform wifi calls from your phone without a SIM card, but your phone and network provider must support the feature.

Aside from these four functions, you can use your phone without a SIM card, be it android or iPhone.

Going back to the question, Can you use a phone without a SIM card?

The answer is yes but you can’t make calls, receive calls, messages or voicemail.

Can you receive text messages without a SIM card

No, you can’t receive text messages without a SIM card. Receiving text messages involves a network service which comes through the sim card, so if you don’t have a sim card in your sim how will you be able to receive a text message.

That’s not possible at all.

There will be no network service in your phone if you don’t have a sim card inserted in your mobile phone. There’s no way you can receive text messages to your without a SIM card in your phone.

Can I make WiFi calls without a SIM card

The answer is yes, you can make WiFi calls without a SIM card inserted into your phone. First your phone must it, and also your network provider must support the Wi-Fi call feature for you to use it on your phone.

To make Wi-Fi calls, you don’t need to insert a sim card into your mobile phone. As long as you activated the wifi calling feature on your phone, kindly dial a number and you’re good to go.

Note You can’t receive calls or text messages if you don’t have a sim card in your mobile phone, but you can make WiFi calls.

How do I know if my SIM card is deactivated

To know if your sim card is deactivated, you can’t make or receive calls, you can’t receive text messages or voice mail on your phone, and lastly mobile network won’t be able available on your phone.

These are the signs that shows that a sim card is deactivated, same with how to check to see if sim card is activated.

You can only activate your sim card by contacting your network provider, and mind you a mobile phone is worthless without mobile service or internet service.

What can you do without a SIM card

Now you have known how to check to see if sim card is activated, let me show you what you can do without a SIM card.

1. Able to make Wi-Fi calls: You can make WiFi calls without a SIM card on your mobile phone. You don’t even need to have a mobile network or sim card inserted into your phone in order to make use of wifi calling.

2. Use Wi-Fi for browsing, streaming and downloading: Without a SIM card in your phone, you can use the internet to browse the net, stream YouTube or streaming websites, chat online or download using a working Wi-Fi.

However, if you don’t have a working Wi-Fi network, I’m sorry your phone will be worthless to you.

3. Play games offline or online: Without a SIM card in your phone, you can play offline games if you don’t have a Wi-Fi or online games if you do have a working Wi-Fi.

So without a SIM card in your phone, you can enjoy gaming on your android phone or iPhone without bothering inserting a sim card into your phone. For you to play online games, you must have a working Wi-Fi network.

Check to see if sim card is activated online

There’s no need to check if SIM card is activated online and whereas there’s no online platform for this. Like I said, if you don’t see a mobile network on your phone, can’t make or receive calls, can’t receive messages, etc means that your sim card isn’t activated.

It means your sim card is deactivated or inactive.

You need to forget the idea to check to see if sim card is activated online. There’s no platform offering such services except for your network provider.

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So far all the things discussed on this post are the things to check to see if sim card is activated or not, more especially not being able to make or receive calls.

About Kennedy

I'm Amaechi Uchenna by name, a mobile tech enthusiast who love writing articles about tips and tutorials especially relating to gadgets.

4 thoughts on “How to check to see if sim card is activated (A How-to Guide)”

  1. If you want to activate your sim card, I think it should be the work of your sim provider to activate the sim.

  2. I am having trouble putting in re-charge pre-paid into my phone, the number is 048…
    , it works People can call me but I cannot recharge to use my phone. Please help

  3. This type of problem requires your network provider to fix the issue because since you can receive calls, it is not a sim card issue. Kindly contact your network provider and lay down your complaint.

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