3G sim card into 2G/2.5G handsets

Every now and again we will have a customer contact us to tell us that the unlock procedure has not worked. On receiving contact we will endeavour to find out why! Normally it is resolved fairly quickly as the customer has either entered the unlock code incorrectly or provided incorrect details.

Every now and again we will get a customer who has a normal 2G/2.5G handset and they are trying to use a 3G sim card in it, this of course is not possible. Without boring you with all the technical details, a 3G sim card interacts with the handset in a different way to that of a 2G/2.5G. Putting a 2G/2.5G sim card into a 3G handset will work however; this is because the 3G handset is backward compatible.

Some of the newer handsets that are coming out are “Dual Mode”. This means that they can use cards of both types. As a rule of thumb, if the handset is not a 3G handset you will not be able to use a 3G sim card in it.