[Q] How to use phone without a sim card. - Droid 2 Global General

Hello,
Apparently I can't store contacts without a sim card in my D2G... Is there another reason that I need a sim??
How can I use the phone without the sim chip? Because my old provider was a GSM but now I'm using CDMA. I figured that I didn't need the chip but then I tried to store a contact... bummer.
So... is there a "dummy" chip I can get or do I even need one? If I absolutely need a chip then how do I get another one?
Thanks!

You don't need a SIM card to store contacts. Default contact storage can be chosen, and from what I gather you're on Froyo firmware as Gingerbread doesn't offer the SIM as a contact storage option.
Make sure you have a Google account configured on the phone. If you do, consider doing a factory reset.

Yup. I'm running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).
So now what??
Thanks btw!

Have you configured a Google account at all?

I have often wondered why we even have sim cards in our phones(I understand gsm needs them yadda yadda yadda). When I unboxed my phone, a long LONG time ago on froyo, I was playing with all the "features" and could never access the sim card. I thought it would be a great feature for backing up contacts etc.
I think I read somewhere though that sims, at least for the bionic, are tied to ONE device ONLY and could not be swapped between phones. Obviously this would defeat th entire purpose of the card. No?
I am on verizon in the USA only (no overseas travel, no need for gsm) with a D2G. I just kinda seemed odd...
Droid2 Global CM4D2G-GB-20120105 ***CM7 RevNumbers Kang***

That's plainly wrong.
A USIM card, or rather, an UICC (USIM is a sub-species of UICC, just like CDMA's RUIM cards) contains a small CPU that runs the USIM (for GSM) or RUIM (for CDMA) program. That program is responsible for encryption, key generation, and such.
Unlike Verizon CDMA phones, GSM phones, and CDMA devices using RUIM cards do not need to be flashed to a carrier. All identification data is stored on the UICC.
UICC can be bound to a phone, but it can only be done on the carrier's side (binding UICC's ID to the device's ID — IMEI for GSM or MEID for CDMA). A phone can be programmed to only accept UICC cards of a certain carrier (that's what carrier-locked phones are).
Verizon's CDMA/LTE devices like the Bionic have to use USIM cards because LTE is basically 4G GSM, and you need USIM for GSM codecs, encryption, security, etc. Verizon's LTE USIM cards will not work in non-VZW phones (well, maybe they can provide data connectivity for GSM/LTE phones that support VZW's band; and once VZW moves voice and text to LTE… you get the idea).
Vice versa, GSM USIM cards will (probably) not work with VZW LTE phones as they're most probably locked to VZW USIMs.
DROID2 GLOBAL (and DROID3 as well), however, has a GSM/CDMA transceiver which, once unlocked, will accept any GSM USIM card (extremely old plain SIM cards — which you probably won't find anywhere anymore — won't work well since 3G-capable phones require USIM explicitly).
As for contacts backup, it's a bad idea. USIM contacts storage is extremely limited. You can only store something like 16 characters for contact names, and one single phone number for each contact. SIM memory is also limited; usually you can fit up to 250 contacts with 150 being the average limit.
Note that SIM contact storage can be disabled on the SIM card itself. I wouldn't be surprised if VZW's Vodafone NL USIM cards come with on-SIM storage disabled.
I hope this answers most of your questions.

No it doesn't really help...
See, I accidentally threw away/misplaced my SIM chip. Now when I simply even click on contacts it just doesn't work... literally nothing happens.
I do have a Google account configured but if I choose to import contacts or save them to Google it seems that EVERY single email address I've replied to, or written to shows up in the contacts list.
How can I configure Google to simply store ONLY phone numbers and not every single email address/phone number that I've emailed or texted?
Seriously it's sick that when I sync contacts my list is filled with like thousands of addresses and numbers.
Perhaps I'm doing it wrong??
Thanks!

Well, you don't really need to import anything.
Open https://google.com/contacts in any browser you like (f.ex. on your desktop PC) and check My Contacts there. That's what Android syncs.

Related

Dual number Sim card

I am about to get a dual number Sim card for my phone, that is two phone numbers on one sim card simultaneously.
Now I know my really really old Motorola phone from 4 years ago had a simple function that translated the two numbers into "line 1" and "line 2" with ability to set different ringtones, etc for incoming calls and switching easily to make outgoing calls.
Does anyone know how this works on a Windows Mobile device? What kind of functionality does it provide?
I am running a Herald with WM6.
I would be interested too. I have a 8525 Cingy.
Phony-- Where did you get the Dual Line SIM? What carrier are you with? Will they activate more than 1 line on same SIM number?
DaddyGoFast, I am in China with China mobile but most carriers these days will provide you wih two numbers on one sim card if you just ask. Just call your service number.
There are other utilities you can buy that allow you to have multiple carriers or numbers on one sim card but those require that you switch by cycling power or using a piece of software, so in reality you can only use one number at a time.
A phone with 1 gsm module can handle only 1 sim card.
vlodeck said:
A phone with 1 gsm module can handle only 1 sim card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We are only talking about 1 sim card here...
Sorry, misread the thread.
any updates on a two number sim card in a WinMo phone?

[Q] UK Nexus S - Using in Spain with Spanish SIM

Hi guys,
I have 2 x Nexus S SIM free mobiles which I bought from Car Phone Warehouse in the UK, which we are using now in Spain.
Both handsets have SIM's for the Simyo network (Which is basically Orange's network).
Even though both handsets are unlocked to all networks, I constantly have the roaming icon showing, and I have to enable roaming and data roaming to have coverage.
Now I know beyond any doubt the handsets are NOT roaming.
Has anyone encountered this bug in the Nexus S please, it is really annoying.
Regards
not a bug, simyo has its own network code, which is different from orange's. Therefore, when you use orange's network, it's roaming. Simyo and orange have a roaming agreement, just like yoigo and movistar.
For now, you'll have to enable data roaming for data to work. (there was a discussion somewhere about not labeling it roaming when the country code is the same, which is the case for most of MVNOs)
spamlucal said:
not a bug, simyo has its own network code, which is different from orange's. Therefore, when you use orange's network, it's roaming. Simyo and orange have a roaming agreement, just like yoigo and movistar.
For now, you'll have to enable data roaming for data to work. (there was a discussion somewhere about not labeling it roaming when the country code is the same, which is the case for most of MVNOs)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that info. My misses is saying she tried a mates Orange SIM and that it did not show roaming.
However, we also both had Nexus One's, which we purchased here in Spain. Did not get the roaming icon when using the Simyo cards on those...
It is bloody annoying, as we also loose connectivity sometimes and keep having to re-enter the passwords to our google accounts :-\
Regards
kuntstubble said:
It is bloody annoying, as we also loose connectivity sometimes and keep having to re-enter the passwords to our google accounts :-\
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, you can fix that!
simyo uses dual sim cards (sims with 2 numbers), to make their roaming agreements easier to manage internationally. When you go abroad, it switches from the spanish number to a netherlands one, i believe (though you don't notice it), just like if you changed the sim card.
The thing is, the switch is made when the sim card detects no service for a while. Problem is, that can happen when you lose signal for a while (underground parking, metro, etc...) And what happens when you change your sim card on an android device? yes, you lose google login.
Solution is to lock the sim card to use the spanish number always. You need a phone with STK app (sim menus), and you need to go to Servicio Simyo -> servicio roaming -> seleccion de red -> Seleccion manual -> Nacional. All nokias can access this menu, for example, but stock nexus doesn't have a stk app.
After changing that, hopefully you won't see the login error again. And about the nexus one: it must use a slightly different method to determine roaming, something I don't really know too well.
Woo, OK thank you for the info. Never knew about the dual number thing. Interesting...
This STK stuff, you know of any app for Android mate?
Regards
Hi, just to confirm, I did manage to fix the SIM issue, I borrowed a mates Nokia 1200 and as you said, I entered the STK menu and switch it to Nacional.
MANY THANKS!!

How does a single-SIM MVNO on mulitiple networks work?

So if you get straight talk, you have to select from 4 SIM cards to pop in, and that activates your phone on that particular network... I get that. Lately, however, I've seen multi-network MVNOs arise (like Defense Mobile, ROK Mobile) that only use one SIM card. How does a single sim card authenticate between several carriers? How does a single sim multi-network MVNO handle that extra step Verizon usually requires of authenticating the individual phone's IMEI with it?
Please help me understand.
Thank you.

telephone number displayed in SIM properties - read from contacts stored on SIM

Hi,
I have a dual sim phone (AOSP 7.1.1 based Vernee Thor) and I have a small issue with my SIM cards. It is more or less just a cosmetical issue and not a functional one ... nevertheless annoying and probably of interest for more then just me, since it is related to a generic issue with SIM cards.
I have 2 sim cards from different providers. For SIM1 the number is not displayed unter SIM1 properties. SIM2 has a different provider, it displays the number under SIM2 properties. As far as I have invented so far the number has to be stored in SIM contact's entry #1 to be displayed, so this is missing for SIM1. Unfortunately I have not found any technical solution how to add/delete/change entries on SIM's contacts. The SIM toolkit app for the Dual SIM phone will not even display the contacts of the SIMs, the standard google contacts app can only export the SIM entries to a file, but can't import it. MyPhoneExplorer will not fix it. Also playstore apps can't deal with this issue - or at least I havn't found one.
I have found solution attempts that rely on old iPhone3 or old 3G mobiles (e.g. Nokia, Ericsson, Sony, ...), but this is all not based on Android and I do not have either an old iPhone3 nor any of those old 3G mobiles..
Is there someone around who has a solution how to get this issue fixed? Thanks a lot in advance!

Need help determining if the carrier is being untruthful

Hi there, I need help determining if I was screwed by the carrier. Here's the story (keep in mind I'm in a third-world country where law is more of a concept than a reality):
A few days ago my carrier started calling me incessantly and leaving messages. Being a disabled person, I was not able to answer the calls or listen to the messages. A few days passed and suddenly, the phone service has stopped. This is a dual-sim card phone (OnePlusX) and the second sim card/phone service still functions. The phone also detects the sim card and able to read info from it (such as the phone number associated with the non-functional sim card). The web site still lists my service as active but towers refuse to provide network. When I contacted the phone company, they insist the problem is with the sim card, that it suddenly has stopped working - or the phone did. In either case, they demand that me, blind, immobile disabled person show up at their office to get a sim card replacement.
I feel that the company has illegally disabled the sim card access to their network - that's exactly what the phone say, when I enable the sim-card, that the network is inaccessible. I did try the sim card with another phone with the same results (no tower access and yet the second phone can see the phone number on the sim card) although there's a caveat - law in my country requires registering phone IMEI with the sim card, i.e. that sim card can't be used in any other phone (or even the different slot in the same phone, tried that too, btw).
Anyways, I strongly suspect that the company representatives that tried to contact me shortly before the service was cut were trying to sell me something and when I was not able to answer, they took it as a personal affront and retaliated by disabling my service by refusing access to the network to make me walk back to the office. Either that, or they decided that I'm dead since I'm registered as a disabled person with them to qualify for a special service plan that I barely use anyways. Either way, they probably broken a law or two and now, when I try to make them re-enable my service, they refuse to do so without forcing me to walk into the office and pay for sim card replacement.
My question is: are my suspicions have any real foundations? The problem is, if the sim card was indeed faulty, why would they start calling me prior to it dying, and why would it still communicate the information such as phone number to the phone if it was faulty? I can't even listen to those messages now since the access to them is gone with the service. Any suggestion or additional hints on what I can do to prove or disprove my theory are welcome.

Categories

Resources