Cut a standard SIM down to iPhone 4/iPad size
I just got off the phone with Victor Agreda, a call I made on my iPhone 4 using a third-party rebranded AT&T SIM. As you can see from the screen shot above, I wasn't using a standard iPhone SIM. Instead, I placed my call via a $10 Best Buy SIM, which displays as O2 in the US.
How did that happen? After all, a standard SIM doesn't fit in the iPhone 4. I used a Noosy SIM cutter provided by MicroSIMCutter to resize the card to microSIM proportions.
As you can see, I did achieve success with the cutdown SIM -- but things did not go entirely perfectly. The cutter works with a pre-measured slot. You slide your normal SIM into place and then squeeze the cutter to pop out the micro-sized version. That went flawlessly. But the newly cut version of the card itself was just ever so slightly too big.
I ended up having to trim it down a smidgeon at the bottom with scissors, a process that made me quite nervous -- and all I had at stake was a $10 SIM card. You might feel differently if you were cutting down your day-to-day SIM with an expensive data plan on it.
After testing it in the iPhone 4, I needed to return it to my 3GS. The review version of the cutter was shipped with 2 adapters, similar to the microSIM adapters I tried out a few weeks ago. Although initially it did not fit the adapter, my scissor trimming allowed it to snap in -- just as it did with the iPhone 4 holder.
All in all, I found the cutter easy to use and hard to mess up. My only concern is the slightly-too-long template that needed a little shortening, but that seemed to work out well in the end. The cutter costs $30 and can be ordered from the MicroSIMCutter website. It can be a great solution for anyone who buys a phone off-contract and wants to add AT&T service, who wants to transfer data service from an older phone to an iPad, or who wants to share a SIM among several devices.
The use cases are, admittedly, a little obscure but if you need this option in your life, it's nice to know that a simple solution is out there that can be easily used even by klutzes like myself.
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Source: http://www.microsimcutter.com/
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I just got off the phone with Victor Agreda, a call I made on my iPhone 4 using a third-party rebranded AT&T SIM. As you can see from...
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Is there any way to use a different SIM to use an iphone w/o a data plan? I bought a go phone, re-reg'd my contract with AT&T using that phone, put in that SIM in my iphone and it worked fine. I turned off data use thinking AT&T wouldn't tell the difference...but got a msg 3-4 weeks later from AT&T basically saying that the 'see' the iphone and are adding the data plan back. Thanks for any suggestions.
(For those who wonder why I'd not want the dataplan...its not an issue of cost...it's a desire to not be constantly connected and have the temptation/distraction to check email, facebook, etc. Yes, I have free will, but drugs are addictive.)
So an overpriced product that doesn't really work.
July 19 2010 at 11:02 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyJust FYI using a carving knife (or similar) this can be done for free in about 2 minutes. The first time took me about 10 minutes, the second time I did a SIM to Mini SIM mod it took under 2 to do the cutting and under 10 mins from unboxing the SIM to using my iPad with the SIM installed.
I don't think buying a tool for this is worth it as it is a pretty simple procedure.
http://chris.gg/tag/mini-sim/ Has instructions and a PDF template.
For all those that had the question. The reason this works without unlocking the phone is that the O2 card is a rebranded AT&T card. Since your still technically on AT&T the card works fine. To do this with a T-Mobile card a unlock would be required. (I believe Go-Phone cards work just fine in iPhones too)
Note this doesn't work with 1st gen iPhones just 3G,3GS and 4.
any reason why this doesn't work on 1st gen?
July 19 2010 at 9:34 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI have an unlocked, out-of-contract iPhone 3G, and I'd like to get a U.S. prepaid data plan to use with it without resorting to something like a MiFi. I don't care about voice, as I happily use a featurephone for that.
Can anyone suggest such a plan? I'd love to have something like the AT&T iPad plan but I don't see any way to purchase that separately. 250MB/mo would be fine, as I'd use it only occasionally.
Ok, was inspired to try this on my 3G and I am proof that it works.
I have an iPhone 3G that I let the contract expire because of lousy $$ management, but I just got the card, activated it online and sent texts to my best friend in San Francisco.
I opted for the Day plan where nights and weekends are unlimited. I will be adding $ tomorrow, but wanted to let people know that this works!!
And I have not unlocked anything. Nor have I jailbroken. Wheee!
Also, the prices for the Day plan are a hellva nicer that the retarded GoPhone's rates. F'n ouch.
I did this for my sons iPhone 4. He wasn't eligible for the upgrade so we ordered one for another phone I have on my account that was eligible, activated it, and then cut his sim card from his iPhone 3G down to size. Now he's up and running on his new iPhone 4. No problems.
Interesting. I am 'mother' to a 13 year old that has a cell phone for emergencies. Not a smart phone, just a basic thing that calls and texts only. Her phone line was eligible for an upgrade but my iphone would be until mid sept.
I just called ATT and gave them the 411 on things and they happily switched our eligibilities in the system. So I bought my iphone 4 at the lowest price and in Sept we'll go grab my niece the update of what she has now.
can you provide more info please? like specifically what sim did you buy at best buy? was it this one? http://www.tuaw.com/2010/07/16/cut-a-standard-sim-down-to-iphone-4-ipad-size/1#comments
I'm curious cause I thought this was not possible unless your phone was unlocked. And as far Is I know it's still not possible with the iphone 4.
opps. wrong link. I meant http://www.bestbuy.com/site/O2+Wireless+-+Universal+SIM+Card/9010474.p?skuId=9010474&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=9010474&ref=06&loc=01&id=1218011463039
July 17 2010 at 5:22 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyYes, that's the correct SIM. Same one I used to do this with.
July 17 2010 at 10:41 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replywait, there`s O2 in the US?
Google is an amazing thing...
July 17 2010 at 2:02 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyLIES LIES LIES
Everybody knows you can't make calls with an iPhone 4, CR said so....
If Erica said that she was able to make a phone call, I'll believe that some iP4s can make at least one phone call.
July 17 2010 at 11:14 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyDeals of the Day
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TUAW (or The Unofficial Apple Weblog) is a website devoted to tips, reviews, news, analysis and opinion on everything Apple.
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