Why won't a Vodafone SIM work in an unlocked 3G phone?

cantalach

I've got an unlocked Sony-Ericsson 3G phone that was formerly on the 3 network in Australia. The unlocking definitely worked because I was able to successfully use the SIM from another Australian network after the procedure. That was almost a year ago and the phone's been in storage since due to a...logistical error. Now that I've finally retrieved the damned thing from storage, I pop in the Vodafone Ireland SIM from my 2G phone and things don't go so well. Everything appears to be fine initially in that it prompts for the start-up PIN, doesn't whinge about the phone being SIM-locked, etc. Problem is that it doesn't work and displays "No access to netw." across the top of the screen.

Is this because I need a USIM instead of a SIM? Aren't 3G phones supposed to fall back to a 2G mode in the presence of a 2G SIM? Also, there doesn't seem to be any mention of USIMs at all on vodafone.ie (a search for the term finds faic)? And in the part of the vodafone.ie store where you can buy a SIM without a phone, it doesn't say "will that be a SIM or USIM that you want there?" Can I just rock up to a Vodafone shop and ask to swap my SIM for a USIM?

120_Minutes

well it depends on how old your 2g voda sim is. if its very old then chances are it wont work and will need updating (voda shops will do a sim swap for free) if its new then i'm stumped as new voda sims are both 2g/3g.

nazoil

If your phone is set to only work on the 3G network and you're not in 3G coverage, then it wont register on network.

So is there a setting so phone works in dual mode, ie GSM as fall back where there's no 3G coverage?

Sam Vimes

cantalach wrote: »

Can I just rock up to a Vodafone shop and ask to swap my SIM for a USIM?

yes. do that. just ask for a replacement sim. make sure to copy your phone book to the new sim

cantalach

Thanks for the responses. I'm much further along the path now, even if I'm not quite there yet.

I went into the phone setting that lets you manually choose the network - the sort of thing you might want to do when roaming. I noticed that it was reporting two networks apiece for Vodafone and O2, one being GSM and the other 3G. It was defaulting to the Vodafone 3G network, which is probably what you'd expect with a Vodafone SIM in a 3G phone. So I changed the default to the other Vodafone network and it connected!

The whole point of the exercise however was to end up with a 3G phone. The SIM should be alright age-wise - it was bought in June of last year so it is fairly new. What I didn't mention before however (and in hindsight, probably should) is that my SIM is prepay rather than billed. Can Vodafone prepays not use the 3G network?

MiCr0

It should be fine with a prepay sim.
Have you a second sim you could test his with?

dub_skav

cantalach wrote: »

Thanks for the responses. I'm much further along the path now, even if I'm not quite there yet.

I went into the phone setting that lets you manually choose the network - the sort of thing you might want to do when roaming. I noticed that it was reporting two networks apiece for Vodafone and O2, one being GSM and the other 3G. It was defaulting to the Vodafone 3G network, which is probably what you'd expect with a Vodafone SIM in a 3G phone. So I changed the default to the other Vodafone network and it connected!

The whole point of the exercise however was to end up with a 3G phone. The SIM should be alright age-wise - it was bought in June of last year so it is fairly new. What I didn't mention before however (and in hindsight, probably should) is that my SIM is prepay rather than billed. Can Vodafone prepays not use the 3G network?

Are you sure it was defaulting to the VF ireland 3G network? It may have had VF Aus picked as manual network so when you went in and selected 2G manually it worked. Did you select VF Ireland 3G manually?

Most phones have network selection dual with operator selection auto.

maybe try those 2 settings now that you have it registered on the VF Ireland network

cantalach

dub_skav wrote: »

Are you sure it was defaulting to the VF ireland 3G network? It may have had VF Aus picked as manual network so when you went in and selected 2G manually it worked. Did you select VF Ireland 3G manually?

Most phones have network selection dual with operator selection auto.

maybe try those 2 settings now that you have it registered on the VF Ireland network

Manually selecting the Vodafone 3G network gets me the "No access to netw." message. If I manually select the Vodafone GSM network it works fine.

You were on to something in one sense though: my phone still had a preference for 3 in Australia, even though it was unlocked and had a Vodafone SIM. I had incorrectly assumed that it was the SIM that dictated the preference rather than the phone. I've now found the setting to change that and it allowed me choose the operator and then specify my network preference as 3G, GSM, or either. Whatever way I had the network preference though, it wouldn't connect to Vodafone 3G.

I'll try to borrow a SIM from somebody using a 3G phone this evening and see if that will work in my phone.

Thanks for the help.

towel401

my very first sim card from Eircell in '99 still works . even on 3g networks i think

can you put the phone into dual mode?

cantalach

towel401 wrote: »

my very first sim card from Eircell in '99 still works . even on 3g networks i think

can you put the phone into dual mode?

I don't know - what's dual mode? If you mean the mode whereby it will work with 3G if available, otherwise GSM, then it is already in that mode.

goodygoody2

Hiya,

Have you checked with Vodafone that your actual account has 3G enabled? Particularly with an older SIM you may need to ring customer care 1907 and get them to activate it on your account.

Best Regards,

GG

cantalach

goodygoody2 wrote: »

Hiya,

Have you checked with Vodafone that your actual account has 3G enabled? Particularly with an older SIM you may need to ring customer care 1907 and get them to activate it on your account.

Best Regards,

GG

Thanks, that did the trick! She texted me out some new settings to provision my phone properly for the Vodafone 3G network and, hey presto, everything's working now.