PSA: MicroSIM Adapters & Your Pre 3

[SimonLR]

I've seen a few threads concerning people yanking out SIM contact pins when using microSIM adapters. Here's the secret to using them - use a quality adapter.

It's the left-most adapter in this picture. The right one, and similar ones, are completely useless. The ONLY one I've used that has no problems, is this. I am in no way affiliated with them. I just test A LOT of phones and need a proper adapter. There are a ton of crap adapters that don't retain the SIM properly, it will fall out and you'll botch your device or have to completely disassemble it to remove it safely. The ones that require stickers or gravity to stay in, stay away from.

If you do get the adapter stuck on the contact fingers, don't pull on it. Lift up the metal SIM retaining housing and finagle the adapter out with some finesse. You'll bend the housing, but can flatten it later. I had this problem, I pried it up until there was enough space to fit needle-nose pliers in to remove the adapter.

Lastly, not relevant to the Pre 3, but do NOT use a microSIM adapter in ANY spring-loaded slots on ANY devices.

Maybe somebody can sticky this?

[OldSkoolVWLover]

<Thread Stuck>

This has happened to more people than I would like to see.

[DonnyDuck88]

How timely. I bought a Pre 3 on eBay for my son and just tried to set it up with him. YIKES ... an adapter is installed and was not coming out easily so I thought I would look on the forums. Have just asked the Seller to return it for a refund.

[TheLanguist]

Hey there!

Not sure anybody is still looking for a solution, however, i can prodive one.

Since my last phone was an iPhone 4, i cut my old SIM down to MicroSim size.
After switching to the Pre3 and Veer, i had a slight issue, which was fixed rather quickly.
Simply used an old Sim i once got for free, cut out the inner part with the contacts, and then put in my Sim. Worked flawlessly, though i recommend growing a nail or having your wife/mother doing this job. Afterwards, i replaced the outer plastic sim with a new one which was premade. Still works fine for me everyday. Cheers

[OfnPanad]

I had a microSIM with my iPhone 4S upgrade. I sold the phone but Vodafone UK messed up my service swaps so bad in the past I decided I couldn't be bothered to get them to swap it to a regular SIM to go back to my Pre3.

I kept the back off the Pre3 and started it up, holding the battery in with my hand. When I got to the "insert SIM" slideshow, I slid in my microSIM and made slight adjustments with the point of one of my penknife attachments until "vodafone UK" appeared in the corner. The sweet spot was around 1mm left of where I thought it would be. This was handy as enough of the microSIM was protruding into the cut out area of the metal shield to allow me to put some sticky tape over the area to hold it in place.

I intended this to be a temporary solution while I was waiting for an adapter to come from eBay however I have been using it fine for a while now so I don't think I'll bother with an adapter.

Hope this helps.

[mgbmusic]

Originally Posted by OfnPanad

I had a microSIM with my iPhone 4S upgrade. I sold the phone but Vodafone UK messed up my service swaps so bad in the past I decided I couldn't be bothered to get them to swap it to a regular SIM to go back to my Pre3.

I kept the back off the Pre3 and started it up, holding the battery in with my hand. When I got to the "insert SIM" slideshow, I slid in my microSIM and made slight adjustments with the point of one of my penknife attachments until "vodafone UK" appeared in the corner. The sweet spot was around 1mm left of where I thought it would be. This was handy as enough of the microSIM was protruding into the cut out area of the metal shield to allow me to put some sticky tape over the area to hold it in place.

I intended this to be a temporary solution while I was waiting for an adapter to come from eBay however I have been using it fine for a while now so I don't think I'll bother with an adapter.

Hope this helps.

This is just a complete theory, but I wonder if, in a pin gets caught, reinserting the adapter and slipping in a thin - something - maybe aluminum between the adapter and the pins might also allow you to get the adapter out w/o bending the pins, safely protected beneath the sheet? Again - just a theory...

--MGb

[kupfernigk]

Another option, which might be a little easier for people like me who have a surplus of thumbs, is to follow TheLanguists's excellent suggestion, but just shave a piece off the longer side of an old SIM card to pack the micro-sim correctly, and then superglue it into place. Then follow OfnPanad's method, but simply pushing the SIM against your packing piece before putting the battery in, as you now know it will be correctly aligned.
This only works if you will not be wanting to put it in a micro-SIM phone for a long while, but if you do, the supeglued piece can be removed.

[mdram]

Man sounds like it could be messy...kind of glad I can just walk into a Bell Canada store and get a replacement SIM of the size I need, usually for free or 5 bucks...

[redrum0036]

I used a noosy cutter to cut out a space in an old regular sim and used fingernail file to file down and clean it up. My iPhones micro sim fits nice and snug. I opted for the cutter because of issues with my hands but I think tracing an outline and using a thin blade like exactly knife would work.