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Posts: 3025

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Q: A Techical question requiring a technical answer, pls.

I have  a friend who subscribes to China Telecom, thus have a SIM card for cell phones from them.  He bought a new cell phone, a NOKIA one.  Last night, while at his home for dinner, he tried installing his SIM card from his old phone into the new one.  But the NOKIA phone does not recognize the darn SIM card, it shows a message "there is no SIM card" when turned on.

I pulled mine out, gave him my China Mobile SIM card and it works on his perfecly.  And his China Telecom SIM card works on my phone without a hitch.  We tried my GF phone next (another NOKIA), and it did not work, she is with China Unicom.  In short, my frien's SIM card from China Telecom worked perfectly on every phone there except a NOKIA.  And SIM cards from other providers (China Mobile and China Unicom), do work with the NOKIA, so the cell phone is OK.

Does any one out there knows a technical reason for this ?.,  using simple eye SIM cards from all providers seem to be alike in physical dimensions.

Thanks, that is my puzzle for today,m maybe you can help me.

12 years 4 weeks ago in  Visa & Legalities - China

 
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Posts: 7204

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maybe the phone is locked
take to a phone shop and tell them to sort it out.
Ive had simular things happen in Aus and it cost me $30 to fix it
so in China it should be next to nothing

mattaya:

simular is the same as similar in Aus? I did not know that. I'm learning new ways to write English from different countries everyday. $_$

12 years 4 weeks ago
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philbravery:

yuk it up laughing boy now do somthing usefull and post some tech support on posting pictures on here

12 years 4 weeks ago
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Jíliú.hé:

copy paste it works for crome

12 years 4 weeks ago
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HugAPanda:

Mattayayaya, you silly monkey. Don't make me get on your ass again about your constant incorrect usage of your and you're; there, their and they're, and the other moronic things your babblings bring about. Glass houses, Michael Thomas, glass houses.

12 years 3 weeks ago
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12 years 4 weeks ago
 
Posts: 2587

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Each carrier in China uses different cell technology to transmit calls and data: China Mobile uses SCDMA,  China Unicom's network is WCDMA, and China Telecom is CDMA, each requiring a separate radio inside to handle the frequencies.  Many phones have all 3 radios inside.  Some only 1, and thus can only work with one carrier.  I bet that is your problem.  Your phone was designed to work with the SCDMA and WCDMA networks.  Like Phil said, it may be a simple matter of getting it unllocked.  But be prepared to switch carriers because some phones just won't operate across all 3 carriers.

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12 years 4 weeks ago
 
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As others have said, the problem is that it is probably locked to a specific provider.  Very common, especially if your friend bought the phone from the provider.

Just bring it to any non-provider phone store and they should be able to unlock it in a few minutes for a minimal charge.

On a side note, in S. Korea, no phones bought outside of S. Korea will work.  Each phone has an IEMA (I think that is what it is called) number and if it isn't registered with the S. Korean government, it just won't work.  Unlocking, rooting, etc. can't change the IEMA number.  Strange, but true.

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12 years 4 weeks ago
 
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I appreciate the asnwers.  Thanks to all.

It is not a question of being "locked". it was a brand new phone purhased at a phone store in Hong Kong, and it clearly says it bis unlocked, never being given to a provider to "lock".

I went to China Telecom and asked them using an interpreter.  They just told me that none of their SIM cards work with any NOKIA cell phone, buyt will not say why.  Maybe Xinyuren is correct with his reply of radio frequencies, otherwise remains a mistery.

Jnusb416:

I tried to look up an answer earlier, and the only thing I could find was about the frequencies, so that's probably why.

12 years 3 weeks ago
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12 years 3 weeks ago
 
Posts: 47

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Expat, I sometimes had this problem.

The Nolia may be constantly looking for a China Mobile sim or signal.

On some phones when going to network you can select China UCM, China Mobile or 'Automatic'. Check with your friend that he has it set to 'automatic' OR to China Unicom.

For me my old HTC Hero was with China Mobile, but I wanted 3G so got a Unicom sim, I had the same problem. Had to go oto the network/settings directory in settings and select China Unicom as the outlet for it to search for.

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12 years 3 weeks ago
 
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