"SIM card rejected"
 

I got a Poste Mobile SIM last May in Montalcino.

Worked fine at CDG and in Stockholm, connecting to roaming networks there.

So I'm about to go to Austria tomorrow and I break out the SIM, which should not expire until this May.

Well as soon as I power up my Nokia E61i after installing the Poste Mobile SIM, I'm prompted for my PUK, which I've written down.

Then I'm prompted for a new PIN twice, as if I am changing my PIN.

I enter the PIN that I used before twice.

"SIM card rejected" is the error.

I power it off and then power it back on. It prompted me again for the PUK and the PIN (twice again).

Same error.

Now when I power it up, it just has the error, no prompting for the PUK or PIN.

Do I have to be in range of a network supported by the SIM?

Hoping in Europe I won't get this error, which is only happening because I'm still in California?

Can't recall if I ever tried it before at home.

The rejection message refers to some network, which rejects your phone's request to register, since it your SIM card not admitted for roaming on that network. So, yes, that's because you're not in reach of any network, your Poste SIM may roam in.

However that has nothing to do with your PIN/PUK-issue. Unless you've disabled the PIN-prompt you should always be asked for the PIN.

If you entered a false PUK ten times then your SIM card is useless... That's probably what happened... As to why it asked you for a PUK in the first place, you probably entered a wrong PIN three times...

Afaik, if the PUK was entered incorrectly ten times and so the SIM would be locked, it would say "SIM card blocked" or something similar. "rejection" seems network-related to me.

@wco81
After you switch on the phone and enter the PIN code, can you access the menu or does the message "SIM card rejected" appear immediately?
Have you tried to use the Poste SIM in another GSM phone?

I don't have another unlocked GSM phone.

And the first thing it asked for was the PUK, not the PIN.

AFAIK, I haven't entered the PUK 10 times. And my recollection is that every time I swap out this SIM, it's always prompted for some code. Not sure if it was the PUK though.

Can the carrier reset the SIM over the air?

If you have locked the SIM by incorrectly entering the PUK ten times, it's useless. Then it can't be reset OTA, since your phone will not even try to register to any network.

The code you're being asked after swapping SIMs is the security code of your phone, which should be 12345 for Nokias by default.

But again: When you switch on the your phone with the Poste SIM inside, which codes are you asked?
Can you access the menu or does the message "SIM card rejected" appear continiously?

I know I didn't enter it 10 times.

Had a similar problem with an Aldi SIM purchased in Berlin in 2006 too.

It kept asking me for the PUK and I hadn't wrote it down.

That's the thing which is frustrating about the prepaid SIMs. When I take them out after returning to the US and then try to use them again after several months, they keep prompting for the PUK the first time I power them up.

I can take my US T-Mobile prepaid SIM in and out and it never asks for the PUK or any PIN.

I was suppose to have 12 months of credits left and now, looks like I wasted another SIM for nothing.

No SIM will require you to enter the PUK unless the PIN was entered incorrectly for three times. Since you totally ignore my explanations and questions you seem to have a weakness in reading carefully and understanding, which I fear also caused your handling error resulting in blocked SIMs.

I must add that you can deactivate PIN on all SIMs if you tend to forget it!

I agree with inquisitor that you probably have messed thing up with how SIMs work, so make sure next time, the first thing you do when you get a new SIM, is to deactivate the PIN request!

I didn't deactivate the PIN request. Unless there's a way to do it through the phone, rather than through whatever the SIM displays and I can't read Italian.

But my point, to repeat, is that at least in the past week, after not using since June of last year, the first time I put it in and power it up, it prompted for the PUK, not the PIN.

After entering the PUK, it then prompted me for the PIN twice, as if I'm changing the PIN.

Then it returned the error.

And the numbers I entered were those which came with the SIM. I never changed the PIN.

Well, write here what the SIM is displaying and we translate it for you :beer:

wco81, did you register the sim on the Poste Web Portal?

PosteMobile , attention that's in italian.

Anyway you can try to write an email to info@postemobile.it , if you bought the simcard last May you can use it until Aprile (they have a validity = 11 months + 1).

PS: I had "simcard rejected" on locked phones too.

The PIN request is set via the phone menu, but the decision seems to be then stored on the SIM.

The language of the phone menu can be set to a manual choice or default to that of the SIM's country, if that is installed in the phone. So if you don't understand the phone menu in Italian, put a home SIM in and then select English rather than default

I suspect wco81 is mixing up phone security code with the SIM-specific PUK.

Like most phones Nokias have an option to lock the phone for alien SIM cards. If this option is enabled and you swap SIM cards, the phone will always ask for a security code, which is 12345 for Nokias by default.
Some phones remember those SIM cards, for which the phone was unlocked by entering the security code. Others will always ask for the security code, except for the case the original SIM card is used, which was inside the phone, when the lock-option for alien SIMs was enabled.
If you enter that security code incorrectly a couple of times, the phone will reject that certain SIM card forever unless you disable the lock-option.

Anyway, I haven't seen any SIM card that required entering the PUK before the PIN, unless you've incorrectly entered the PIN for three times.

Since wco81 still doesn't disclose, how his phone reacts (especially if the menu is displayed and accessible) after switching it on with the Poste SIM inside, we won't find out, if the SIM or the phone is locked or if the SIM is just refused by some Californian network, to which it is not admitted to for roaming.

I did not register. Didn't realize if that was required.

It definitely said PUK, and then it prompted for PIN. I guess I will take photos since you think I'm illiterate or something.

But now, it only says SIM Card rejected, even if I remove the battery and SIM and reinsert.

I'm currently in Salzburg, Austria. I would think that SIM has roaming agreements with carriers here. But it is still SIM Card rejected.

I did email Poste Mobile. No response.

I am due to go to Rome in early April, so I guess I could try to get help then but it's postal employees so probably not going to happen. Bought a 10 Euro top-up card which I haven't used yet either.

Oh well.

Honestly, I think a lot of people just roam internationally and keep local calls to a minimum. It's expensive but burning this SIM is probably going to end up more costly.

You can change the simcard in Rome, same number and same balance.

PIN request an be deactivated through the phone menu.
As we all are trying to explain to you, somone sometime between June and now has powered up the phone and entered a false PIN three times, that's why it asks you for the PUK!

When a phone asks for the PUK then it asks for a new PIN twice. After you enter the PUK code and then the new PIN twice, provided that the PUK code you entered is correct, the phone will connect to the network and the new PIN will be registered with the SIM. If you entered a false PUK number, the phone will still ask for a new PIN twice, and then it will inform you that the PUK you entered is invalid, and it will remain locked, until you find the correct PUK! If you repeat this procedure 10 times with a false PUK, the SIM card will be destroyed and rendered unusable for ever!

That's it! There is no mysterious reason why it asks you for a PUK and twice for a new PIN, it's because you or somebody else entered a false PIN three times! After the PIN is locked (entered wrong three times) then you can only unlock the phone using the correct PUK!!!
If you don't find the correct PUK of the card stop entering false PUK codes because after ten tries it will eventually render the SIM card useless!!!

The PIN you enter twice after the PUK code, can be any number with 4 to 8 digits of your choice and will be the new PIN if and when you enter the correct PUK!
Even if you think you enter the correct PUK, if you get an error message, this means IT IS NOT the correct PUK so stop entering it and try to find the correct one!

Don't mess up PIN and PUK with PIN2 and PUK2 (these are different codes which you'll never need normally)!

Finally, make sure that after entering the PUK you enter the SAME new PIN code in both prompts, if the two PIN codes entered don't match the phone won't even check if the PUK code is correct, such tries do not count towards the 10 tries limit!

I hope I made it clear for you! After reading this above information carefully, feel free to ask anything you want!

I do suspect though that you already entered a false PUK ten times so that's why it says SIM rejected every time you power up (although beforehand it asked for a PUK)! It means the SIM card is useless, so go to a dealer of your mobile phone company and just ask for a new SIM card with the same number and the same balance (although you might have to prove you're the owner of the number and also pay a fee for the new SIM card).

No.

After my experience with the Aldi SIM where I didn't note the PUK, I was CERTAIN that the first thing I saved was the PUK and the PIN.

In fact, I believe I still have the printout of the numbers that the Poste clerk gave me when she registered my SIM purchase. I saved that number in my laptop as well as the phone number (which isn't always apparent in the various menus).

Now, thinking about it, the one possibility is that my Nokia, which has a QWERTY keypad, uses a modifier key to change some of the letter keys to numbers.

Maybe I didn't consistently hold down that modifier key (and it doesn't display in the PUK or PIN prompt fields which characters you're entering).

But the other thing is, usually the phone will know when the input is numeric, you don't need to hold the modifier key down. Like when you're dialing a phone number.

And no, I only got a PUK, no PUK2.

On a related note, I recently got a company-paid iPhone with international voice roaming from AT&T.

It's constantly searching for networks. It finds Orange AT (the main roaming partner), T-Mobile AT, E-Plus and a few others. But it doesn't lock them in permanently.

For instance, last night, no problem locking in Orange in my hotel room. This afternoon, it can't do it.

It has to be the iPhone. Nokias have a better reputation for reception.

Even if the iPhone was unlocked, it's value as a traveling phone seems limited, unless there are carriers offering combination voice and data plans for short-term, prepaid use.

For instance, I got a voice mail but I can't check it because it requires data. Tried checking it but it says it can't complete international call.

I did get a text from the US though.

Yeah I just received emails from Poste Mobile, one in Italian and this one:

Nice to know I don't have to pay for another SIM.

OK, in Rome and finally got to a post office which is open (BTW, Google Maps points out more post offices than actually exist).

First one, at Termini, said I had an invalid CF (well I did generate the original online).

So I went to another post office and they exchanged my SIM with balance and same phone number (I think).

Yet I put it in, enter the PIN (scratched off the card the SIM came in). Now, it keeps telling me "SIM card registration failed."

Maybe it takes awhile for the SIM which they gave me to register on their network? They scan the bar code of the package the SIM came in. I'm trying this about 30 minutes after they scanned it.

They even showed my number had almost 13 Euro of credit on it.

Waiting for postal services is brutal. If I'd known that, I'd probably would have gone with TIM or Vodaphone, even though the PosteMobile seemed to offer the best value.

It sure sounds to me like a phone issue. Beg, borrow or steal a phone you can try your SIM in and see what happens.

I haven't really tried to address the problem I was having until this afternoon.

While waiting at the post office in Capri, I removed the SIM, reinstalled it and voila, I'm on the network.

So "SIM Card registration failed" is a real strange message.

Postmobile special numbers?
 

So the post office gave me a new Postemobile SIM to replace the one I'd bought last May (as detailed in various other threads).

One thing that I'd done with the old SIM was to copy addresses and so it added things like Guarda Finanzia to my address book. I think also the Polizia too IIRC.

It also added "Check Balance" and "Credito Residuo." The former is #999# and I remember using that last year to get my balance (but not necessarily my expiration). It would SMS the balance.

Now, with this new SIM, when I try that number, my Nokia E61i reports "Request not completed."

The Credito Residuo is a 6-digit number without # or * characters and my Nokia says something like SMS request forwarded and it gets to a recorded message.

Someone also mentioned 4242 for some other Italian carriers to change language. Is that a standard thing? I tried it and it didn't do anything.

Also, is there a special number for entering a top-up card number?

Or for checking when your credit and SIM expires?

This PDF manual shows some menu items which may save the special numbers but I didn't copy over any contacts from this new SIM. But it doesn't list the special numbers themselves that I can see.

http://www.postemobile.it/PosteCusto...0uso%20SIM.pdf

When this new SIM first registered with the network, it said something about configuring MMS and it wanted to send an SMS in order to do it.

Maybe I need to copy the contacts from this new SIM because the previous contacts for special numbers like "Check Balance" and "Credito Residuo" are no longer valid?

I don't have a Poste Mobile simcard so I don't know the special numbers. Anyway, 4242 is the toll-free number to recharge, check balance and do some other things with a WIND card, so it's quite obvious it doesn't work with different operators.
To refill a PosteMobile card they say to call 435243 or the call centre at 803.160 and then press 4. Both are free.
You should have a sim menu on your PM card, on the E61i you can find it probably at the end of your menu. Click there and you should already have the options for credit check, refill, etc... You don't have to copy anything.

OK, found it, Credito Telefono, and it worked.

Now, should I be able to recharge from the US or better to do it before leaving Italy?

You cannot recharge from the US AFAIK, you have to do it in Italy.

I've kept the Poste Mobile SIM in my phone here in the US. It uses the AT&T network, which is the bigger of the two GSM networks in the country.

Today I got a text:

Google translation wasn't the best but I gather it's saying recharge or the SIM will be de-activated within 30 days?

You have to fill up your credit or to use at least one paying sim (Semplifica) service within 30 days to keep you sim alive.

Any ideas what those are? I see some MMS services for getting football scores at 30 Euro cents per message.

Would those qualify?

But it appears I have to somehow configure the phone to accept those MMS:

Hmm, looks like this page has info on their Semplifica services:

PosteMobile

Sounds like linking your prepaid account to the bank accounts that you can open at post offices?

The "Semplifica" services are no use if you don't have a Bancoposta bank account or a Postepay prepaid VISA credit card. The only way to keep the sim alive is to recharge it. And you have to do it in Italy.

OK, thanks.

Hmm, no way to do it online or anything?

Some of the things on the SIM prompt for a Codice POP. Any ideas on that?

I exchanged some texts with my other phone with a US SIM. The credits never changed.

But I did get a Calcio SMS alert, stuff about the trade of Ibrahimovic for Eto. That did take 30 Euro cents off my total.

Oh well, I guess I should use up my remaining credit since I'm not going to be in Italy within the next 30 days.

I do have a 10 Euro recharge card but I guess I'll save it.