[jmann]

I was talking to a blackberry support rep at Sprint/Nextel and he asked me about my sim card. When I told him it was from my old i205 he said I need to order a blackberry sim card. He said if I didn't it would damage the sim card or the phone itself. It puzzled me because the phone has worked fine for months. Any truth to what the rep said or not?

[e1nstein]

The person you spoke to does not know what they are talking about. SIM cards were made so that you could switch them out to another phone without having to program the new phone to work with your number. So I think you are safe to ignore what the person told you. All SIM's do is store your phone number, address book, security code to identify you on the network, and other data to get phone service from your carrier. Nextel doesn't even use SIM cards anyways, just Cingular and T-Mobile.

[crutcherk]

Nextel does use SIM cards for their devices.
~via BB (wap.pinstack.com)~

[srl7741]

I would like for cp6169 to answer this Q for us all (he would be the one to know).
However based on my experience with Nextel and SIM cards. The i205 SIM card could be switched in other phones such as the i860 or i930 and others but it's not recommended in the Blackberry device.
I was told the same as jmann and after leaving the store (with all my SIM cards) i went home and of course switched things around.

My 7100i worked for a minute or so and then it stopped and was it having the flue like symptons. I removed the SIM card taken from my i860 and put the 7100i card back in and of course it ran fine.

I think the SIM cards can be swapted from certain older phones but not with the Blackberry devices.

[cp6169]

Thanks srl, and to all others that helped the OP. Here is the deal, all Nextel sims cards can be put into any other Nextel and will connect fine, but...

There are 3 different sim cards, White 32k Condor, Yellow 64k Falcon and Black 128k Falcon.

A 32k Condor will hold 250 numbers and come with any phone that has 2 digits in the name, plus three exceptions, for example i30, i50, i60, i80, i90, i95 and i1000, i2000 and all BB's before the 7100i.

A 64k Falcon sim will hold 600 numbers and come in most 3 digit series phones. i205, i305, i530, i830, i860, and the BB 7100i.

A 128k Falcon sim is the newest of the Falcon sims, and hold 600 numbers and 20 groups, and come in all new Nextel phones. For example, i355, i560, i580, i605, i670, i760, i850, i870, i920, i930, and the hybrids.

Again, all sim cards can be swapped and will connect to service fine, but if you take a Falcon sim and put it into a Condor phone you will not be able to access your phonebook. That is the only proven fact. If you put a Condor sim into a Falcon phone then you may loose certain features, but not the important ones, phonebook, phone calls, direct connect, etc.

There are many other issues you may have, but vary from phone to phone. If you take a 128k sim and put it into a 32k phone then you will lose the mms and sms functionality. The 128k sims and a few 64k sims send mms and sms directly from the contact list, where all the rest of the phones send them from the net.

I have strayed away from the question so lets get to the point. If you have a 6510, 7510 or 7520 BB then you use the White 32k Condor sim, and that is the one you need to stay with. If you have a 7100i then you need to use a Yellow 64k Falcon sim, and that is the one you need to stay with. So, the sim from your i205 is yellow, and will work just fine in your BB. Once Nextel provisions your account with the correct sim then you should have no problems. As long as the color of the sim is the same that comes with your device you are ok.

But, and this is a small but, each sim card that comes in a phone is "tagged" with the type of phone it was created in, or for. So if you put your i205 sim in your BB, Nextel will always be able to tell, and will try to get on your about it. Here at my store we sell sim cards, so when someone comes in and wants a sim card for a BB 7100i we sell them a Yellow 64K, and doesnt have a tag, so those are the best to buy.

[williamlc21]

Maybe the BB rep also meant that you had to have a sim provisioned for bb service.

[cp6169]

Very good William, if the sim is not provisioned and you dont have the BB Data Plan then you will not be able to use the functionality of the BB.

[e1nstein]

~via BB (wap.pinstack.com)~
I didn't know Nextel was using SIM cards. When did they start that or have they always used SIMS?

[jmann]

I don't know if the sim is provisioned for bb but I do have bb data service. And it is a yellow 600 contacts sim. But it must be a different sim because nextel advertises the bb with unlimited contacts.

[rsubibi]

hello everyone one, i'm a newbie here. a friend of mine gave me an i930 with a 32K Boost Sim, unfortunately it doesn't allow me to use the direct connect (walkie) feature, which sim card should i get for it and where can i get one. any help would be appreciated. thanx

[cp6169]

Welcome to pinstack. The i930 needs a black 128k sim card, and can be purchased at your local service center. It also has to be activated with Nextel.

[paulb2006]

To further this convo, I have an i830 w/ the yellow sim. If I get a i7100 BB, I am understanding that the yellow will work. However, will the BB functions work? Perhaps to rephrase, what would be the negative side of switching the sim card?

[darkjediny]

Originally Posted by paulb2006

To further this convo, I have an i830 w/ the yellow sim. If I get a i7100 BB, I am understanding that the yellow will work. However, will the BB functions work? Perhaps to rephrase, what would be the negative side of switching the sim card?

I have the same situation, except I have a i730 with the yellow card. My friend gave me her 7100i bb phone. The phone works fine for calls, but I can't go on the 'net. Her old sim card is the same yellow card as well. I was told by the nextel rep I need a neww sim card for the bb as well as the bb plan. I am fine about the plan but I dont get why I need a new sim card. Or do I? I thought all they needed to do is update the system to reflect that I use the 7100i and get the bb plan.

[elrey718]

Originally Posted by jmann

I don't know if the sim is provisioned for bb but I do have bb data service. And it is a yellow 600 contacts sim. But it must be a different sim because nextel advertises the bb with unlimited contacts.

all your contacts for the bb is stored on teh bb itself. unlike the other nextel phones where the sim is where the numbers can be stored. they use a 32k sim for tht very reason. good luck

[cp6169]

You can take any yellow sim and put it into a phone that takes yellow sim cards as long as customer care provisions the card properly. Same with black and white sim cards. When you put one color sim card into a phone that doesnt take that color it can mess up services.