new virgin SIM not valid nokia 1100

charb56

I have a nokia 1100(so very old) phone that has always been Virgin PAYG. I now give this to my elderly mother if I go out so she can call in an emergency, otherwise its not used. Virgin have sent out new updated SIM cards but the screen message says "SIM not valid" when inserted. it is totally impossible to get through to Virgin on the phone and the online chat was useless. on their forum several elderly people use these phones and are having the same problem with no clear answer. when the elderly are even more cut off and vulnerable during the COVID pandemic I think this is disgraceful.
any advice or tips on this or any success stories greatly appreciated

Jon_01

The 1100 has only 2 bands, 900/1800 MHz.  Virgin don't run on 900, so it 'could be' that the phones not switching to 1800 for some reason?
Maybe look in the settings and see if you can force it onto 1800 MHz???

PHK

There are a number of possibilities. It could be a SIM lock issue. (Not a straightforward SP lock)

It’s also probable that the Nokia 1100 will only work with an old 5V sim and not a modern 3V3 sim (basically the voltage changed). 

You also need to consider that the 1100 is long outside it’s design lifespan and will likely begin to show faults in the firmware. The sort of firmware chips used then had a design lifetime of 10 years)

Given the very low cost of a superior replacement. It’s not worth the hassle. 

eDicky

Put the old SIM back in and use it while you can, new SIMs are not usually compatible with older handsets.

Neil_Jones

charb56 said:

on their forum several elderly people use these phones and are having the same problem with no clear answer. when the elderly are even more cut off and vulnerable during the COVID pandemic I think this is disgraceful.

Not the provider's fault you're using technology that was brand new in 2003.  All technology has a useful life, and there will always come a point where the modern standards of something cannot be supported by ancient hardware.  At that point the phone will need replacing.  Similar phones are on Amazon for less than £20.  If you've had that Nokia from new, that's 17 years of use and I'd say you've had your money's worth out of it by now.

I'd say be a good offspring and splash out on a more modern phone for your parent.  Dumb phones are still available, just note that a lot of them are 2G only, so if you were to be on (say) Three, they don't have a 2G Network now.  Virgin still do AFAIK.

EssexExile

New phones from £2.99 at Carphone Warehouse.

charb56

ok I get all your points! but my little nokia has a lot of sentimental value for various reasons, especially as it was my first ever phone.

Neil_Jones

charb56 said:

ok I get all your points! but my little nokia has a lot of sentimental value for various reasons, especially as it was my first ever phone.

Sentimental value doesn't change the basic fact that its bordering on incompatible with today's standards - its not the sort of thing you can take into The Repair Shop in twenty years and have them "fix" it, because the mobile network in 2040 will be different from what it is today.  Your phone was made for the mobile network of 2003 and since you're only now having problems in 2020, 17 years later, they're only going to get worse. 

More practical example:  Lots of people had personal pagers in the 1980s but now they're all but obsolete, even one of those retro "living through the years" BBC Programmes (was it one of the Back in Time series?) had to effectively rebuild a small scale pager network for the purposes of the series.

nick74

charb56 said:

ok I get all your points! but my little nokia has a lot of sentimental value for various reasons, especially as it was my first ever phone.

Then you've done extremely well to get 17 years out of it. My first mobile phone was a 1995 Motorola on the Cellnet analogue network. By 2001 both Cellnet and Vodafone had totally switched off their UK analogue networks, rendering my phone a 'brick' and forcing me to upgrade to 2G!

liggerz87

you could buy the new banana phone or the new Nokia 3310

pumas

It's not  the OP's fault that Virgin are rolling out new Sims, without any informatiuon, or warnings of possible problems, of which Customer Services seem to be unaware.
Forewarned would have been forearmed. .
Unfortunately, once the new Sim is activated, the old Sim is useless and phone contacts etc. are are 'lost'.
Will Virgin compensate?