As technical as it sounds, “Sim Not Provisioned” is a fairly common error reported since cellphones became widely used. And it looks like the error is not confined to what kind of unit you are using, as we’ll find more below.
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SIM Not Provisioned, in Layman’s Terms
It’s true: you don’t need a SIM card to use your smartphone.
But in order to call, text or browse the Internet using mobile data, you need a SIM card. This SIM card can come along with your phone when you buy it from a carrier or retail, although you can just get one independent of any phone.
The SIM card contains your phone number and allows the carrier to track your usage of their services.
SIM cards can be transferred from one unit to another as subscribers can keep their numbers for as long as they are able to. This leads us to one issue, the SIM not provisioned, occurring.
How to Deal With the Error
Technically speaking, the error has to do with the SIM card not being “read out” or “detected” by the phone. This results in loss of network service because no signal is transmitted to the phone.
The Sim not provisioned error can occur in many instances:
- when you transfer your old SIM card to a new phone.
- when you buy a new phone.
- when you move to another carrier using the same phone.
What you can initially do is to turn off the phone and take out the SIM card and insert it again. Make sure you have inserted it properly. Try also to tweak the network settings on your phone.
Your best bet is to call the carrier who owns the SIM card. They are the proper channel to ask about your SIM and resolve your issue at hand.