Convert Mini SIM in to Micro SIM for iPad 3G iPhone 4

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Convert Mini SIM in to Micro SIM for iPad 3G iPhone 4

21 April 2010 by Vinay 53 Comments

By now you all know that the iPad 3G + WiFi model require a micro SIM, and latest leaks from Gizmodo also suggests Apple may promote iPhone 4G/HD with a Micro SIM too. The advantages of the Micro SIM are in size. In fact measures only 12mm x 15mm against 15mm x 25mm Mini SIM. Apple has decided to adopt this new card type to save as much space as possible and operators are already adapting to provide this type of SIM.

In my country we don’t have any provider who supply Micro Sim cards at the moment, so i decided to move a step further and cut down Mini Sim to Micro Sim. It’s really easy as 1 2 3 micro-sim1

Let us clear the confusions of Sim, Mini Sim and Micro Sim. Sim cards we are using currently are called Mini Sim or second generation of Sim and Sim card we are talking about is micro SIM or third generation Sim. First generation Sim card was as big as credit cards that’s why second generation Sim are called Mini Sim.

Note / Warning :

1. Do it at your own risk and carefully because the chip is very delicate. It will be a bit harder to use the SIM so file the sim very delicately and try again and again.

2. The SIM you are using may differ in shape of the circuit from that used by us. Don’t worry about that and mind the circuitry gap.

3. Try with a useless SIM first.

Requirements :

A Mini SIM, Marker pen, Scale, Sharp cutter, File tool (Nail File) and some patience.

Instructions

The first step is to get a card that allows access to the UMTS network.
With a ruler / scale take measures to cut the SIM and mark with a pen. (12mm x 15mm)
Mark the cutting line with a cutter and then bend off from same line, the plastic SIM is soft enough that it can be cut with scissors.
Proceed to sharpen the edges of your new micro-SIM with File tool (Nail File). That’s it.

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53 Comments »

Mahesh said:

Nice tutorial!

# 21 April 2010 at 2:27 pm

neFos said:

nice…..

# 21 April 2010 at 3:19 pm

Varun said:

awesome job bro,
wud love 2 do dis..

# 21 April 2010 at 8:17 pm

Mayur said:

Awesome guide! Appreciate your hard work in this post.

# 21 April 2010 at 11:35 pm

maz said:

Gosh thank u brother. Have stay’d sleepless for over a week now wondering and thinking about how to solve the micro sim issue for my soon coming iPad 3G?
As I diden’t know it was just the plastic part as was smaller I worry it would be the chip itself. Gosh
Ps. I don’t stop be surprised how quick u guys find out those solutions. Cool. Thx again! Ds.

# 24 April 2010 at 10:07 am

Klnaveen said:

Cool. Just wondering whether the BSNL 3G chip will look for an IMEI number on the iPad in order to work?

# 26 April 2010 at 9:04 am

Tonku said:

Hi friends,
I am about to purchase an ipad 3G from USA, will it be able to work with BSNL 3G
Thanks for nice post

# 27 April 2010 at 12:30 am

Tonku said:

hi friends,
Will iPad from USA work in India, say with BSNL 3G
Thanks

# 27 April 2010 at 12:34 am

Vinay (author) said:

@Tonku Yes Micro Sim and Mini Sim both works on same frequencies.

# 27 April 2010 at 6:26 pm

Robert said:

Nevermind BSNL what about working for T-Mobile (VoiceStream) or WIND Canada’s AWS Band IV W-CDMA 1700/2100??? Since that’s where it’d make the most impact

# 28 April 2010 at 8:01 am

Fouad said:

Hi . nice tout.

I just want to know did any one try to make it i mean does it work

# 30 April 2010 at 10:24 pm

Arpin said:

A brilliant thought for everyone and i think it will be useful for everyone, thanks and bravo

# 3 May 2010 at 10:37 pm

oscar said:

very nicely made – i did it and it worked out fine. also i bought in addition a microsim-adapter. therfor i can switch the micro-sim back to me iphone.

# 4 May 2010 at 11:42 am

luis said:

really nice!!! i did this and it worked great!!(IPAD) great info man!!! thanks!!

# 5 May 2010 at 4:25 am

Dhaffer said:

I have followed the clear instructions and fixed a chip on my ipad 3G…its in great working order!
thank you.

# 5 May 2010 at 4:56 am

shashwat said:

nice job bro..m getting my 3g in a few days…
i was just wondering which card are u using exactly in this picture….
bsnl data card…?

i was able to read prepaid..
so did u use a 3g card or a 2g card here?

thnx for reading!!

# 8 May 2010 at 8:43 pm

Vinay (author) said:

@Shashwat yup it’s a BSNL 3G sim card

# 8 May 2010 at 8:48 pm

sidharth said:

so if i cut the bsnl 3G sim and put it into an ipad 3G, will the 3G work properly in india?

# 11 May 2010 at 1:45 am

raja said:

WOW, It works wonderfully! Thanks for your guide. I got a net speed of 1.2 Mbps with BSNL 3G supported

# 12 May 2010 at 11:08 pm

Arjun said:

Thanks for these instructions – I trimmed down my MTNL sim and i get a signal BUT only edge works when i turn on 3g i get a message saying “could not activate cellular data network ” and the same sim works on my iphone 3gs with full 3g speeds .

Anyone have afix ? any Mtnl customers here ?

# 18 May 2010 at 12:58 pm

Arjun said:

Oh and its jailbroken . and im using Cydia stuff like sb settings and backgrounder – would that make a difference?

# 18 May 2010 at 12:59 pm

Ravi said:

Thanks. It works great.

# 26 May 2010 at 3:49 pm

Sameer Badruddin said:

Thanx a lot, Man.
Got it successfully activated in Qatar on QTel Network.

# 7 June 2010 at 5:10 pm

Bradley said:

Guys, as far as I know, there is no need to buy two Ipad data plans! I heard there is a thing called micro sim adapter. Basically, u put ur microsim card inside it, and then u can use it in both Ipad and Iphone. I googlesearched it and found this site that sells it: gomicrosim . com They say it costs 4.5 EUR. They also seem to offer the sticker guide to cut the regular simcard into the microsim. According to my calculations it should save me 1440$, since now I have no need to buy another 2 years plan with AT&T.

# 7 June 2010 at 5:20 pm

Hemang said:

Hi mate I want to know can I use micro sim made from standard sim from voadafone and Airtel sim cards on Iphone 4 purchased from UK in India. I have found on some sites that Apple is going to launch sim free Iphone 4 in Uk.

# 24 June 2010 at 10:42 am

Vinay (author) said:

@Hemang yes iPhone 4 in UK is factory unlocked, go ahead and buy with confidence.

# 24 June 2010 at 7:12 pm

Tee said:

Great work. Tried this today on a Telstra NextG SIM and it worked a charm.
I did need to cut just a little of the end though to shorten it a touch.
I also use a nail file as it’s a little more gentle.

# 31 July 2010 at 6:31 am

Kanwal said:

i hav my iPhone4 on its way to india from usa and i ws worreid about the solution for microsim cz there is nothing lyk it in india can i use my bsnl sim to trim it and use it in my phone? i have read these posts but is it really true???????

# 2 August 2010 at 2:09 pm

Nick said:

This works great, no need for a SIM cutter…

# 3 August 2010 at 10:44 am

ASbindra said:

Will bsnl 3g sim work on i pad 3g

# 13 August 2010 at 12:22 am

Vinay (author) said:

@ASbindra yes BSNL works on iPad 3G

# 13 August 2010 at 8:46 am

Suraj said:

I just got a BSNL postpaid data card. Will this work on the iPad 3G?

Do i have to put any settings. Please note this is only a data card and there is no voice service on this card.

Appreciate your help.

# 13 August 2010 at 2:34 pm

rishank said:

awesome awesome !!!!!!! its working )))))) thnx a lot

# 17 August 2010 at 12:10 am

sunit thakur said:

hi, my i4 is on the way from canada. can i use my existing airtel sim in i4 by trimming the sim . can u clarrify all the dimenssions of the micro sim.

# 21 August 2010 at 3:46 pm

R.M.Joseph said:

It is a wonderful idea and grate treatment for big confusion

# 31 August 2010 at 10:28 am

jgl51 said:

I just cut my SIM card using a template and … it does not work! Iphone 4 says “No SIM” and I tried it with an adapter in my old phone and get the message “Inseet SIM”. Looks like I s….d up!

Is there a way to check the SIM card?
What can have gone wrong? I do not see any damage to the copper part?

Thanks

# 31 August 2010 at 10:50 am

timriley said:

@jgl51: are you using an older sim that worked in a 2G/3G iPhone? If so (ie. the older tmobile sim cards), you may need to get a newer sim card from your provider since older 2G simcards (at least on Tmobile-USA) have issues with working on the iPhone4 which is only compatible with newer simcards.

# 8 September 2010 at 9:17 am

Rishi said:

Hi…i just got my iphone 4 and i cut my airtel SIM using all the precautions and guidelines. but it doesnt work. iphone message says insert a valid SIM with no PIN locked. when i put the same cut SIM back in my blackberry it worked fine. what am i missing?
should i get a new airtel SIM and try again? this is frustrating!
Rishi

# 8 September 2010 at 4:48 pm

Suresh said:

Same here…used my existing Airtel SIM, trimmed the edges and inserted it..says “invalid sim”

# 14 September 2010 at 12:35 am

pawan said:

Hello,
I have also been having frustrating time with this micro SIM business on Iphone 4 and Airtel SIM card. Please Help. FYI i have followed all instructions for converting regular SIM to Micro Sim.

# 15 September 2010 at 4:49 pm

Jonny said:

hi everybody,
my friend from Hong Kong gave me Iphone4,he bought it with 3hk network in hong kong.right now i m in china,i tryed to cut my chinese sim card and it work fine with the iphone4.does iphone4 work also in europe?should be not locked because it work with chinese network.Please help me,i need to know if it will work or not.
many thanks

# 22 September 2010 at 11:54 am

international said:

Worked great. I had to trim down an AT&T and a Rogers card, but I had a micro sim to model off. Had to trim off the edge of the Rogers card to the point that I was into the copper bit, but the outer bit seems not to matter. AT&T were very unhelpful and borderline rude about providing support for an iPhone that they didn’t sell me. Thanks for giving us the tools to work around this problem!

# 23 September 2010 at 5:19 am

Lokesh said:

What a fantastic tutorial.

I followed the same and worked fantastic my BSNL 3G sim for IPAD

Thanks a lot

# 23 September 2010 at 5:44 pm

parin said:

I will be getting my iphone 4 at the end of the month. Would anyone be willing to do this for my 2 iphone’s and deliver the microsim?

if so, provide me your email and fee.

Thanks

Parin

# 6 October 2010 at 1:39 am

Mukund said:

Hi i wanted to know if can I use micro sim made from standard sim from voadafone and Airtel sim cards on Iphone 4 purchased from USA in India. Would the sim work??

# 11 October 2010 at 7:52 am

Vinay (author) said:

@Mukund you need to jailbreak and unlock first.

# 11 October 2010 at 3:46 pm

Roger said:

Hi guys,

I acquired a 02 sim card (unlimited data) from ebay which I converted to a MicroSim. All working fine until yesterday. I still have a good signal but the 3G is not working anymore (no internet).

Can an “unauthorized” sim be flagged by providers?
Can a software updates break the 3G? My last action was to install “Mywi” (no rock version).

Also iTunes has been asking to update “carriers information” which I haven’t done.

Hope to get some advice.

# 18 October 2010 at 6:20 pm

Anurag said:

iphone 4 s**ks !!

wtf they think and start microsim … or india is so outdated that a microsim is not available !!!!

# 7 January 2011 at 5:03 pm

Paul said:

You’re a genius mate! I didn’t follow your instructions exactly and managed to be careless with the blade and cut ever so slightly into the dreaded gold zone (instant respiratory failure). I got lucky and all contacts transferred but recommend being more careful then I was. Thank you for your time to post this as I was at a loss till now.

# 8 January 2011 at 4:45 pm