I want to share with you a hard lesson learned…. a lesson that spoilt my Blackberry Torch Smartphone. Just because of a stuck SIM.
Never never forcibly pull out the SIM card – if it does not come out from the phone naturally, something is wrong. Take it to a shop where they fix handphone- they would dismantle and take out the SIM card carefully.
If you forcibly pull out, it will break the metal legs that hold the SIM card to your phone. This is a very painful lesson I’ve learned…. and I hope it would not happen to you.
My painful lesson:
All along I usually put the SIM in the coin section of my purse- to ensure I carry with me all the time. During my trip in October, I’ve bought a SIM that where the talk plan would have last till January 2013. So I kept the SIM for my trip again in December. I’ve placed the SIM in my purse together with my coins.
All along the coin section was where I’ve always placed my spare SIM. When I am overseas and use an overseas SIM, I would place my Malaysian SIM card in the coin holder. It was never an issue.
But this time, luck ran out on me. The movement friction from the coins could have caused the SIM to be partially disengaged. When I arrived to Thailand, I put in the Thai SIM card into my Blackberry SIM card holder- and noticed there was a network error. That time, my SIM card holder on my phone was still okay. Sometimes due to faulty SIM structure, it may get stuck on the SIM holder of your phone.
Then, somehow, the SIM got stuck on the SIM cardholder. When I went to a shop to check out their phone, the shopowner tried to pull the SIM card out but couldn’t. So he tried harder and used force. The SIM card came out with much difficulty. Perhaps few legs out of six were broken.
But when I arrive back to Malaysia and tried to insert my Malaysian SIM card, it still carry the message of “Insert SIM card”. The device did not recognize even when I had a SIM card inside. And then, when I tested it again with the Thai SIM card, it got stuck. Again with force, I pulled out the SIM and suddenly, the SIM cardholder become very loose. It no longer hold my SIM together.
I took back my BB to the shop- and the salesman was puzzled- so he took to his friend to take a look. His friend said, there are 6 small metal legs holding and connecting the SIM card to the phone. All of the 6 legs had been broken…
He doubt it would be covered under warranty but was still willing to help me to send back to the Blackberry repair center- there is none in Malaysia and the nearest was in Singapore.
About a week later, he called me to inform that the broken metal holders are not covered under warranty. If I want the center to fix it, it will cost about RM380. He wanted to ask his friend to fix it and it would only cost RM180 but unfortunately his friend did not have the spare part for that.
So, my Blackberry Torch can no longer be used to do push emails, download aps, call and send SMS- for the simple reason that the SIM (with contains the data and BIS plan) cannot be used anymore.
It’s sad, but perhaps meant to be. Or they say, whatever in our thoughts may manifest in reality. I had some regrets buying the Torch for a while because I am not a heavy mobile internet user and so I was really relunctant to have to pay the data and the BIS plan. Since I’ve bought it, I am really not happy about the BIS plan. If I had knew I had to pay extra each month, I would have gotten something else with a qwerty keypad.
Now, well, I don’t know what to say. At first, it’s kind of sad to spend over a thousand bucks of my hard earned money to buy the device only to have it spoilt through my own ignorance and carelessness in less than a year. My friends tried to console me…. it’s okay, perhaps it’s now a good time for you to get a Samsung Galaxy Note (most of them are Samsung/ iPhone and iPad users).
Well, I am tempted… but it’s not cheap (because if I ever do get another Smartphone, I would no longer compromise on quality. I would want the camera to be excellent and phone speed to be good…. with a physical qwerty keyboard because my fingers just cannot handle the touchscreen).
We’ll see. Torn between getting another one and reverting back to life before the Smartphone. When my Blackberry was in the store, I had initially missed holding it in my hands to snap photos while I am out and about…especially during the cheery mood of Christmas.
But on the other hand, I’ve also enjoyed the peace- there was no device to keep me occupied. I read books, relax by being conscious of my breathing and ‘be present’ when I am with those I cared about. With being more relaxed and centered, I feel less stressed up at work.
