Can A Sim Card Go Bad – Things You Need To Know

There are a couple of things that you need to worry about to ensure that your phone works just fine. Obviously you are going to want to charge it the right amount of time to make sure that you can use it throughout the day. You are probably going to also make sure that you paid your phone plan to ensure you’ll get coverage. Speaking about getting coverage, we have to talk about what’s actually going to get you coverage. That’s your SIM card. Can a SIM card go bad? The short answer is yes. What’s going to make a SIM card go bad though? Are there things that you can do to make sure you avoid this? How do you know that the issue is within the card itself? These are all topics that we want to cover! 

Can a SIM card that never gets out of the phone go bad? Yes, there are actually two main ways that a SIM card can go bad. The easy one that most people are going to be quick to recognize is when the card itself gets tampered with in some way. This is going to be an example for the old school readers that we have only, but here we go anyway. It’s like a CD that could get scratched and not work properly anymore. At the same time though, a SIM card could go bad even if you never take it out of the phone. There are a couple of reasons why this could take place.

• Can A SIM Card Go Bad – Without Ever Leaving Your Phone
• Can A SIM Card Go Bad – Outside The Phone
• Is There A Limited Amount Of Time That A SIM card Will Last?
• Can Getting An eSIM Help Avoid These Problems?
• Can You Update Your SIM Card? 
• The Phone Maybe The Problem 

Can A SIM Card Go Bad – Without Ever Leaving Your Phone

We could make the argument that if the SIM card never leaves the phone there is less of a chance of it going bad. Since, all of your risks are essentially going to be digital. Phones can get hacked and technically compromise the SIM card itself. Other than having the device itself get hacked some of the other issues that you could be facing involve drowning your phone. Even if the SIM card doesn’t leave the phone ever, if the phone finds the bottom of a pool there’s still a chance that the SIM card itself is going to get damaged.  

What we are seeing with more and more frequency as of late is a SIM card that’s gone obsolete. We can’t say that the card itself is necessarily damaged in any way. It’s just that the network has changed and therefore the SIM card that you have isn’t necessarily valid. Countries are discontinuing their 3G and 4G networks in some cases. That’s going to render a lot of SIM cards effectively invalid. Another thing that can happen is that you never put more money on a prepaid SIM card. By the time that you try to reactivate it, it’s effectively useless. Those are pretty much the dangers of a card that you keep in the phone. Without question keeping the card inside the phone is the best way to keep it safe. 

Can A SIM Card Go Bad – Outside The Phone

We already gave you the CD comparison. The reason why a SIM card inside a device is going to be “safer” is because it literally will have the device itself serve as a protection layer that is meant to keep the card inside safe. Of course, the entire purpose of the phone isn’t just to keep the SIM card safe. However, a lot of devices certainly do a good job of that. With certain phones even a hard fall that renders the cell phone itself useless may allow the SIM card to remain intact. It’s not just hard falls though that can make a SIM card go bad.

When a SIM card is outside of a phone dirt particles are going to be something to worry about. Obviously, breaking, or just denting the card can be a cause for it to go bad. Having said this, when answering, “Can a SIM card go bad”, it’s important to point out that not all superficial damage to the card is going to have the same effect. What we mean by that is, that cards can take more damage to the plastic areas than to the chip area itself. As we mentioned just some dust or even some scratches on the chip part itself could effectively render a SIM card useless.    

Is There A Limited Amount Of Time That A SIM card Will Last?

Technically yes, but the main problem is that you probably won’t have much clarity on when that expiration date is going to come when you buy the SIM card. The reason why we say that SIM cards do have an expiration date is because wireless service providers are eventually going to update their networks and the cards that granted access to a previous network may not work with the new network. Around the world there are wireless service providers that are already closing down their 3G and 4G networks to make way for the new generation of 5G, 6G networks and beyond. Old SIM cards are going to be useless after a couple of years. 

For the most part though, this isn’t necessarily something that you want to worry too much about. Unless you have kept the same card and just switched devices. When these expiration dates come you are likely going to have to get both a new SIM card and a new device to insert it into. Speaking of expiration dates, what you may want to worry about is the expiration dates that prepaid SIM cards have. If you don’t keep adding balance to your prepaid plan the SIM card can be deemed invalid after just a couple of months. We would have to consider that as one of the elements that can make a SIM card go bad.  

Can Getting An eSIM Help Avoid These Problems?

Without a doubt an eSIM is going to be able to help mitigate some of the problems that you can have with regular SIM cards. For one you are not going to have to worry about the damage on the card itself. Which is one of the main issues that can make a regular SIM card go bad. This doesn’t mean though that by getting an eSIM you can be 100% certain that all of your troubles are going to go away. There is still a possibility of getting hacked. Granted, if you stay away from sketchy sites, and equally sketchy internet connections you should be more or less ok. 

Also, in the event that an eSIM gets damaged for whatever reason you should be able to restore, or replace the connection with your regular network without going through too much trouble. Although a SIM card getting bad isn’t necessarily something that’s a major issue without a doubt getting an eSIM is going to help reduce the risk of anything bad happening. Particularly if you are worried about losing data because the SIM card went bad. An eSIM can be a great alternative. 

Can You Update Your SIM Card? 

There are a couple situations when you are going to want to update your SIM card. The first reason that we are going to go over is if you have a damaged SIM card with your active wireless service provider. Don’t throw the SIM card away just yet. Head over to a store near you and ask them if they can update your SIM card. You may or may not be charged for the service. This may depend on the type of plan that you’re on, or the insurance that you have on the phone. If you are on a prepaid plan you are probably going to get charged. If you change your phone and you need another type of SIM card you are also going to be able to update it. 

When you buy the phone directly from your service provider they are going to give you another SIM card virtually automatically. If you buy the phone from another company or you get an unlocked phone, probably make sure you make the switch when you still have the original SIM card. These days, they can transfer your number without recovering data from the original SIM card. However, different companies may have more restrictive policies with certain issues. The last thing that you want is to not be able to update your SIM card on a technicality. If you know that you’re going to switch phones, keep the original SIM card. As we mentioned there’s a chance that you may not need it. Still, there’s no great reason to add steps to the SIM switch process.  

The Phone Maybe The Problem 

If you have an older device there’s a good chance that problems with your service provider are going to start to pile up. You won’t be able to update some key apps to use your phone properly. Also, older phones are losing access to the most advanced networks. At this point in time older 4G generation phones have already lost access to the 5G network. If you’re in this type of situation you may not only need to update your SIM card. It may be a good idea to look into updating your phone as well. Before you go out and look for the cheapest phone on the market be sure to check out the compatibility issues that you may have. Limited access to a network may not be a SIM issue, but a phone issue.  

The type of plan that you are on can also limit the access and speed that you get from a network. For example, most of the top American wireless service providers had yet to grant access to their 5G networks to prepaid plan users. That may not necessarily qualify as a SIM card issue. It’s just that your plan has certain limitations. Can a SIM card go bad? Sure, that’s something that is entirely a possibility. You may want to check though what other elements could be affecting your service. Before you look into upgrading the SIM card itself. Wireless service providers are constantly updating their networks and old hardware is going to keep losing more and more access as time passes. Keep an eye on how old your phone is, as well as how old the SIM card is to make a decision about updating.   

Can A Sim Card Go Bad – Conclusion

Can a SIM card go bad? The answer is yes, as we’ve continuously mentioned. If you have a SIM card that you never take out of the phone the biggest issue that you could potentially come across is a compatibility situation. Where your old SIM card doesn’t grant you access to a new network. The other issues that you may come across involve potentially dropping your phone in water or something like this. When you remove a SIM card to be able to make a SIM switch when you travel abroad be sure to store the SIM card in a safe place. You want to avoid any spot where the card can pick up a ton of dust.    

If you want to avoid the possibility of a card going bad your best bet may be to go ahead and look into an eSIM. Even if an eSIM goes bad per se, it’s just an app. You can fix the situation digitally. Therefore, any problems that you may have are going to have a quicker fix for sure. We’ve talked about the differences between eSIM cards and regular SIMs. At the end of the day the reality is that eSIM technology is the future. Sooner or later we are all going to have them in our phones. Just like digital music replaced keeping CDs!