AT&T SIM Card Locked

Jenny was facing a major catastrophe. She had just got a new phone and she excitedly inserted the SIM in the phone. She switched on the phone and to her horror found out her AT&T SIM was locked. She was absolutely zapped and did not know what to do. Then she regained her composure and started thinking logically. Eventually she found out how to unlock the SIM and was relieved after the ordeal was over.

Been there done that? I am sure you have! What did you do in that scenario? Well, I tried to find out what is this deal with a blocked SIM card in cell phones and here are a few very interesting things about it!

Locked Sim Card or Locked Phone - What is it?

Before we know how to unlock a SIM card, we need to understand what exactly is a SIM lock and why is this facility built in GSM phones. So primarily, network providers make use of this facility to relegate the usage of phones to specific countries and network providers. They do that to ensure cell phone safety primarily. Normally what happens is that phones can be locked to accept SIM cards based on International Mobile Subscriber Identity and nothing else. This includes mobile country code, mobile network code and mobile station identification number.

Well, now that we have a fair idea of what this SIM locking is all about, you would obviously want to know what to do in case the SIM gets locked? Here is how you can do that.

How to Unlock an AT&T SIM?

Follow these simple steps:

When the PUK Code is Required

• The first thing you need to do is to log onto your wireless account on the AT&T website.
• After you have logged on go to the phone or device section.
• Then you see the link saying "unblock SIM card". Once you are done with that, you get a PUK code. It will be an 8 digit PUK code, which will act as the key against AT&T SIM card lock code.
• On your phone enter the 8-digit PUK code and then press YES or OK.
• Follow that by selecting a new pin code and then say okay or yes.
• You would be instructed to enter the new code again, so give that new pin code again and press enter.
• The phone would set to be used if these instructions are properly followed.

A very important thing to be kept in mind while fidgeting with these codes is that if you enter wrong codes for more than 10 times or in some cases thrice, your SIM would be locked and blocked once and for all. It would become mandatory then for you to buy a new SIM and you might need to know about activating the SIM.

This is the easiest and most basic way to deal with locked SIM. There is one more way.

Contacting the Network Provider

If you have phones with AT&T network, you can also avail of SIM and phone unlocking service through email. What one needs to do here is to email the IMEI number given on the cell phone to the manufacturing company. The company then processes this IMEI number and replies back with the unlock code and the allied instructions. Following these instructions to feed in the unlocking code will sort out your problem. This is useful in case the phone itself and you cannot reach till the locked SIM card.

This is normally a very safe and efficient way to tackle this locked SIM and phone problem but beware of the spammers and hackers. Make sure that the address you are emailing your details to, is authentic. Or else there can be a bit of a problem.

All in all, a locked SIM is not a very serious problem unless you enter the incorrect PUK code a dozen times! Just a bit of care and common sense and prevalence of logic will give you the key to these locked problems! Cheers!