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Can I use this phone with a SIM card?

AlixnatorAlixnator
edited June 2017 in Hardware
Heloooo,

Story time first;

I have found a Nokia 232 phone from a second hand shop. No power supply included though I had a Nokia power supply for another one. I plugged it in and it turned on and works perfectly. I thought "Maybe it'd be cool if I could use this to text / call with for a day". So I took out the battery, but there wasn't any SIM card slot there.

Is it possible to use a SIM card or Micro SIM card with this 'ancient brick' I mean phone? Or is it just locked to a pre-loaded company straight from the factory / it needs analog towers to work? **Note: on the main menu, there doesn't seem to be any phone service modifications. And also when I'd type in numbers there was an icon that said "NO SVC" which is short for No service.**

Thanks :)

Comments

  • birdybirdy
    The phone is from the 1990's so that should give you an idea of what it uses as for communication. Yes it does rely on analog transmissions to work along with a service provider. I'm going to take a swing that you are willing to do some heavy mods to this phone to make it work with "todays network"... So here is an article that some one made an old phone into a new one... https://mods-n-hacks.gadgethacks.com/how-to/hack-20-year-old-brick-phone-into-digital-cell-you-can-text-0142842/ BTW.. There is no easy way to accomplish what you are asking for...
  • calvinbcalvinb
    It likely has SIM slot, but it'd be a full-size one. You know how the card trays the SIM is in from the carrier out of the box? That's actually the full-size SIM you'd see in the 90s.

    Of course, as birdy says, it's quite likely this is an analog phone and won't work anymore.
  • HorseBatteryStapleHorseBatteryStaple
    With phones of that era, it was somewhat common to have BOTH analog and digital service, however i am not sure. It may or may not be SIM card based, but try to find the maunal, that will anwser most of your
    questions, and many, many more.
  • yourepicfailureyourepicfailure
    The funny thing is that the two year older Nokia 1011 is a GSM phone, and could easily be used today.

    However, this nokia is an analog amps-type phone and as others stated, can't be easily used today.
    And I doubt the work required would be worth it.
  • AlixnatorAlixnator
    Okay, thank you so much to all the repliers, I will try to see if I can get a Nokia 1011 from eBay and yeah. Thanks again!

    :D
  • yourepicfailureyourepicfailure
    Just make sure your carrier uses GSM, and not CDMA.
    And I make no guarantees about full compatibility either.
  • AlixnatorAlixnator
    yourepicfailure wrote:
    Just make sure your carrier uses GSM, and not CDMA.
    And I make no guarantees about full compatibility either.

    Okie
  • calvinbcalvinb
    Some carriers will (and some have) shut down their 2G and even 3G cellular service, so they can repurpose the spectrum for LTE. This will cause those devices to no longer work. Sometimes, they might just sunset data services but keep voice and SMS working for low-coverage areas.
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