Do Vodafone 3G sims exist?

All four major UK networks have both 2G and 3G SIMs.

Before 3G networks were available, all SIMs were 2G. The advent of 3G technology meant that operators started issuing 3G SIMs, which also work on 2G networks.

Most (all?) operators have switched entirely over to 3G SIMs. But old stock remains, and not all customers have upgraded to a new SIM (there are 80 million SIMs in circulation in the UK). If you had a four-year-old Vodafone SIM, for example, you'd still need to "upgrade" to use 3G networks.

Some operators are happy to give you a 3G SIM, others (Orange, for example) require you to sign a new contract.

thats what i thoguht. Im sure this vodafone sim is years old, but she checked it and said it would work with 3g services..

will have to try it and see i suppose. If not ill have to buy a new one and change account over as they dont issue them free like o2.

All of my Vodafone SIMS have accessed 3G services when put in 3G compatible phones. It would take an extremely old sim card not to work. It is most likely the CS operator was correct, your SIM card would work once enabled on their system. No need to change.

excellent thank you.

O2 are very different my brother had a 2 year old sim and when he told them he was getting a 3g phone they cut him off and sent him a new 3g sim card which took 5 days to come through the post. He was without his telephone number during this time, even though the sim was free.

I've had the same SIM card ever since I joined Vodafone about 7 years ago and it works fine with 3G services.

Can you not tell O2 that your SIM card is damaged slightly (maybe the metal is peeling off or something) and you having trouble with it, they should just replace it.

its vodafone that dont change, o2 send them for free. Reading this though think the vodafone sim will work fine.

Im surprised o2 make you get a new 3g sim if most sims are compatible anway

HoundDog wrote:I've had the same SIM card ever since I joined Vodafone about 7 years ago and it works fine with 3G services.

I doubt this. Only USIMs can handle the authentication needed for 3G networks. The 3GPP standard for USIMs reached version 1 in 1999. Vodafone is unlikely to have started shipping 3G SIMs only a year later, and four years before launching its own 3G network.

You may be confusing 3G with EDGE, or perhaps forgetting a SIM swap at some point in the past seven years. My eight-year-old Orange SIM is resolutely still in the Stone Age.

I hear what you're saying and I'm almost certain my SIM hasn't been swapped, but then again, I can't remeber what I did last night (There was booze involved though!) let alone 7 years ago, lol.

It is also possible Vodafone had the idea of shipping out USIMs as soon as they were available to avoid the expense of swapping them over at a later date.

I can back up what was said earlier. I've had the same Vodafone SIM for over TEN years and it's been working happily with 3G when that was rolled out in the UK a year or two ago. Ditto 3.5G in the last year.

One very happy Vodafone customer. 8-)

how do vodafone do this then when o2 need upgraded USIMs?

I cannot beleive for a minute that a 10 year old SIM would work with 3G services, 3gpp were only setting standards as early as 1999 so Voda would have some pretty good crystal balls to be releasing them in 1997 when we were still looking at brick like phones in monochrome!!

Steve

well vodafone say most old ones will work too

ill test it soon. I have a 10 year old pre pay vodafone sim to put in a recently re flashed N73!!

Vodafone don't use USIMS.

what are USIMS exactly and why dont voda use them but o2 do?

bradfordlad wrote:what are USIMS exactly and why dont voda use them but o2 do?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USIM

I don't know why some networks insist on USIMS and other don't. As far as I am aware, T-Mobile do not use USIMS either, Vodafone definitely do not. O2, Orange and Three do use USIMS.

if voda dont use usims im not surprised they say all there sims will work on 3G

I stand corrected: not all UK operators require USIMs to connect to their 3G network.

I'm now trying to establish the thinking behind it. For example, what happens if I try to roam onto a foreign 3G network with a 2G Vodafone SIM? Will the lack of support for USIM authentication cause these operators problems in the future?

R

I can roam fine on foreign 3G networks with my vodafone SIM, and get 3.5G as well.

Hi everyone,

Just to clarify, Vodafone do now issue USIMs rather than earlier versions of SIM cards. The 3G service was fully compatible with earlier SIM formats though, and this is why there are a few of you who have been using SIMs for years that now work with 3G and HSDPA.
The common misconception is when people contact us with 3G and data issues, one of the first things we'll do is replace your SIM with a new one if it's old. This isn't because the old ones don't support the services, it's purely because there's a much higher chance it's a faulty SIM if it's old.
Ultimately, if your 3G is working with your Vodafone handset, don't worry about USIMs, there's no difference to changing to one.
If your 3G service isn't working, please contact us and we'll get the problem fixed, including perhaps replacing your SIM 😊

Hope this helps,

edwardpeter
Vodafone UK