E38. (7 series) mobile phone sim card problem?

[scared but happy]

I have an E38 and found it only seems to work with old sim cards. Anyone else found this problem? Or know where I can get an older sim on PAYT.

Ta

[bmwdrivernigel]

Are you saying it only works with the credit card sized ones?

[scared but happy]

It does take the large credit card sized ones. But I have an adaptor to take the small type but it only works with my very old Vodafone sim card but I need to use another one in there all the time.

[bmwdrivernigel]

Not heard of that before! Sorry cant help at the mo but will ask someone techy tomorrow.

[scared but happy]

Thanks. It seems the early generation cards work but not the later? . Any help would be nice. Thanks

[bmwdrivernigel]

I asked a couple of guys at Bracknell and didnt have an answer, sorry.

[scared but happy]

Thanks for asking. Do you mean they have not found a problem or it IS a problem?

[gf15]

o2 sim card works fine for me and card is only 2 months old. Phone is the chunky one in the arm rest with the flip lid.
Edited to say it a '99 740i

Edited by gf15 on Wednesday 29th November 15:10

[bmwdrivernigel]

scared but happy said:

Thanks for asking. Do you mean they have not found a problem or it IS a problem?

They had not heard of a problem, is it worth running it into a phone specialist to see if its the phone?

[scared but happy]

I will try that. It just seems odd it works with one of my sim cards and not any others. Perhaps its an early generation system.

[Umar B]

scared but happy said:

I have an E38 and found it only seems to work with old sim cards. Anyone else found this problem? Or know where I can get an older sim on PAYT.

Ta

are you putting the SIM into the slot under the phone? if you are and its not working you will need to put the SIM into the SIM card reader in the boot next to the CD changer. open the section up and you'll see a slim black box mounted next to the cd changer. put it in there and i'll guarentee it'll work if not with a vodafone SIM, an O2 for sure

thats exactly what i did and the whole telephone system works great

HTH

[scared but happy]

^^Flipping 'eck. Did not know there was one When I get some time later I will have a snout. What year is your car? Mine is 1996 one of the early generation ones.

Edited by scared but happy on Thursday 30th November 07:51

[Scamp's Walker]

Hi, have an e39 with similar problems and am having to use a pay as you go sim in the car with the BMW fitted phone. Does the adapter you have change th mobile's little sim back into a credit size one? If so where do you get one?

[Scamp's Walker]

Sorry, question for Umar. Does my e39 have the sim card reader? If so do you have any idea where it is?

[Umar B]

scared but happy said:

^^Flipping 'eck. Did not know there was one When I get some time later I will have a snout. What year is your car? Mine is 1996 one of the early generation ones.

Edited by scared but happy on Thursday 30th November 07:51

yep, mine is a P plate. when i got the car the bloke said he couldn't get the phone system to work (his mistake as i made him drop the price for that ...) is turns out the actual phone handset is falty but the rest of the system works perfectly

after a bit of reading and question asking on a few forums i tried the card holder in the boot and everything worked as it should

Save these sites to your favorites....

1. www.e38.org - great site for loads of info for the E38, E39 and a few others

2. www.bmwland.co.uk - bmw forum with a specific E38 section. need to sign up but worth it

3. www.bmw7resource.co.uk/forum/index.php - another forum to sign up to, but only for 7 series'

and finally 4. www.realoem.com/bmw/select.do - this site is invaluable, just enter you chassis number and you have access to the same system as BMW, but not the prices.

Edited by Umar B on Thursday 30th November 21:12

[Umar B]

Scamp's Walker said:

Hi, have an e39 with similar problems and am having to use a pay as you go sim in the car with the BMW fitted phone. Does the adapter you have change th mobile's little sim back into a credit size one? If so where do you get one?

Yeah thats right, an adaptor similer to this will do the trick, but instead of paying for one i just taped it back to the credit card size card and sliped it into the SIM slot in the boot, and it works perfectly

Scamp's Walker said:

Sorry, question for Umar. Does my e39 have the sim card reader? If so do you have any idea where it is?

Yeah it will do, either under the phone on the arm rest, or, assuming you have a CD Changer, it will be next to you changer

hope that hlps a bit

[Scamp's Walker]

Umar,

Forgive my naivety as only recently got the car, it's an e39 touring. The cd bracket secures to the floor pan but there are boxes in the area where the spare wheel is. Is that where I should look?

[scared but happy]

Thanks for all the links. I have not had a chance to look yet but the weekend is nearly here...

[B'stard Child]

scared but happy said:

Thanks for all the links. I have not had a chance to look yet but the weekend is nearly here...

I've got the same car and bought a brand new PAYG sim from Voda (comes embeded in a credit card sized holder

Stuck it in the phone and everything works

Another Link for you re 7's

www.the7seriesregister.co.uk/forums/index.php

Nice friendly place too

[morningside]

Sorry to drag up old thread....
While I have been charging my car up with help from another thread. I have pulled all the units from the left hand side and found on the top left hand corner of the (I presume) mobile phone module.
I have noticed that there IS a small section that clips onto it with what looks like a dummy SIM built onto the plastic. But there is noway I can see that I can add a small SIM card.

Any ideas?