This is a modification I made a long time ago, when I bought my old Nexus 4 and I needed to cut the SIM card. It may seem outdated because most new cards come precut but the truth is that many of us still have old cards and we can save a few dollars and with this hack.
And we will also use the article to talk and explain the sizes of the SIM cards.
I receive my Nexus 4 from Google. I’m going to try it and I realize that it uses micro SIM 🙁
The logical solution is to go for a duplicate SIM card, but they charge $5 (yes, it was free before) So you have to find a homemade solution and this happens to cut the card at home to convert the mini SIM into Micro SIM.
Yes, I know that after spending $300 on a mobile, raking $5 does not seem like much, but this has become a personal matter.
Update: Nowadays pre-cut cards come, so it is very easy to move from one size to another. But if you have an old SIM this trick will still work for you. If you save the € 5 take a coffee to my health
Well, before we cut like crazy, a little on the SIM card
SIM card sizes
There are 4 types
- SIM (1FF) sized like a credit card,
- mini SIM (2FF), which is the most used right now, and we all call SIM,
- the micro SIM (3FF) that many new devices carry
- and nano SIM (4FF) even smaller and the newest of all, here almost everything is chip.
The contacts are the same, so we can cut them without problems that the chip will work well, it is more, not long ago in the stores of the companies, to give you a microsim they cut it with a little machine. But surely you have seen that charging $5 for a new one is more profitable ¬¬
The measurements of the cards are:
But at the moment of truth at least in the nexus 4 the microsim is too thick and you have to sand the back a little because if it does not enter.
How to cut a SIM card to nano SIM and Micro SIM to nano SIM
Let’s mess up, to cut from a mini SIM card to micro SIM or nano SIM we download the template that I left as pdf in an attachment (courtesy of Airportal) At the end of the article we have left a template in pdf, which you must print.
The necessary materials are (heat, marker, ruler, scissors and sandpaper)
We will place the card in the template,
Very important, we must hold the card to the template with zeal so that it does not move at the time of cutting that must be very precise.
And now with a rule to mark. This is the key point of the modification. When marking, put the rule so that you always paint the outside, that is, if we have marked badly, it will always be bigger than small, since reducing the size is always possible and if we do it inside, it can be The micro SIM too small. Do not worry because it is large and do not enter, then with the sandpaper we will adjust the size.
For people who love this hacks I recommend you another repair tutorials in this blog. Unlocking a phone with broken screen and computers turn on but no display
And we already have our card marked and ready to cut. And we cut! very carefully. If you don’t just remove plastic without removing the edge of the chip, quiet still works.
We are going to have an irregular cut and we must sand with a fine grain sandpaper.
And remember what we have said, it is possible that once the SIM does not fit in the mobile card holder, do not enter because it is too high, because you sand the back of the card, it is not necessary much.
In the image above, you clearly see the need to sand the card to leave the uniform edges and adapt the size that we have left a little large. Important. Nano SIM is also thinner, so we must sand the back to reduce the thickness.
I make it finer so as not to have problems later because the card enters but we cannot eject it again.
And here we have the result 🙂 Look at the back sanded and without drawing so that it goes well into the smartphone.
If it goes wrong, don’t worry you can always go to the store for another.