Large SIM card

[norseman]

Sorry, I realise this is not exactly DIY but the specialist forum titles don't cover the subject.

Q: is it still possible to source a full-sized (sometimes known as 1FF) pay.as.you.go Sim card?
these cards are/were the same size as a standard credit/debit card. I want to see if the car-phone fitted to my old BM will still work today.
Appreciate any help.

 

[JohnD]

I've never had one that big

but some of the SIM cards are moulded into a larger carrier, to make them easy to handle or post, and are pressed out to fit in phones.

SIMs have changed size in recent years, and you can get adaptor surrounds that they fit in, to put a new SIM into an old phone with a bigger aperture

but as I say, I've never seen one as big as a credit card. And I've been using mobiles since 1994.

Got a photo?

How old is the car?

 

[A2018]

The last sim i bought was in a credit card sized card and you pushed out the sim to give you a mini sim.
check with one of the phone shops belonging to the network you want to try that their sims come in the credit card sized carrier card. I always thought that these were for use in really old phones that needed the full sized sim. looking on wikipedia it shows that as the case. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subscriber_identity_module

 

[Mottie]

They all come as a large credit card sized sim. From that you can push out what is now known as a standard sim, inside that is a micro sim and inside that is a nano sim. I use a Vodafone PAYG sim that works in all my old mobiles:

I

Oh, and OP, you may have to try several networks, depending on which one the phone was last registered on - Vodafone, T-Mobile (formally One2One) and O2 (formally Cellnet). Pretty sure it won’t work on the '3' network as they weren’t about back in the day.

 

[norseman]

Many thanks to you all for the replies.
John D > car is 1998, coincidently the same year as my first mobile & that had a credit card size SIM, in fact I retain it as a keepsake.
MOT Man > you could start up a museum !
Someone (not on this forum) suggested Giff Gaff but their 'full-sized' card was not large enough. I'll trawl the 'phone outlets now that I know the cards are still available.

 

[Mottie]

No need for that - order the PAYG sims directly from the Vodafone/O2/T Mobile websites. They’re free from them.

 

[norseman]

Thank you for that additional info.

 

[mattylad]

Giff gaff do one for free, payg and a tenner credit.
I use one in my dogs phone (so I can track its location when in the rabbit filled hills)

If you would like one I can arrange to send you one and we both get an extra fiver credit

edit: just read that its not big enough?
Quote from them is "Our giffgaff triple SIMs have a special all-in-one design to fit all phones (standard, micro and nano)." so not sure how it is not big enough?

 

[Mottie]

Giffgaff definitely won’t work on an older carphone. It’s got to be Vodafone or Cellnet (O2). TMobile will probably only work in old One2One hand portables.

 

[ironsidebod]

Giffgaff is O2, it's wholly owned and operated by them despite the "run by your mates" marketing. If an O2 sim works then a Gg one should too.

 

[mattylad]

it may be more the size of the actual credit card that it comes in.
I may have one somewhere to measure. Ill be back. (maybe)