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Question

Spanish SIM refuses to work in unlocked Huawei

Sep 30, 2015 10:26AM PDT

I'm at a bit of a loss with this one, so hope someone can help!

Been using a cheap Huawei Ascend Y330 for about a year no without problems. Was bought unlocked from Carphone Warehouse online, and I used it with a Pay Monthly SIM bought separately from Three in the UK.

Recently moved to Spain and bought a Pay-as-you-Go SIM from Orange. It works fine in an old 2G handset I have spare, but just doesn't work in my Huawei - either it says 'No SIM inserted' or simply doesn't receive any cell coverage. Worried my Huawei might NOT have been unlocked, I took it to a store here to check and they confirmed it was already. I've been to the Orange shop several times now and they don't have a clue!

Today, for the first time, the Huawei accepted the SIM (asked me for the PIN as you would expect), and my 3G worked fine for an hour or so, then suddenly cut out again. I haven't been able to get it working again since.

Anyone know what might be happening and what I could do (i.e. changing settings on the Huawei) to resolve it? Just seems stupid to have to buy a new phone when I know the SIM works fine in another phone, and my phone works fine with another SIM!

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Rare but not so rare.
Sep 30, 2015 10:39AM PDT

I find that support is so bad that when this happens I change out the phone. Here, phones are getting too cheap so I could burn through that many bucks trying to get it fixed. Try another phone.

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Thanks
Sep 30, 2015 2:21PM PDT

Thanks R. Proffitt for the honesty haha, I would obviously just rather not resort to that! I've never had trouble using phones bought abroad with new SIMs in new countries, I really don't get it this time..

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Let me share a recent one.
Sep 30, 2015 2:33PM PDT

It was a Consumer Cellular SIM. Said SIM "seems" to work in an unlocked phone but shortly disconnects and goes missing. Said unlocked phone works with ATT, Tmobile and other SIMs so it's a CC SIM issue. In that case they had to change the SIM.

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Thanks for the clarification, but
Oct 1, 2015 1:03AM PDT

if it is a similar case with my SIM then why does it have constant coverage with my other unlocked phone? It doesn't cut out at all using that old handset, it's only a problem in my 3G phone.

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In their case
Oct 1, 2015 7:51AM PDT

The SIM worked fine in the CC supplied phone which appears to be locked. I had 2 unlocked phones and the SIM failed in both. CC was not supportive at all. Changed SIMs and all good.

Bottom line? Not all combos work.

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Answer
I think....
Sep 30, 2015 4:07PM PDT

....the phone just doesn't speak Spanish. Laugh

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Que?
Sep 30, 2015 4:10PM PDT

Dafydd. Wink

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Answer
90% solved, but still a bit confused
Oct 23, 2015 4:39AM PDT

After spending HOURS and HOURS going to different stores here in Spain, including the Orange shop where I bought my new SIM and several different phone repair places, no one could tell me what the problem was. Called Huawei's UK support line and they immediately told me that the problem was an incompatibility of frequencies between Spanish SIMs and my phone, or something.

I don't really know a lot about GSM, but I had thought that effectively everything was the same within Europe (i.e. as per this GSM coverage map http://www.worldtimezone.com/gsm.html). Could someone clarify this? It is especially important because if I have to buy a new phone, I don't want to buy one here that won't work in the UK, or buy another one in the UK that won't work here in Spain. Also very likely to be in the Netherlands or elsewhere next year.

For example, the specs for my Huawei (http://www.phonearena.com/phones/Huawei-Ascend-Y330_id8593) say that it supports the GSM frequencies used here in Spain. So why doesn't it work with Spanish SIMs? Am I looking at the wrong information? In which case, how can I know before I buy a phone if it will work with both UK and Spanish (and Dutch!) SIMs? For example, I am considering buying the Vodafone Smart Ultra 6 (http://www.gsmarena.com/vodafone_smart_ultra_6-7313.php)