no sim card

This is my first post and I don't know a great deal about mobile phones. I see many adverts for second hand phones for sale without sim cards. Why would they not have a sim card? and how is one acquired and at what cost? Someone suggested that they may be stolen. Is that likely?

The people selling these phones have probably just upgraded and are getting rid of their old phones.

If they're advertised as new, it could be they've upgraded, but kept their old phone.

The sim card is the piece of hardware that your mobile phone company adds to your phone. It is on this chip that information about your service, from the phone number to caller ID settings, is stored. The people selling the phones are just selling the phones and not the service. Once you have the phone, you still need to establish service with the carrier (which generally comes with a basic phone).

There are a ton of reasons for people to sell of their phones. Mostly you can assume that they are just using a different phone now and have no use for the old one which probably still works.

SIM cards can be purchased and inserted in the phone by the owner. For instance, I have two which I switch out ..one for US use and one for UK use. If I sold my phone, I'd take the SIM card out and put in my new phone so I retain the number and the account.

Thanks everyone for your input. I have an old phone that I no longer use, will the sim card from this phone fit other makes of phone? Anyone know the average price of a sim card in the UK, or is this like saying "How long is a peice of string?"

jaycee

It is sort of like the string question lol. There are all sorts of different plans and options. The Orange one I'm using I bought on Ebay!

Most people prefer to keep their old sim cards for the purpose of keeping their number and stored info. Most probably, this is the reason why these second hand phones that you see don't have any sim card.

Sim cards can be very, very cheap if you are looking only for a pay as you go service - it's the phone that's the expensive part!

Well, most brand new phones offer free sim cards. Service network providers would be very willing and glad to give you one as a promotional offer.

By the way, a lot of providers now offer sim cards so cheap they're practically free for pay as you go services. They do 10 pound sim cards with 8 pounds calling credit free, for example. Just shop around.

My sim is broken somehow and I need to find a new provider that is fast and cheap for a prepaid sim