Many cell phones require a SIM card before they can do anything.
Many cell phones use a SIM card for identifying a customer's account. It is how the phone company identifies a plan with you, what the cell towers need to communicate with your device on GSM networks. Most information is stored on the phone hardware. However, some information can be stored directly to the SIM card. Such information would include contacts from your phone book and sometimes text messages or email information.
Instructions
Phone
1. Turn the phone on while the SIM card is installed in it. Many phones come with the ability to delete information from the SIM card.
2. Navigate to "Contact List" on the phone. Using the phones menu (consult your owners manual), set the list to show SIM card information. Delete all the contacts; this will remove them permanently from the SIM card. Switch the list to showing device contacts, if necessary, and navigate back to the phone's "Home Screen."
3. Navigate to text messages on the phone. Press the "Menu" key and go to "Options." Select the "SIM Card" folder and delete it. This will delete any text and mail messages on the SIM card. This option is not available on all phones.
SIM Manager
4. Slide the SIM card into a SIM card reader.
5. Connect the SIM card reader to a computer using the computer's smart card reader. This will mount the SIM card as a readable drive on the computer.
6. Download a SIM card management program such as SIM Card Editor or MSC SimManager. (See Resources for links.)
7. Open the downloaded SIM management software and erase all the information from the SIM card.
Tags: card reader, from card, cell phones, information from, information from card, information stored