My SIM saga
I’m one of those who grants others the right to reasonable doubt. You probably aren’t wrong, on purpose. Exception to note: politicians. Second exception: my mobile telephone supplier.
Until this afternoon, I was a cellphone virgin. Never had to call the firm about anything, once the guy at the big box store had fixed me up with the latest and greatest (phone and service plan). An ideal customer. The firm in question has a long history of dealing with the public, and I trusted them, having heard the original owner speak.
Wait, a point of clarification. I had dealt with their illegitimate half-sibling for a quarter of a century before waving goodbye, and they had never lost contact with me. I had a routine of tearing envelopes in half and going straight to recycling. Today’s envelope was just like all the others, right down to the “Important information inside” label. One tiny detail. That plastic card wasn’t meant for the blue bin.
A new SIM. Obviously not meant for our standard wall phone. Obviously. I carefully placed the torn sections of the accompanying letter side by side and deciphered. My current SIM was outdated, and the new one must be placed inside my smartphone, forthwith.
On to the website, where I managed to recover my user name and reset my password. Change to the “change sim” site and fill in a form with the new serial (glued to the letter, written in almost invisible greyish silver ink) . 20 digits, twice.
- Remove the Otterbox from the phone (not for the faint of heart, or those without solid fingernails).
- Open the phone, remove the battery (try that, Apple-fans).
- Spit out the old SIM and spit in the new.
- Reassemble.
Try phoning home… funny, I didn’t remember having a voice mail system. One that directed me to Accounts Payable. Off to the Subcontinent for practice in International English. My automated payment hadn’t. Checked the pertinent data. All correct. Had the agent try collecting again, which worked. Thanked him for the wonderful service at his company, which never had errors of any sort, as far as he was concerned. Bid him goodbye.
All this, and I still don’t know why. The mysteries of religion have been replaced, by the mysteries of the mobile phone world.
