"SIM card rejected"
 

I got a Poste Mobile SIM last May in Montalcino.

Worked fine at CDG and in Stockholm, connecting to roaming networks there.

So I'm about to go to Austria tomorrow and I break out the SIM, which should not expire until this May.

Well as soon as I power up my Nokia E61i after installing the Poste Mobile SIM, I'm prompted for my PUK, which I've written down.

Then I'm prompted for a new PIN twice, as if I am changing my PIN.

I enter the PIN that I used before twice.

"SIM card rejected" is the error.

I power it off and then power it back on. It prompted me again for the PUK and the PIN (twice again).

Same error.

Now when I power it up, it just has the error, no prompting for the PUK or PIN.

Do I have to be in range of a network supported by the SIM?

Hoping in Europe I won't get this error, which is only happening because I'm still in California?

Can't recall if I ever tried it before at home.

The rejection message refers to some network, which rejects your phone's request to register, since it your SIM card not admitted for roaming on that network. So, yes, that's because you're not in reach of any network, your Poste SIM may roam in.

However that has nothing to do with your PIN/PUK-issue. Unless you've disabled the PIN-prompt you should always be asked for the PIN.

If you entered a false PUK ten times then your SIM card is useless... That's probably what happened... As to why it asked you for a PUK in the first place, you probably entered a wrong PIN three times...

Afaik, if the PUK was entered incorrectly ten times and so the SIM would be locked, it would say "SIM card blocked" or something similar. "rejection" seems network-related to me.

@wco81
After you switch on the phone and enter the PIN code, can you access the menu or does the message "SIM card rejected" appear immediately?
Have you tried to use the Poste SIM in another GSM phone?

I don't have another unlocked GSM phone.

And the first thing it asked for was the PUK, not the PIN.

AFAIK, I haven't entered the PUK 10 times. And my recollection is that every time I swap out this SIM, it's always prompted for some code. Not sure if it was the PUK though.

Can the carrier reset the SIM over the air?

If you have locked the SIM by incorrectly entering the PUK ten times, it's useless. Then it can't be reset OTA, since your phone will not even try to register to any network.

The code you're being asked after swapping SIMs is the security code of your phone, which should be 12345 for Nokias by default.

But again: When you switch on the your phone with the Poste SIM inside, which codes are you asked?
Can you access the menu or does the message "SIM card rejected" appear continiously?

I know I didn't enter it 10 times.

Had a similar problem with an Aldi SIM purchased in Berlin in 2006 too.

It kept asking me for the PUK and I hadn't wrote it down.

That's the thing which is frustrating about the prepaid SIMs. When I take them out after returning to the US and then try to use them again after several months, they keep prompting for the PUK the first time I power them up.

I can take my US T-Mobile prepaid SIM in and out and it never asks for the PUK or any PIN.

I was suppose to have 12 months of credits left and now, looks like I wasted another SIM for nothing.

No SIM will require you to enter the PUK unless the PIN was entered incorrectly for three times. Since you totally ignore my explanations and questions you seem to have a weakness in reading carefully and understanding, which I fear also caused your handling error resulting in blocked SIMs.

I must add that you can deactivate PIN on all SIMs if you tend to forget it!

I agree with inquisitor that you probably have messed thing up with how SIMs work, so make sure next time, the first thing you do when you get a new SIM, is to deactivate the PIN request!

I didn't deactivate the PIN request. Unless there's a way to do it through the phone, rather than through whatever the SIM displays and I can't read Italian.

But my point, to repeat, is that at least in the past week, after not using since June of last year, the first time I put it in and power it up, it prompted for the PUK, not the PIN.

After entering the PUK, it then prompted me for the PIN twice, as if I'm changing the PIN.

Then it returned the error.

And the numbers I entered were those which came with the SIM. I never changed the PIN.