There are countless videos and blog posts telling you how you can take your full size SIM card and cut it down to fit in your iPad, but frankly, that’s idiotic. I mean really, who’s going to cut up the SIM card they’re using in their $85+ a month iPhone to put in their iPad when they could just pay $30 a month for unlimited date on the iPad. Yes, you might be cutting up a T-Mobile SIM, but let’s face it… Do you really want to be using EDGE on an iPad?

Anyhow, that’s not what this post is about. I’m going to show you how to do the exact opposite of that, how to take your Micro SIM and use it in your iPhone for cheap data only service. It’s easier than you might think.

Update: Some sites are incorrectly reporting that you need a jailbroken iPhone for this to work, you do not.

Update 2: You also watch this quick video walkthrough.

Step 1: Remove both your iPad’s Micro SIM card and your iPhone’s regular sized SIM card.



Step 2: Find an expired debit card, gift card, or a calling card that you don’t need anymore and place your iPhone’s SIM card flush with the top edge and trace an outline of it. Or if you have a spare SIM card you can just skip to Step 4.



Step 3: Take a pair of scissors and cut out your SIM template. It should look something like this when you’re done:





Step 4: Place your Micro SIM card on top of your template and line up the contact points with your iPhone’s SIM. Then trace around it.



Step 5: Using an razor blade, cut out the middle of your template to make room for the Micro SIM.



Step 6: Next place a small piece of scotch tape on the backside of the template to keep the Micro SIM from failing out.



Step 7: Place the Micro SIM into your shiny new adapter and then place it into the iPhone’s SIM tray and insert it into the iPhone.





You might think this is where you get to enjoy your sweet 3G for $29.99 a month, but sadly there are a few extra steps needed on the software side of things. If you pull up Safari you’ll get the error message “Could not activate cellular data network”. But we can fix that!

Step 8: Make sure your iPhone is connected to a WiFi network, then visit http://unlockit.co.nz and tap Continue.

Step 9: Tap Custom APN, then enter Broadband in the APN field.

Step 10: Leaving the remaining fields blank, tap Create Profile, then tap Install, followed by Install Now on the popup.





Step 11: Tap Done, disable your WiFi and bask in the glory of $30 a month unlimited 3G.

Step 12 (optional): Call up AT&T and cancel your iPhone plan!! I’m actually thinking about canceling my crappy AT&T service, since I use it mostly for data anyway and also have a Verizon phone I carry with me for making actual phone calls.

Note: If you decide to stick with your AT&T calling plan for your iPhone and were just trying this project because you’re a nerd, just remember that in order to go back to using your iPhone’s SIM you will need to go to Settings -> General, scroll down and tap Profile: APN Carrier Settings, then tap the red Remove button.

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