Best way to get SIM card phone numbers (with subcategories retained) into new phone?

[pinkoos]

Hi,

My wife and I are switching to new phones with Tmobile. We have our phone book saved to the SIM card of our current phone and all the numbers are subcategorized (ie, home/cell/work, etc.).

As far as I know, although on our current phone these numbers are categorized, as soon as we put the SIM into a new phone, that subcategorization is lost and all the numbers have to manually be reassigned to, "home," "cell," "work," etc.

Is there any way to avoid this? This is a major pain in the rear to have to do each time we throw the SIM into a different phone. There's gotta be a way around this, right?

Thanks.

[rjmacs]

Problem is, most of those 'sub-categorizations' are actually stored in the phone's memory, not the SIM. SIMs are designed to be generic - so that you can switch them between phones. Since they have extra space on them, you can use them to transfer basic data - but only generically. Your best bet is to synchronize your current phones with a computer, switch SIMs, and synchronize with the new phones. iSync is pretty good at retaining sub-categories in my experience, and these days most phones are supported. Good luck!

[pinkoos]

rjmacs wrote:
Problem is, most of those 'sub-categorizations' are actually stored in the phone's memory, not the SIM. SIMs are designed to be generic - so that you can switch them between phones. Since they have extra space on them, you can use them to transfer basic data - but only generically. Your best bet is to synchronize your current phones with a computer, switch SIMs, and synchronize with the new phones. iSync is pretty good at retaining sub-categories in my experience, and these days most phones are supported. Good luck!

Thanks for the reply. So, to be clear, I should:

1. Sync current phone with current SIM with my Mac.
2. Then, sync new phone with new SIM with my Mac?

OR

2. Then, sync new phone with old SIM with my Mac?

[Lux Interior]

pinkoos wrote:

Thanks for the reply. So, to be clear, I should:

1. Sync current phone with current SIM with my Mac.
2. Then, sync new phone with new SIM with my Mac?

OR

2. Then, sync new phone with old SIM with my Mac?

The first "2." (This is assuming you have a sync cable or Bluetooth for both phones). You may need to find third-party plug-ins to make iSync work (I did with my SE w910i, even though my z530a was natively supported).

I don't think the SIM card is relevant anyway, as the data you want is stored in the phone's internal memory.

If you are switching networks, the old SIM shouldn't work in the new phone unless it is unlocked.

[pinkoos]

Okay, thanks. Will try it and report back. Thanks again for the advice.