iPhone 4 "No Service"

My iPhone 4 is displaying “No Service” in the provider signal indicator. Up until yesterday, it was working fine, but all of a sudden it seems to have stopped receiving Telstra’s signal. Everything else is on the phone is working OK, it just won’t make or receive phone calls.
Telstra assured me my account is active. I removed the SIM card and cleaned it gently but that didn’t make any difference. My wife’s iPhone has good Telstra service levels. I assume all this means that the phone is at fault.
I really don’t want to $700 on a new phone, they are not that important to me. So I am hoping there may be a trick to get it on the air again. Any suggestions, please?

Any chance your wife’s phone is an iPhone 4 or 4s? If so, swap the micro-SIM cards and see what works and what doesn’t. Do you have any other phones in the house? Once many years ago I had to go to Telstra to replace a faulty SIM card.

My wife’s phone is a 6S. I will check to see if it has the same SIM size and if so try swapping them over. I wondered if the problem could be the SIM. Thanks for the suggestion.

It won’t be, which is why I specified iPhone 4 or 4s. They are the only two that have a micro SIM, the first three iPhones had full SIMs, while every model starting with the iPhone 5 uses a nano SIM. You can get a SIM card adapter which would let you put a nano SIM into your iPhone 4 but that’s probably too much hassle.

I’d get back to Telstra on the My Telstra app and see if you get a replacement micro SIM card. Or presuming you’re not in Melbourne (ie. not in lockdown), just go to a Telstra store.

Oh, well there you go. Stymied by progress. I don’t have the My Telstra app because the phone is too old. And yep, I am in Melbourne, so it looks likes the phone will have to wait until I can get to a Telstra store. Heaven knows when we will allowed to do that.
Thanks for your interest.

Yes, you’re right, the My Telstra app requires iOS 11.0 or later (ie. iPhone 5s or newer). Depending on where you live, some Telstra stores are open Mon-Sat 10am-4pm for contactless service which includes SIM swaps. You would need to call them and arrange a pickup time. COVID-19 call centre and store updates - Telstra

When you do your weekly grocery shopping you could grab a $2 SIM card just for testing purposes (to check if it is actually the SIM causing the issue).

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That’s a good idea. However, being in the high risk age group I avoid places with higher people densities so the phone will just have to wait until I can get about more safely.
In the meantime I can amuse myself by seeing what sort of phone I can buy as a replacement. Under $200 and small enough to fit in my shirt pocket. I don’t use it as a tablet, just emergency phone calls and texts.
Thanks for the suggestions. It is good to have somewhere to ask techie questions and get polite answers.
Robin

Would you be interested in my mother’s old iPhone SE? It’s 6 years newer than the iPhone 4. If so, you can send me a private message.

Thanks for the offer, much appreciated. However, I tried talking to Telstra again and got someone who took me through more settings. He had me ‘Reset Network Settings’ which got me back on the air again. Great! How the phone needed this treatment is a puzzle. I don’t fiddle with those settings because I don’t understand them.
So my need to get a new phone has been put off for a while. At least until I get out and about to get my hands on what I want.

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sorry, remiss of me to have overlooked Reset Network Settings:

Not to worry, it was only on my second visit to the Telstra help line that the person suggested this action. I should have gone to Apple Support but my recent ventures there have been non-productive so I tried elsewhere. I assumed ‘No Service’ could only be caused by a phone failure, SIM failure, or my account being suspended. I didn’t think of a reset. But there you go, learn something new everyday.

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Like others, I reckon it’s just the sim. They can die after a while. Get Telstra to swap it out.