its strange, it is the same SIM card I have had for years, was mostly using it on a Pixel 3A with Graphene OS, so it they were going to get finnicky with “unauthorized operating systems” or something like that, one would think the SIM would have acted up already. It now appears the SIM is not functional at all. This happened after putting it into the Librem 5 and its not working on any of my phones now.
In that case, I would put the SIM back in the Pixel* and contact T-mobile to see about a network reset, or see if they need to send you a replacement SIM (or let you pick one up locally to then port your number to the new SIM).
*So that they don’t start some BS with you about non-VoLTE phones on their network.
Edit: Also, do you have a different SIM you can try in the L5 to see if it’s read?
Advice on whether it is OK to leave powered on or should be powered off while inserting a SIM seems to be inconsistent. (I am talking generically across all mobile phones.)
Here’s one that is unequivocal: https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-215876/ Turn it off!
That would be my advice too. (The Librem 5 is much faster to boot than the iPhone, so there is less reason to be slack about it and not shut down before inserting or removing either of the relevant cards.)
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I have never had this issue swapping a SIM card in phones while they are on, as most modern phones as we know are really never off unless the battery is completely drained. I am thinking the Librem 5 may have fried my SIM card?
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the modem, I bought this on ebay, how do you check in the phone, can’t find it in the settings? Do I have to find it through some bash terminal command? Also do foreign modems matter that much these days? Don’t phones go international all the time these and only the data plan changes?
There probably is a command to list it, but I don’t know what it is. @irvinewade can help, I’ll bet.
I would take off the back of the phone, carefully unscrew the protective plate over the modem (top right when viewing the back) and look at the connectors, because if they’re not connected, then the terminal command won’t find anything.
About foreign/domestic modems, most modern phones have at least some international interoperability. Unfortunately for the L5, Purism had to go with suitable modems for their hardware and philosophical requirements, so there are different modems for different regions of the world when it comes to the L5. (Fortunately you can swap modems in the L5 as needed, within reason, due to its modular design…but it’s not advisable to do it very often.)
Where did your phone ship from?
that could be another issue, I believe it shipped from Europe causing another problem. I do have an order in the States for a phone direct from Purism, but now I may have to order an American modem too to see if I can swap it out. But the fried SIM card is yet another issue even with the correct modem.
True. It’s time to check with T-mobile on that SIM card issue.
Your phone likely has the BM818-E1 (Europe) installed, and not the BM818-A1 (North America). Compare the bands in this chart:
And T-mobile’s bands:
https://www.frequencycheck.com/carriers/t-mobile-united-states?c_id=3177929
Fortunately, the modem is fairly inexpensive to buy: https://shop.puri.sm/
I highly doubt whomever I speak to has heard of Linux based phones with kill switches lol I remember a year ago I was rocking an Ubuntu Touch Nexus 5 and I got a call from TMobile asking if I would like to upgrade to a more modern phone than a Nexus 5, I told them no way as I was running Linux on it. He never heard of Ubuntu Touch or swapping OS’s lol Can’t imagine trying to explain the experimental new Linux phones like Librem 5 or Pinephone lol
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You won’t have to. Tell them it’s in your Pixel and it seems to have died…and what are they going to do about it? 
Thats exactly what I am going to do, just laughing if I actually tried to explain to them I am tinkering with a Librem 5 I bought off Ebay how that conversation would go. lol
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Perfect opportunity to educate someone on the dangers of surveillance capitalism and why Linux phones are so needed.
Oh I completely agree with you, I want these Linux phones to become the new normal where we own our phones and our phones don’t own us.
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What does this command return in the terminal?
mmcli -m any | grep imei
You should also be able to see the IMEI in the Mobile settings. I don’t have a SIM card in right now, so I can’t see the setting to tell you exactly where it is.
https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Tips%20&%20Tricks#executing-an-at-command-on-the-modem but that is a fair amount of (one-off) hassle. I recommend Method B. In any case, the ATI command gives you the answer.
If you are going to open it up anyway then the BM818 variant is printed on the modem card.
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That’s a design compromise on the Librem 5 at the moment. There is no available compatible modem that is “global” i.e. supports all 40-odd LTE bands (and a commensurate set of 2G/3G bands).
For the IMEI: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Tips%20&%20Tricks#imei That gets you the number via the GUI (but apparently there is a bug so that the GUI won’t work unless there is a SIM card present) and, alternatively, gets you the number via the command line.
For the IMSI: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Tips%20&%20Tricks#modem-manager
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thanks for the help, I made the mistake of using a European phone, so I ordered an American modem, hopefully its not as delayed as my order for the actual phone from Purism and ships soon.
Yeah I’ve totes fried my SIM card once already. Shut it down before inserting/removing the sim.
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Just an update, I ordered the proper US modem from Purism, it took less than two weeks to get it (unlike the phone itself), phone works fine in calls and SMS (didn’t test MMS yet). Also didn’t need to do anything other than physically install it which wasn’t bad. Didn’t have to go on the command line and update anything to recognize a change in hardware, it works as long as you swap it out. So if I ever go to Europe again, I may swap out modems since now I have a US and European modem for this device.
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That’s kind of to be expected for a device with a hardware kill switch. The modem is (potentially) disappearing and reappearing all the time - so the sensible approach is to treat things as dynamically as possible (like USB). Same with the other killable hardware, particularly the WiFi card, which is also potentially removable.
I am pretty sure that MMS support is not ready yet. Some people have gummed up their phone by getting an MMS that the phone is not yet able to handle, so unless you want to be playing around, it may be better not to test MMS.
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