There are times when your cell phone becomes inoperable, yet because of the innovation of the SIM card which provides more than just service provider info, you can just simply pop it into a new phone and get access again to your phonebook.  But what if you lost your phone or say your cell phone got run over by a car?  What would you do then when your SIM card is in a couple of pieces?  You did back it up right?  If you had eForCity’s Blue SIM Card Reader, then your answer would be “Yes, I DID BACK IT UP!”.  Join as today as we look at eForCity’s SIM card reader and see how easy it can be to backup your phonebook and SMS data.

Installation of the USB SIM Card Reader Driver and Software

After receiving the review unit furnished by eForCity at no cost, I proceeded to follow the directions on the provided tiny piece of folded paper which pointed me to a website to download the appropriate drivers (http://driverdownload168.com/).  The link for the SIM editing software is the very first one and includes the necessary drivers for Windows XP and below. 

Downloading the package (ZIP compressed) will run 2 installers (both installers are in one file in the ZIP archive).  The first for the SIM card editing software called “SIM Max”.  The second being the driver for the USB card reader (when this pops up, just hit exit as we’ll download and use the driver that supports Vista, Windows 7, as well as 64-bit versions).  Included in the ZIP archive are the instructions on using SIM MAX.

According to eForCity’s website, this unit is not Windows Vista compatible.  However, with a small work around, it appears that it indeed is Vista compatible and even Windows 7 compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit editions.  As Windows 7 drivers are Vista drivers in their respective 32 and 64 bitted-ness, and considering the fact that Windows 7 was only released yesterday, it is safe to say that Vista 64 will work perfectly.  For our testing purposes, we used several computers.  These were loaded with Windows XP Home (32-bit), Windows Vista (32-bit), and Windows 7 (32 and 64 bits).  The key to making this work is understanding a bit in how drivers work.  According to the supplied note in the white package, we notice that it is using the PL2303 chipset.  We also note that further down the driver download page we see another product that uses the same PL2303 chipset – USB to Serial DB9 cable.  Download and install this driver.  This package also has the Vista drivers and the drivers I used to get Windows 7 64-bit to work.

After installation it’s time to insert a SIM card into the reader and plug it to a USB port.  Make sure that it’s already detached unlike my picture below.  When inserting the SIM card into the reader, the goal is to match up the contacts of the reader to the metal contacts of the SIM card.  So make sure to put the card in the proper side up (or down) to make the proper contact.

Using the Included SIM MAX SIM Editing Software

Alright lock and load!  After the SIM card reader has been attached to the computer.  It is now time to run the SIM card editing software which was installed earlier.  If you are running a 64-bit flavor of windows, the program will be installed in C:\Program Files (x86)\SIM MAX.  Start menu icons were not created for me so I made my own shortcut on the desktop.  When the program is opened, it will automatically attempt to connect to the SIM card reader.  If properly connected, it will show:

After that, you can click on the “PhoneBook” option in the menu bar and select “Read From SIM Card”.  It will ask if you have already saved any thing…go ahead and press yes.  If you have protected your SIM card with a password, it will prompt you for this password. Note that while in the “PhoneBook Mode” the “Message" option in the menu bar has been disabled.  The inverse is true if you are in “SMS Message Mode” which we will talk about later.

After entering the PIN code, you’re phone book will be loaded.  From this point forth you have the option of modifying any entries by simply selecting an entry and then using the tools palette’s edit function on the left hand side.  You can also save all info by going again to the “PhoneBook” option in the menu bar thereby providing you with a backup of your address book.  Any changes and edits made that you wish to write to the SIM card must be committed by going to the "PhoneBook” option of the menu bar and selecting “Write to SIM Card”.

The same thing can be done with SMS messages by clicking on the SMS button on the upper toolbar right below “PhoneBook” in the menu bar.  You’ll get the same options where you can save messages or even edit them.  By entering “SMS Message Mode”, the “PhoneBook” option in the menu bar will become disabled.  To save any changes, you’ll be going to the “Message” option of the menu bar and selecting “Write to SIM Card”. 

The last useful option in with this program is the ability to change your PIN.  Granted you must know the existing PIN in order to do so.  These options are in the “PIN Manager” option in the menu bar.  You can also set to enable or disable the PIN in the “PIN Code State” option in the drop down menu of “PIN Manager”.

eForCity’s USB SIM Card reader is an excellent product.  Simple to use, it will allow one to backup and modify SIM card data without having a mobile phone.  For a fair price of $15.49 (currently at the time or writing it’s on sale for $5.54 shipped – which is quite the steal!) it is worth getting for the peace of mind in being able to backup your SIM card data.

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