Change the MSISDN value ?

[Guest lycrawearer]

Anyone know how to change the MSISDN value (mobile number usually) that's stored somewhere on the sim card ?

for some reason, my old (original) number is stored instead of the number I ported in ... makes no difference to the operation of the phone I suppose, but it would be nice to have everything correct.

I'm on TMobile - you can see the value when you choose settings, about phone, status

Cheers

[Guest darkskiez]

I have the same issue. I think only a sim update from your operator can change this, or perhaps some extremely complicated hackery i don't know about.

[Guest uk786]

same issue for me..

[Guest kendon]

i don't have that problem, if it is one at all. don't think so, as i can't imagine that it has other consequences than the dialoge showing a wrong number.

for a fix: have you tried dialing *135#[green]? this makes your phone query the network for the msisdn, maybe it updates the entry in the settings too... doesn't cost anything, so nothing to lose here.

btw: the msisdn is not stored anywhere on the simcard, in fact the simcard does not know the msisdn. it is only used as an alias for us humans, so we don't need to remember the 15-digit IMSI. it is translated by the HLR or HSS, which is the central database of the network. the HLR knows the matching IMSI, which is basically the unique serial of the SIMCARD (masked by the TIMSI, temporary-IMSI, but that doesn't matter here) and thereby can identify and page the simcard/your mobile. you can change the msisdn of a simcard by changing that database entry, or you can have several numbers pointing to one simcard (and other stuff, i basically operate such a database :( ).

if you are interested in this start with the wikipedia article about gsm, it is pretty well documented there imho. but actually you don't need to know any of that to have fun with your hero :D

[Guest lycrawearer]

Tried *135# - that (after a short time) gives me an error message stating "connection problem or invalid MMI code" - but I'm in a good signal strength area so reckon the code might be wrong (had something similar when I tried changing the voicemail divert delay time - the code I was given had to be changed ever so slightly - probably a TMobile variation ..

Thanks for your help so far though

Edited December 5, 2009 by lycrawearer

[Guest darkskiez]

i don't have that problem, if it is one at all. don't think so, as i can't imagine that it has other consequences than the dialoge showing a wrong number.

for a fix: have you tried dialing *135#[green]? this makes your phone query the network for the msisdn, maybe it updates the entry in the settings too... doesn't cost anything, so nothing to lose here.

btw: the msisdn is not stored anywhere on the simcard, in fact the simcard does not know the msisdn. it is only used as an alias for us humans, so we don't need to remember the 15-digit IMSI. it is translated by the HLR or HSS, which is the central database of the network. the HLR knows the matching IMSI, which is basically the unique serial of the SIMCARD (masked by the TIMSI, temporary-IMSI, but that doesn't matter here) and thereby can identify and page the simcard/your mobile. you can change the msisdn of a simcard by changing that database entry, or you can have several numbers pointing to one simcard (and other stuff, i basically operate such a database :D ).

*135# Code didnt work for me. On 3 UK for what its worth.

I believe that the MSISDN is stored in the USIM for convenience of reading it out but not used in the actual technical process of making/receiving calls.

http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/SIM_Cards suggests this too.

If you turn your phone on with a new sim card in an area without signal, it still manages to read/display the MSISDN

[Guest nrj1999]

I believe that the MSISDN is stored in the USIM for convenience of reading it out but not used in the actual technical process of making/receiving calls.

I had the same problem as described above with an Orange-branded Hero that I have unlocked and use on 3 but did find a solution. There is a SIM information application buried in the settings of Windows Mobile devices running 6.1 and above so I put my 3 SIM in an unlocked Kaiser and used this to alter the number recorded on the SIM. Once I put the SIM back in my Hero, the correct number was displayed in the phone status page under MSISDN.

The way to get at the SIM Manager application in Windows Mobile is as follows:

1. Open Contacts
   
2. Select Menu then SIM Manager
   
3. Select Menu in SIM Manager and then Tools/List of Own Numbers
   
4. The first page that pops up has an entry for My Number with the first number the SIM had when it shipped and with this selected, select Edit
   
5. Alter the number to the one you want it to read under MSISDN in the Hero then Save and close out of everything
   

Once you put the SIM you have altered back in your Hero, it should now show the number you chose in the phone status screen. Obviously the down-side of this is that you have to have access to a Windows Mobile device but there may be an Android application for altering SIM information that would do the same trick.

Hope this helps.

[Guest Paul]

Yeah, I just did it on WM! :D

P

[Guest lycrawearer]

I kinda got excited when I read the reply by NRJ1999 as I do have access to a Windows Mobile phone ...

However I resolved my problem earlier today (by accident) simply by taking the TMobile sim card out of the G2 and placing in another phone (simply to check if the other phone was unlocked) ...

When I put the sim back in the G2 it decided to display the right (ported in) number :D Don't ask me how ... but that was all I did.