How to replace damaged Airtel SIM 2019

April 12, 2019

Today, my airtel sim abruptly turned unresponsive. I was baffled when I observed the dead sim which inhibited me from making further communication. Fortunately, office wifi was active and I immediately informed wife about the defective sim and asked her to further communicate in WhatsApp if anything urgent pops up (call/message). This communication was vital since both of my toddlers were severely sick. Further, I restarted sim, restarted phone, but the SIM did not recuperate. I thought if some kind of mobile jammers within office were hindering the SIM's smooth operation. Nope, my colleague's SIM was healthy & operational. By this time, I had 50% confirmation that SIM has escaped to other world.

I ran few more diagnostics/tests when I reached home. I inserted the SIM into the second slot and also into both slots of wife's mobile. In all cases, the SIM did not breathe. To be sure that my SIM slot was functional, I inserted my wife SIM into my mobile and hurray! the SIM was on AIR. As a final test, I ran diagnostics with Airtel App and it could not detect SIM. Eventually, I declared SIM was dead! It was time to replace the faulty chip.

The Airtel App could not detect the SIM

I went to airtel store in an hour with ID and address proof to nearest Airtel Store and got my SIM replaced. Below is the procedure

1. ID proof - Preferably Aadhar since Mobile number is linked to aadhar.
2. 1 Passport size photograph - In case required. Nowadays, the store people capture your photograph in house. Just for safety, keep it handy.
3. The OTP for SIM replacement will be sent to the alternate mobile number registered. Make sure that SIM member present in person. If alternate number is your second SIM, then no hassles. I had only one SIM. The alternate number registered was wife's number but she was not present in person. The OTP was sent to her mobile and the airtel crew member was gracious enough to help me call wife and note down OTP. Once submitted successfully, the new SIM is handed over. The old SIM is not required to submit but I suggest to carry it.

The Replaced SIM

Once done, the store representative informed me that it would need 4 hrs to activate the SIM and 24 hrs to enable SMS service. As I plugged my SIM after 20 minutes, it was readily activated. Once you insert SIM, an SMS is sent by Airtel about SIM readiness. I assumed SMS services were also activated but that was not the case. After welcome message, it looks like airtel deactivates SMS service or only the native operator can send SMS. Not sure which is right assumption. I confirmed the communication part by calling my wife. Even 4G was active instantly. However as stated earlier, the SMS service was not. I checked after 12hrs, SMS is still not activated. So any transactions/operations involving SMS OTP needs to wait at least for 24hrs.

That's all from my side. Hope the write up was useful.

How to diagnose using Airtel App

Manage A/C->Help and Support->Data & Network -> I am unable to make or receive calls.

In the MENU choose your problem and Submit. The app will diagnose

Update 1:

Even after 24hrs post activation, I am still not able to send/receive SMS. The phone was reset, but still no relief. The andorid App throws following error

"Can't send message with airtel - error 10"

Unfortunately, Airtel app does not have option to diagnose faulty SMS. I am eagerly waiting for the SMS to restore.

Update 2:

I am aggrieved by inactiveness of SMS having crossed 36 hrs of SIM activation. The OTP dependent services like online banking/online store are severely hit. The help and support page has only predefined options to choose from. It lacks generic complaint page where user can feed manual complaints and ask for assistance. Perhaps, company assumes only such defined problems can arise (based on feedback from machine learning algos) or automation has taken over the manual labour. Even the dial options for connecting to human assistance is hard to spot in airtel helpline number.

Update 3:

You know importance of something when it is unavailable. If you think in the era of WhatsApp, SMS is dead then try experiencing the absence of legacy messaging service. I am not able to perform any online purchase/transaction. Unless redundant OTP mechanism (like email OTP) is implemented by banking apps, SMS is here to stay. Moreover, due to the new sim insertion, payment apps need revalidation via SMS send/receive which is downright failing due to non functioning of the service. Needless to mention, SMS is yet to breathe and my patience level is dipping.  I am frustrated to the peek of mount Everest and the difficulty in reaching customer care representative adding fuel to forest fire.

Update 4:

I sent an email to Airtel customer care and the reply was humorous.

"This email ID is not registered against Airtel number XXXXXXXXXX. Click Here to authenticate your account and help us process your request."

This link redirected to Airtel web page which sent OTP to my mobile number for validation. That was the funniest part. We have a deadlock. My SIM is not activated for SMS but Airtel wants to validate email-ID via SMS OTP. The process to restore SMS looks more horrendous and futile. The only option is to visit relationship centre tomorrow since today is Sunday.

The final update!

Here is the news on the new year as per solar calendar! At last, the SMS is enabled after a gap of 48hrs. I don't know if this was a consequence of my sarcastic mail or it was enabled by Airtel after the official gap. Now I am elated by the service enablement and the drama has eventually ended.

Final tip: Do not throw away old sim until SMS is restored in the new one. The payments app re-authenticate for new sim through SMS which will create the problem for newer transactions. If you have the old sim, apps like BHIM can still work since they don't require OTP for transaction. The rigmaroles of payment apps need to be redone to restore the payment services once new SIM is inserted. Below is screenshot of GPay.