Unicom 186 3G DIY SIM Cutting Success

I’ve had the 3G iPad for about a week now. Even though it’s the 3G version, I’ve been using it as a WiFi device because I had no SIM card. This week, 2/3 of my time was spent playing Plants vs. Zombies. The remaining 1/6 browsing, 1/6 reading on iBooks. It feels like a convenient gaming device.

Today I finally bit the bullet and got a 186 SIM card from the Unicom营业厅. The clerk was very enthusiastic — probably happy to meet her quota. She patiently helped me pick a number. Finally settled on one ending in 7716, matching my current phone’s last digits. 66 yuan套餐, 300MB data. For just 14 yuan more, I could’ve gotten 1GB, but they didn’t have that card available. I just want to try it out anyway. Should be enough for now.

Home to cut the SIM. The iPad came with an AT&T card inside, useless in China, but a good template. Time to get to work. Found the sharpest scissors at home. Eyeballed it, made four cuts into a rectangle. Held it up against the AT&T card — pretty good craftsmanship. Then I needed to cut the little notch. Picked up the scissors and realized: the SIM was now a perfect rectangle, symmetric in every way. Which side does the notch go on? Luckily I had another Unicom 3G SIM to compare. Finally figured out the orientation. One more snip, and it fit perfectly into the iPad’s SIM tray. OK!