My cellphone won’t work – Murphy’s Law

Of course now that I’m in Baltimore, my phone has decided to stop working. Murphy’s Law.

My 5600 is reporting “invalid or missing sim card” – even I was able to receive a call just fine this morning.

ARRGHHH.

Update 730pm: So since I wrote the above, the following comedic sequence of events happened:

0. I tried cleaning the SIM card contacts with my shirt, toilet paper, tissue, hotel towel. I even tried the old NES technique of blowing on it. No luck.

1. I called Cingular. They ran me through some basic troubleshooting and told me they would send me a new SIM card – but it would take 2-5 days to receive. Argh!

2. I thought about buying a pre-paid SIM card at a local store as a temporary measure. But my phone is locked. So I went to Erik’s Unlocking a 5600 page. Lo and behold, you need a working SIM card to unlock your phone. Argh!

3. I took a taxi to the local Cingular (formerly AT&T Wireless) store to see if they had any techs or extra AT&T Wireless SIM cards. Nope. None. No techs, and no SIM cards for an AT&T Wireless customer like me. Seeing my problem, one of the sales guys took the SIM card, and rubbed it vigorously with his thumb. (Actually it was more of a vigorous schmearing action.) And it worked! Argh! Unbelievable!

4. I made a quick call to verify that it worked. I checked email to verify that it worked. It all worked! All it took was some of his thumb grease.

But wait… why isn’t this post over? Because…

5. 2 hours later, I look at my phone and its searching for a signal… in downtown Baltimore. What the heck? I reboot and it says that I am now Denied. Argh!

Remember Step 2? I’m guessing that when they placed the order for a new SIM card, they cancelled my existing one.

So now I’m back to Square 1 – no cell phone service for the next 2-5 days. Argh!

Don’t call me. And don’t leave any messages.