Will a 5G SIM work with my 4G Phone

[Danield2]

I am soon due an upgrade but instead of upgrading i want to go SIM Only. However i am looking to get more data 100GB+ but i can see that there are now only 5G SIMS and am concerned that if i get a 5G SIM it won't work with my 4G Phone.

Will it work Or have i now been trapped into getting an upgrade to get the data i want? TIA

[Peter_C]

Hi @Danield2,

A 5G capable SIM will certainly work in a 4G Phone.

Thanks,

Peter

[XRaySpeX · Accepted solution]

There's no distinction between 4G & 5G SIMs. You buy either 4G or 5G plans. A 5G plan will work in a 4G phone but you won't get 5G from it, only 4G.

[bremhillbob]

I was told (by EE tech support) on Friday that my 2 year old phone (FairPhone3) would not work with a 5G sim.  I didn't understand the concept of a 5G sim and asked for an email confirmation which I received.

Surely there is no such thing as a 5G sim?  Isn't it essentially just memory which is used to identify the phone ... your 'plan', held by EE (or whoever) then determines what service you get .... surely it has nothing to do with the SIM?

Obviously I'll only get 4G if that is what my plan says - but this isn't determined by the sim but by the operator

[XRaySpeX]

Yes, @bremhillbob , you're right! That's just what I said that what signal you get is not determined by the SIM but by the plan you buy from your network & the phone you have.

[MatJo]

Be careful, as I found out the hard way: I could use my old SIM (with my existing phone number) in my new phone, no problem. My new SIM worked only for calls and SMS in my old phone. No non-wifi data possible. A deal-breaker but too late as I am now under a new contract. The new SIM cards are not backwards compatible for data for even a phone only 5 years old.

Oh well...