Why my sim-card is UNKNOWN in phone settings? Why there are another accounts with my number??

Mahnoosh

I got my number last week. When I go to the phone settings, it mentions my sim card as "UNKNOWN" and I can't see the phone number. When I want to register on various sites like Uber, Uber Eat,.... I get the message "Another account exists with this number" !! I'm really confused and upset. I do not know what to do.

Jacques_Assert

My guess is that there is a mismatch between your SIM and your phone number.

Perhaps another SIM was registered to your phone number?

Or another phone number registered to this SIM?

It could even be a dirty contact in the SIM causing a misread, but that seems less likely.

This is worth a call to customer service to resolve.

Idefizz

Hello @Mahnoosh

But you can call and received calls, correct? And what does the one who receives your call see (when not a company like Uber)?

My guess for the "Another account exists with this number" message is because the value "unknown" (or whatever it shows up as) exists in their system, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. Especially if people can reach you with the correct number.

In the forum this seems like a known issue as briefly discussed in this page. But no solution offered.

Android:

• This says you probably can't change it: https://www.samsung.com/africa_en/support/mobile-devices/why-does-my-samsung-android-phone-list-my-phone-number-as-unknown-in-its-settings/
• But these 2 say you could with some phones. Don't hold your breath tho...but it may be worth a try: "Go into Contacts -> [Menu] -> More -> Settings -> Own numbers -> [Menu] -> Create and type your phone number into the Number field, now Save" (if your phone does not have such capacity, put your sim in a temporary phone that can). Then switch your phone off and on again, and it should show the correct number (or whatever number you entered) in the status now. Sources:
  • https://appuals.com/android-phone-showing-unknown-as-my-phone-number/
  • https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3072/in-my-samsung-galaxy-s-under-settings-status-phone-number-is-says-unknown

iPhone (old thread though):

• Turn on Airplane Mode and back off. I'd suggest to wait 30 seconds in between. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3719533

Either platform:

• Remove SIM, use another phone, set the value, put it back in new phone. https://crowdsupport.telstra.com.au/t5/apple-ios/phone-number-appears-as-unknown-in-settings/td-p/29470

Alternative quick things to try but not having a lot of background to support them:

• remove and put back your SIM using a paper clip. It sometimes does magic on strange issues. Know that it could reset your APN settings, which maybe a thing to try as well anyway. The procedure is at https://fizz.ca/en/faq/what-are-fizz-network-settings-apn
• enable your phone to automatically select a network:
  • Android: Settings → Connections → Mobile networks → Network operators → Search networks → Automatic/Fizz
  • iPhone: Settings → Operators → Automatic/Fizz
• Reboot (power cycle) your phone and try the apple trick described: Turn on Airplane Mode and back off. I'd suggest to wait 30 seconds in between . I mean at this point...

And of course, chat with Fizz if all fails.

Quite curious about this problem. If anything works in this, please let us know...