The mobile virtual network operator GiffGaff has recommended that customers with iPhone 5s cut their SIM cards down to nano-SIM size using scissors.
GiffGaff demonstrated how to perform the SIM surgery in a blog post on Friday, suggesting that it was a viable way to use a GiffGaff SIM or micro-SIM with Apple's new handset. GiffGaff has not yet brought out a nano-SIM — the iPhone 5 is the first handset to use the format, which was standardised in June.
The ETSI standards body decided to go with Apple's nano-SIM design proposal , rejecting alternatives proposed by RIM and Nokia .
"If you're going to try this one at home for your iPhone 5, cut carefully," GiffGaff commerce chief Kim Faura said in a statement. "Cutting too close could damage your SIM, or make it smaller than it needs to be so it won't make good contact in the phone — it's better to have a snug fit than a loose one."
Faura added that, if a GiffGaff customer does damage their SIM through the alterations, they can order a replacement for free.
GiffGaff's advice seems to suggest that a clipped SIM or micro-SIM can work in the iPhone 5. This has been a much-debated question , as proper nano-SIMs are 12 percent thinner than their predecessors.
"We found… the iPhone 5 doesn't seem to care about this restriction — a full-thickness SIM will fit in just fine without any sanding," the operator's blog post read.
Much of that will be down to Apple's nano-SIM tray design, though, and it is quite possible that un-sanded cards would not fit into other devices that go on to use the standard.
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