Do we lose contacts if we install a Swiss SIM card

We will be arriving in Switzerland on Saturday. We cannot wait! We plan on getting the Salt Sim Card in the Zurich airport. Our question is: when they install the sim card in our phone will we lose our contacts, any downloaded books and downloaded documents from our phones? If so, do they try to reinstall that info to their sim card? Thank you for your help.

>> when they install the sim card in our phone will we lose our contacts

I'm no expert on this, but this is what I understand from my own experience with several phones, SIM cards and SD cards. The phones I have experience with do not include an iPhone.

If your contacts are stored on your SIM card, and the SIM card is replaced, then you will "lose" your contacts until the original SIM card is put back into the phone. Before changing the SIM, copy your contacts from the SIM card to the inbuilt memory on the phone, and they should then remain available after the new SIM goes in.

>> any downloaded books and downloaded documents from our phones?

Usually those things are not installed on the SIM card, but rather on an SD card (if you have one installed) or to the phone's own memory, so changing the SIM card should not affect them.

However, to be on the safe side, I would back up your contacts and other data on your phone before leaving home, and have a copy of your key contacts in another form, e.g. on paper.

Alpenrose

Alpenrose666,

Thank you for your speedy reply. We will try to figure out whether that info is stored on our sd card, internal memory or the sim card. Thank you for your help.

Hi Pickergal,

Alpenrose is correct. You may temporarily lose contacts if they're on the SIM card. You can best store them in memory, and synched to the cloud if possible. Downloads can't be stored on a SIM card so those will remain available.

If you prefer not to change anything in your phone, a portable Wifi hotspot is the best way to go. It's a very small device. It offers a high speed internet connection you can share with up to 10 people, so you only need one. Your phone will remain untouched, so you will also keep your regular phone number. Please see www.myswissalps.com/si mcard for details.

PickerGal - what kind of cell phone will you be using? Different brands work differently. If it's an iPhone, which model? This can also make a difference.

Mine is a Samsung Galaxy 5. It looks like my contacts are in my internal memory. My husband has a newer Samsung Galaxy and we haven't figured out where his contacts are hiding. It is a fairly new phone and he hasn't figured out all the bells and whistles yet.

Thank you Arno and pvonk for your assistance.

Unfortunately, I can't help with Android phones.

I just went and visited with a local Verizon Wireless rep. He assures me that with the Swiss Sim card in my phone, I will have access to everything my phone has in it currently. He even spoke to me in German after finding out we were going to Switzerland and I responded to him with my less than perfect French.

Once again, thank you everybody for being so generous answering my question.