The paper trick on the SIM worked, still going to keep at making the Pinephone my primary.
The N900 is still a favored backup though.
The Pine might be alpha rough but getting back to being able to access the modern internet is pretty cool without needing to tether a tablet or laptop.
(edit)Sadly not so easy, now it goes from X-ed SIM to working, a few squeezes help, but no longer reliable. It will probably be a while until I can hot air reball the modem but is still good way to run Maebble to update my Pebble watch.