i finally managed to cut the vodafone sim and get it working after 2-3 hours of troubleshooting. i cut the sim according to a template i found on the web, but the phone was still saying no sim. then i found out that the pins were lining up exactly on the black design on the sim card and so it was showing no sim. it needs to line up on the central copper/gold portions. even if one of the three pins touches the black design, it wont see the sim card.
the micro sim specifications are too strict. just 1/20th of a mm extra on one edge and the phone says no sim. wonder which person thought of such strict specifications.
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the top and bottom parts are not that important. only the side edges are. if you have a big sim contacts, then cut it near the edges of the contacts. file the edges such that only the sim border is there. there should be no extra bit of plastic around them on the sides. no need to spend money on sim cutter. it wont cut to such exact specs imo.