My daughter works for Tmobile in their PDA and Blackberry department and she said that she has not heard of any type of sim reader that you can actually plug into your computer. She recommends installing the blackberry desktop manager 4.6 from www.t-mobile.com/bbupgrade and using that to back up all of your information from the phone, you can utilize the feature called mobile backup from the phone which will back up your contacts through Tmobile.com, or if you are needing a new sim the Tmobile stores have a device that will transfer contacts from your old sim to the new sim. The only information that is capable of being stored on a sim card are your contacts, but there are several solutions to back that information up.
You can also check out forums.t-mobile.com for questions as well as www.blackberry.com or www.crackberry.com

I have installed the RIM software in the past, but now I have not been able to make it work any longer. It takes 45 minutes to install, and you have to promise to buy Blackberry service to install, and I told it I would so I could back up my sim card contacts, but I don't have Blackberry service. The software did not connect, yet it deleted all my contacts from my sim. Furthermore, you have to give all your information to Blackberry your name, address,your profession, first born child etc. and it takes a very long time to type in all of that. If you do it once you still have to type it in again each time you download the software. The RIM software is buggy, you will need to reinstall it frequently if it works at all. I will never use the RIM software again.

I have seen usb sim card readers for as low as 4.99. They told me I should either buy a new phone or use the RIM software. That is why I am posting here to see if anyone else has used a sim back up usb device and if so what brand did they use. I can't understand why tmobile would suggest I spend $300 to buy a new phone rather then spend 4.99. The sim card goes into the usb, it's a card reader. They have one if you look on Amazon, but it got a low review. New Egg also has card readers with slots to insert a SIM card, the same way you would the memory card from your camera. I would assume you can also edit your contacts via computer. Tmobile should get in touch with reality.

I'm not sure what RIM software you are referencing to, but the Blackberry desktop manager that you can download for free from T-mobile.com/bbupgrade does not cost anything to you and does not require you to pay for anything...ever.
I'm very sorry that your contacts were deleted, but again, there is a service through T-mobile that can back your contacts up on T-mobile.com and it is called Mobile Backup. This just syncs your contacts up with T-Mobile. If you feel safe enough to trust your contact information on a 5 dollar piece of equipment that I would get the 5 dollar sim reader. However..where will they be stored once backing them up?? I'm not sure where you got the RIM software that you used from, but it doesn't sound like it was the actual desktop manager 4.6 that T-mobile and Blackberry suggest to be used. The desktop manager can backup and restore all information stored on the phone if you want it to, or just specific information. I would suggest going to the website suggested www.T-mobile.com/bbupgrade and getting the correct download and back your information up or use the feature provided from the phone and back your contacts up through mobile backup and you can see them on T-mobile.com!
Let me know if this helps!