Hi,
Its been a few years since ive used the GSM shield, however it no longer works. But after days of searching & testing, the current IDE (2.0.0) is the one to blame.

- if your modem is not working
- if your IMEI is 0
- if you shield stops working or hangs
- if modem = ERROR, no answer
- if script (examples) not working
USE IDE 1.6.5!
Download from: https://www.arduino.cc/en/software/OldSoftwareReleases
I hope this helps anyone in 2022 or later!!
Thx to rfh