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Apple SIM

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Re: Apple SIM

#51

Post by oneplane »

zokier wrote: post #46
oneplane wrote: post #36

Nice to see SoftBank on that page, probably means SoC makers can simply get the IP from them when getting other parts like an ARM core etc. Makes it a whole lot easier to just get a virtual SIM in your device.

Probably means > On October 1, 2006, Vodafone Japan changed its corporate name, mobile phone brand name, and its mobile phone domain name to SoftBank Mobile, SoftBank, and [mb.softbank.jp], respectively and > SoftBank Mobile was the only official carrier of the iPhone in Japan until the release of iPhone 4S in 2011 when it became available on au by KDDI as well https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoftBank_Group Oh, and Sof…

Ah, so SoftBank Group is not just the ARM guys. Makes a different kind of sense now.

Re: Apple SIM

#52

Post by seanmcdirmid »

mvid wrote: post #31

I'm surprised Apple has created a proper Fi competitor yet. It would fit so well into their premium brand of "your iPhone works the moment you step off the plane wherever your amazing life takes you". They wouldn't have their UX tied to cell providers, who are some of the most unpleasant entities to interact with. They would probably be able to lean further into their personal security stance, by fully obfuscating th…

When you get off the plane in Thailand, you’ll get an SMS if you are roaming on a foreign carrier to use a local prepay service without needing a custom SIM. Not sure how they do it.

Re: Apple SIM

#53

Post by blhack »

I've always wished that apple would offer this in the macbook pros. A laptop that doesn't have to tether, but just carries its own internet connection with it would be really nice.

Re: Apple SIM

#54

Post by _RPM »

Whatever you do, do not purchase any device from AT&T. You will be locked in to GSM only networks.

Re: Apple SIM

#55

Post by Kuraj »

blhack wrote: post #53

I've always wished that apple would offer this in the macbook pros. A laptop that doesn't have to tether, but just carries its own internet connection with it would be really nice.

I'm currently looking at the Surface Pro LTE for this very reason.

Re: Apple SIM

#56

Post by hughes »

radicaldreamer wrote: post #23

This isn’t new and it’s fairly expensive compared to Google Fi or T-Mobile. Might be worth it for customers in some countries but US users have much better choices for roaming internationally.

Where did you find pricing information? Google Fi is already outrageously expensive for data at $10/GB

Re: Apple SIM

#57

Post by swiley »

blhack wrote: post #53

I've always wished that apple would offer this in the macbook pros. A laptop that doesn't have to tether, but just carries its own internet connection with it would be really nice.

I know many thinkpads have an empty bay with a minipci connector that you can put modems in which do just that.

I don't know why things like that aren't popular, I guess it looks "ugly?"

Re: Apple SIM

#58

Post by scrollaway »

mvid wrote: post #31

I'm surprised Apple has created a proper Fi competitor yet. It would fit so well into their premium brand of "your iPhone works the moment you step off the plane wherever your amazing life takes you". They wouldn't have their UX tied to cell providers, who are some of the most unpleasant entities to interact with. They would probably be able to lean further into their personal security stance, by fully obfuscating th…

> It would fit so well into their premium brand of "your iPhone works the moment you step off the plane wherever your amazing life takes you".

If there's anything that would make me buy an iPhone, this is it. I travel a lot between the US and Europe; I'm using Fi at the moment even though I shouldn't actually have access to it. It's mind boggling to me the crazy things we can do with tech today, and not make it all work smoothly and reliably when you step a few meters off the border of whichever country you're in.

Re: Apple SIM

#59

Post by walshemj »

Mononokay wrote: post #33
lainga wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think one is just T for Deutsche Telekom, whose corporate relationship to T-Mobile depends on the month and phase of moon.

Huh. Thanks for explaining; I genuinely had no idea Deutsche Telekom existed.

Its the old West German PTT as was also know a Dustch Buders Pest to other telecoms :-)

Re: Apple SIM

#60

Post by Nullabillity »

kodablah wrote: post #49
jonlucc wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you go into any of the major retailers in the US, the iPhone is already the first-class device. Why would they want to be in the messy business of running a carrier, likely dependent on the partners they'd then be screwing over, while they built their own network from the ground up. On the other hand, maybe they'd just purchase Sprint or Verizon.

> Why would they want to be in the messy business of running a carrier Does Fi run the carrier? I thought it used existing carriers and just supported seamless transition between them (and wifi). Regardless, the motivation would be to get that market they're missing that doesn't use one of the big 4. Granted Apple has never catered to that market, so not sure why they would now (it'd actually be detrimental to them I…

Fi's "included" roaming sounds great, until you realize how pathetically expensive even their domestic prices are.

Fi's base price[0] is $20/mo + tax. Hallon (my current provider) will sell you 8GB/mo of data for $18/mo, tax included.[1] With Fi that would cost you.. $80/mo + tax. Hallon doesn't actually have anything comparable to that, price-wise; their most expensive plan is 100GB/mo at ~$40.

And no, population density is not an excuse either. According to Wikipedia[2], the US' population density is 33 ppl/km², where Sweden has 23 ppl/km².

Doesn't seem to be the economy either, the GDP per capita seems to within ~20%[3], and that's before taking into account the massive difference in income equality.

I'd love if someone could explain how this price difference is somehow reasonable, because this just boggles my mind completely.

[0]: https://fi.google.com/about/plan/

[1]: https://www.hallon.se/vara-produkter/mobiltelefoni/mobilabon...

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependen...

[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)...

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