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Qualcomm wants to replace eSIMs with iSIMs, has the first certified SoC

arstechnica.com

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Re: Qualcomm wants to replace eSIMs with iSIMs, has the first certified SoC

#21

Post by jraph »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #18
godzillabrennus wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SIM cards were never swappable for me. They were locked to a phone. Changing to a new handset meant going to the carriers store or having them ship me one. I welcome the ease of portability that eSIM brings.

This feels like an American perspective. In Europe (and Asia too?), sim-swapping is pretty seamless, and relatively common.

There's also the simlocking.

In France, (many/all?) phones bought from the carriers (with a subscription with some time commitment) were (are?) simlocked, meaning that they could only accept SIMs from these carriers. But carriers are also forced by law to let you sim-unlock your phone for free after a few months. So yes, pretty seamless and common indeed. Everybody expects to be able to switch carriers and keep their phones.

Re: Qualcomm wants to replace eSIMs with iSIMs, has the first certified SoC

#22

Post by jplona »

thedays wrote: post #2

eSIMs are less convenient and less flexible than regular SIM cards - will iSIMs be any different? How many iSIMs will a phone support? Will they support dual iSIMs or triple iSIMs so I can use one mobile number for work, another for my personal life and a third to use when I'm travelling overseas and want to avoid expensive roaming charges?

Why are eSIMs less convenient for you?

In all of the interactions I've had, eSIM works without issue and right away. Most of the times I've needed a physical SIM card I've had to wait for it to be mailed or plan a trip to a physical store, or the old one is the wrong size and I need a new one or an adapter.

Re: Qualcomm wants to replace eSIMs with iSIMs, has the first certified SoC

#23

Post by jraph »

kube-system wrote: post #19
bilekas wrote: post #5

I feel really old thinking that i remember the model of sim cards that were credit card size and not shown in the diagram.

You still get them in that format (but breakaway into smaller formats) if you buy a bring-your-own-sim kit from many carriers.

Where? Here you can get the "breakaway into smaller formats" thing but not credit-card sized, the biggest size is Mini SIM.

Re: Qualcomm wants to replace eSIMs with iSIMs, has the first certified SoC

#24

Post by Daz1 »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #18
godzillabrennus wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SIM cards were never swappable for me. They were locked to a phone. Changing to a new handset meant going to the carriers store or having them ship me one. I welcome the ease of portability that eSIM brings.

This feels like an American perspective. In Europe (and Asia too?), sim-swapping is pretty seamless, and relatively common.

Not in Japan. Some carriers like Docomo you can't even buy a standalone SIM.

Re: Qualcomm wants to replace eSIMs with iSIMs, has the first certified SoC

#25

Post by shalmanese »

Can anyone explain why eSIM was the stopgap solution and we didn't go straight from physical SIM to iSIM? What special requirements does a SIM card have that it was easier to put it on a seperate chip? Now that we've moved to iSIM, does this remove the artificial limitation on the number of SIMs a phone can support? Can I buy a phone in 2030 and load it up with 50 different PAYG SIM cards?

Re: Qualcomm wants to replace eSIMs with iSIMs, has the first certified SoC

#26

Post by somat »

jraph wrote: post #23
kube-system wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You still get them in that format (but breakaway into smaller formats) if you buy a bring-your-own-sim kit from many carriers.

Where? Here you can get the "breakaway into smaller formats" thing but not credit-card sized, the biggest size is Mini SIM.

All the sims I have ever received(US) come as a credit card sized item(looks like a smart card) and you break out the size you need. (sim, mini sim, micro sim)

Re: Qualcomm wants to replace eSIMs with iSIMs, has the first certified SoC

#27

Post by bjackman »

jjtheblunt wrote: post #7

This looks like paid Qualcomm PR, for the following reason. From the article, it looks a lot like Qualcomm trying to coopt the eSIM success now a few years old, by saying the electronics of iSIM are a custom block in their silicon, not a separate small chip. But it doesn't clarify that others (like Apple obviously) can't realize their eSIMs in their custom SOC, as far as i see. > Qualcomm says "the new iSIM is fully…

Yeah AFAICT this article is just: Qualcomm is now a certified producer of eSIMs. They put them in the SoC.

Everything else including the term "iSIM" just seems to be marketing cruft?

Perhaps I'm missing some detail but it seems the only people who would have any reason to care about this would be Qualcomm's customers in the mobile OEM space.

Re: Qualcomm wants to replace eSIMs with iSIMs, has the first certified SoC

#28

Post by gambiting »

Reason077 wrote: post #17
chamakits wrote: post #4

This seems like an inevitability; since eSIMs are already here, and manufacturers are going to be thrilled to have fewer moving parts. But it’s disappointing all round. I absolutely love how easy it is for me to buy a new phone, swap in my old SIM and I’m instantly using my old number. As painful as transferring everything else is with new phones, at least I easily keep the same number. With this (and I’d guess with…

> "But it’s disappointing all round. I absolutely love how easy it is for me to buy a new phone, swap in my old SIM and I’m instantly using my old number." In theory, with an eSIM it's even easier to swap in your old SIM because you don't have to deal with the physical SIM card. Especially so if you don't have the physical SIM because it's lost or whatever. In my experience it's super frustrating to have to wait for…

I have two sims in my phone, neither carrier even supports eSIMs yet. The technology is extremely slow to roll out around the world for some reason.

Re: Qualcomm wants to replace eSIMs with iSIMs, has the first certified SoC

#29

Post by kramerger »

shalmanese wrote: post #25

Can anyone explain why eSIM was the stopgap solution and we didn't go straight from physical SIM to iSIM? What special requirements does a SIM card have that it was easier to put it on a seperate chip? Now that we've moved to iSIM, does this remove the artificial limitation on the number of SIMs a phone can support? Can I buy a phone in 2030 and load it up with 50 different PAYG SIM cards?

My guess is that the French SIM companies put all kind of artificial limitations on esim so they could keep their marketshare and continue earning money on licensing and patents

Re: Qualcomm wants to replace eSIMs with iSIMs, has the first certified SoC

#30

Post by azernik »

shalmanese wrote: post #25

Can anyone explain why eSIM was the stopgap solution and we didn't go straight from physical SIM to iSIM? What special requirements does a SIM card have that it was easier to put it on a seperate chip? Now that we've moved to iSIM, does this remove the artificial limitation on the number of SIMs a phone can support? Can I buy a phone in 2030 and load it up with 50 different PAYG SIM cards?

Security.

SIMs are smartcards - separate systems storing cryptographic material and performing trusted operations. A TPM that can be plugged and unplugged, basically, using the same standards as a chip-and-pin credit card.

Equivalent keystores haven't been available built in to cell phones until the last few years.

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