Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

SIM Cards Must Die

ilyabirman.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 141 posts

Re: SIM Cards Must Die

#71

Post by michael_h »

gnu8 wrote: post #60
lwhi wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, a SIM card gives freedom from networks and the ability to change numbers easily and use pay as you go services when travelling. There's no way killing SIM cards would be a good thing.

Americans don't know that because their phone companies forbid that practice. AT&T doesn't even bother to move your SIM card from your old iPhone to your new iPhone when you upgrade, they just give you a new card.

That's not correct. I've used my phone on multiple carriers just by swapping the SIM card - and when I upgraded my phone, they used my existing SIM card.

Re: SIM Cards Must Die

#72

Post by identity86 »

nnnnni wrote: post #43
antihero wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there actually any benefit to CDMA?

Yeah... Being ancient technology, the carriers have had more time to put towers everywhere, thus giving better coverage. However, you still can't do data and voice at the same time.

I'm been curious about this, it seems they can can do it over SVDO, but for some reason only HTC seems to actually support this.. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1012752.

Re: SIM Cards Must Die

#73

Post by [deleted] »

antihero wrote: post #35
Arubis wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's been the case for ages because Verizon is a CDMA network, not GSM -- GSM takes SIM cards, while CDMA does not. Different tech. This is likely to shift as V rolls out LTE, which DOES take SIM cards. So we're actually likely to see more intercompatibility as things progress. Except, of course, that everything's still likely to be carrier-locked.

Is there actually any benefit to CDMA?

[deleted]

Re: SIM Cards Must Die

#74

Post by spiralpolitik »

While an interesting read, its pure idealism on the part of the author.

For SIM cards to die as the author imagines the carriers would have to accept that in the future they nothing more than dumb data pipes. This would be excellent news for all consumers.

The US carriers have spent billions in marketing and lobbying to avoid becoming dumb data pipes so they will not accept this future.

And until the US regulator wakes up and starts regulating the carriers, then the status quo will prevail.

Re: SIM Cards Must Die

#75

Post by anonymous987 »

I want a phone that tests network signal strength for each call-- and uses the best network each time. I might use Verizon in the morning, AT&T at noon, and Sprint in the afternoon, depending upon how many real bars the phone is getting. For each Latitude/Longitude the carriers should have a realtime +/- score of how well they support that area.

Re: SIM Cards Must Die

#76

Post by Radzell »

This seems crazy. Business are built to make money not to be logical. This would make customer happy, but I think that aspect is secondary to making guaranteed money. Plus if we lock people in this way it would make it hard for new smaller companies to come in like a Metro. They are smaller and cheaper, but we should give bigger companies control over if they can compete. I don't dislike big companies, but I know they aren't good or evil also. They are greedy as they should be.

Re: SIM Cards Must Die

#77

Post by dave1010uk »

This is already here with WiFi networks and VoIP systems (e.g. Skype). You can log in to Skype from any phone and your calls will be billed to your account. You can even log in to Skype on your friend's phone or you can choose another VoIP provider.

Re: SIM Cards Must Die

#78

Post by john_flintstone »

lwhi wrote: post #38
PanMan wrote: post #4

I'm afraid if we kill SIM cards, the opposite will happen: your phone will be locked to one network, and switching networks means switching hardware (beyond just the sim). I really like that while traveling I can just buy a local sim, put it in my own phone, and use it. That would only work in these wireframes if all operators would agree to support this. Which I think they won't.

Yep, a SIM card gives freedom from networks and the ability to change numbers easily and use pay as you go services when travelling. There's no way killing SIM cards would be a good thing.

And complete anonymity. Most people don't care about this, but some of us do, sometimes. You buy a pay as you go sim card for £10, pay with cash, and toss it a week or month later.

Re: SIM Cards Must Die

#79

Post by bbrizzi »

I'm afraid the author of this blog post doesn't know what a SIM card is.

First of all, it's a secure element: it allows authentication of the user's credentials with the cell phone. SIMs and smart cards in general provide security at the hardware level as well as the software level (using Triple DES encryption).

Also, they are essential in NFC: that standard is developed around the SIM card and the ISO 14443 standard.

Recent technology also allows the development of Java programs WITHIN the SIM card (it's called a JavaCard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Card ) and allows to use a single SIM for multiple applications. For instance, you could use your phone's SIM as a mobile wallet, a metro pass, etc...

Of course, as many others have noted in this thread, removing the SIM card would just add the vendor lock-in inside the phone.

Where I live (France), most phones can be legally (or illegally) unlocked to accept different SIM cards.

Re: SIM Cards Must Die

#80

Post by CaptainZapp »

kamjam wrote: post #57
lwhi wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, a SIM card gives freedom from networks and the ability to change numbers easily and use pay as you go services when travelling. There's no way killing SIM cards would be a good thing.

This and Panmans comments were my first thought when I read that piece. I like the SIM card. When I went backpacking round the world I was able to pick up a pay as you go SIM card from a local store in any country, load it with credit and pop it in my phone and I'm all good to go. None of this sharing information from my phone business. You don't need to know my identity or payment information. I don't want the hassl…

Going out on a limb here, but

  Didn't the original GSM phones work in a similar way, with no SIM and some sort of mapping to a phone number at the carrier end?
As far as I know (and recall), SIM was always part of the GSM specifications.

The first SIMs where credit card sized. Later generations where still credit card sized, but with a perforated breakout for the SIM as we know it (mostly).

The predecessor system (analogue mobile) didn't use SIM.

Post reply on HN