WhatSim, a SIM Card for WhatsApp

Post by kbart » Thu, Jan 29, 2015, 10:59 AM UTC

andyjohnson0 wrote: post #39

I understand what this is but I'm having a hard time understanding how it works. I understand that it is a sim that permits data-only connectivity for a large number of networks around the world. What I'm having difficulty with is understanding how the sim limits the user to using only whatsapp. Does the sim analyse network traffic content or endpoint to block non-whatsapp data? Is the whatsapp software supplied on t…

Post by pjc50 » Thu, Jan 29, 2015, 11:09 AM UTC

kayoone wrote: post #60

burnte wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it's trivial for the app to simply add a flag that there is a photo or video in the encrypted content. End to end encryption doesn't mean the app doesn't know what you're sending, it means the company can't decrypt the contents.

But that does not explain how the WhatSim guys can detect multimedia content and charge accordingly. They can't decrypt the traffic and can't modify the app itself.

Post by tuananh » Thu, Jan 29, 2015, 11:21 AM UTC

Post by lewi » Thu, Jan 29, 2015, 12:15 PM UTC

colinbartlett wrote: post #66

nichtich wrote: post #31

Can I use other applications besides WhatsApp? No, WhatSim works only with WhatsApp. If this is the trend, then those quad-sim crappy phones I got from China will finally be useful! One for WhatsApp, one for netflix, one for phone, one for internet. Honestly I don't know who will ever use this.. Also, when I first read the title, I thought: cool, they implemented the WhatsApp protocol on a sim card, so feature phones…

I could see myself buying this if for no other reason than emergencies or that time right after I land in a foreign country and haven't yet pantomimed my way through buying a SIM card in a foreign language. It would be useful to have for those periods and nice to keep around just in case since it's so cheap. Or even layovers in foreign countries where I want to leave the airport for a few hours and not buy a SIM.

Post by orjan » Thu, Jan 29, 2015, 12:41 PM UTC

cr3ative wrote: post #29

Andrenid wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup way too many mentions of "free, without limits", considering: €10 per year but they say "no expiry". €.25 per photo (sent or received, I think) €.50 per video That's just for Zone 1. More than triple those prices if you're in Australia or any Zone 2 country.. and more than 6 times those prices if you're in Canada or any Zone 3 country.

I've dealt with a small amount of MVNO negotiations and this company has put many red flags up in my mind. It may be obvious to someone else, but I'd like to know how they detect a photo or video being sent, rather than text? WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted, so they can't be proxying the data to the servers. Are they just guessing from the total data transfer seen from the subscriber? There's a lot of unanswered que…