4 ms·
Is there a good reason why mobile phones still have SIM cards, besides the historical reasons?
by lifty 5y ago
Is there a good reason why mobile phones still have SIM cards, besides the historical reasons?
- raverbashing 5y agoYes, so you can switch providers easily
- wereHamster 5y agoFTA: > iPhone 13 models already support multiple eSIM profiles, allowing users to subscribe to several cellular plans digitally and switch between them, […]
- konart 5y agoIn some countries eSIM is basically illegal (for example in Russia up until 2019)
- faeyanpiraat 5y agoWhy?
- comboy 5y agoOne I can think of is operator providing you a software package to make use of his special services (and whatnot). Did you know your simcard contains Java Runtime Environment?
- rajasimon 5y agoWhere can I find those details?
- comboy 5y agoThere was one really good talk about from black hat or defcon [1] but there's also this [2] which seems more thorough so I'm gonna watch it too later. I happen to have a friend who writes software for simcards so that's what really was my main source. 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scArc93XXWw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scArc93XXWw 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31D94QOo2gY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31D94QOo2gY
- olliej 5y agoOh JavaCard, you have succeeded despite being horrific. It's also used for ATM cards, credit cards, etc. And Apple Pay :D I wonder if any environment uses log4j? (jk I hope. The JavaCard spec is fairly limited so maybe it's accidentally safe :D )
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- kaba0 5y agoWhy do you think it is horrific? Haven’t had the chance to look into it so all I know about it is that it uses Java ME which is a very limited subset of Java SE.
- olliej 5y agoI would much rather a defined protocol rather than arbitrary code. It also means you can require multiple distinct applets on your phone for each card provider.
- ytch 5y agoChina still doesn't allow eSim, so Apple made special iPhone model with dual SIM slots for them.
- woutr_be 5y agoI guess that's the reason why they took eSim away on the iPhone 12 in Hong Kong, despite previous models having it. I used to have my main number as an eSim, and then inserted a travel SIM. Had to convert my eSim back to a real SIM card. Luckily it has dual SIM.
- llampx 5y agoProgress for the sake of progress... SIM cards have plenty of advantages, all of which relate to control of your hardware. With a physical SIM card you retain control of the number and can swap it easily. As other comments have shown, with an eSIM, you rely on the provider to provision it for you. I hated having to call the provider when I was with Sprint and Verizon Wireless in the US, when I wanted to change the phone I was using. And that was mostly free and they had 24-hour hotlines. If you have to pay and can only call during business hours, it is a huge regression.
- rosndo 5y agoThis is stupid, your carrier could IMEI lock physical SIMs if they want. eSIMs change nothing, the control you speak of is just a delusion.
- adriancr 5y agomany advantages, If your phone dies, you just move sim card and the new phone works has your old phone number. You buy a new phone, say you have an android and buy an iphone or reverse... you can easily move the sim card as you want. I'm not even sure how you would do that with eSIM.
- gog 5y agoCouple of years ago I went to Africa, bought two local SIM cards from children on the road while sitting in a car, they had to take a picture of my passport with their mobile phone and activate the cards, but it worked. Having esim being sold like that would probably not be possible.