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his point is that your main provider won't allow the switch in the first place ... which is easier to avoid using a sim card.

Absolutely untrue.

i was in India recently and got a indian simcard within 5 minutes, cant imagine trying to call my home provider (please hold the line ... 15 minutes later ... it'll take about a week to process) + $2 a minute overseas, no thank you

Who said anything about making a phone call? This isn't 1985. You have an Internet device in your hand. You'd make the switch without talking to anyone.
 
Here in Europe they already don't hesitate to restrict temporary switching. It's called SIM locking. The reason carriers rejected Apple's eSIM was because the SIM is what allows them to restrict carrier switching. You've got it backwards.

iPhones are simlock free, at least here with Vodafone and O2


Absolutely untrue.



Who said anything about making a phone call? This isn't 1985. You have an Internet device in your hand. You'd make the switch without talking to anyone.

lets say the iPhone 5 has no sim card.

step 1 i have a german vodafone contract
step 2 i go to india and try to get a prepaid plan for lets say 3 weeks
step 3 sry we can't do that because your phone is already signed with a german provider
step 4 trying to find a wifi hotspot that is actually free (good luck with that)
step 5 finally on the vodafone page: ERROR - you are signed to a 24 months plan, can't be changed.
step 6 sad face :(

lets say iPhone 5 has a sim card
step 1 i have a german vodafone contract
step 2 i take the card out, sign up for a prepaid sim card in india
step 3 5 minutes later i'm happy and everything works
 
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No it doesn't

It means carriers have to basically contact the manufacturers in order to get the phone working on the network.

What!!?!?!?! Uh, no. Absolutely not. Where in the world did you get that?

Attention cavemen, Amish, grandparents, et al. A SIM card is not magical. It's removable storage. It loads numbers and passcodes into your device. The VERY SAME THING can be done by doing a carrier search and logging onto their network with the same codes contained on your SIM. Your smartphone or tablet can hold those codes, and upload them to the carrier while loggin on to the network. Done and done.

Please, stop this nonsense. You're comparing CDs to mp3 downloading here.
 
What!!?!?!?! Uh, no. Absolutely not. Where in the world did you get that?

Attention cavemen, Amish, grandparents, et al. A SIM card is not magical. It's removable storage. It loads numbers and passcodes into your device. The VERY SAME THING can be done by doing a carrier search and logging onto their network with the same codes contained on your SIM. Your smartphone or tablet can hold those codes, and upload them to the carrier while loggin on to the network. Done and done.

Please, stop this nonsense. You're comparing CDs to mp3 downloading here.


Which means the network has to submit the auth codes to the manufacturer. Currently with SIM-cards they don't have too, since their on the SIM.

A SIM Card is removable storage, but its vital to making the phone work, and enabling competition.

If SIM-cards are removed from the tech, then that makes it crap like CDMA2000
 
iPhones are simlock free, at least here with Vodafone and O2

Not in 90% of the rest of the world.

even worse ... 30 Euro for 10 MB ^^

Try "free for 10kB" because you have 3 carriers to choose from, instantly and unrestricted. Particularly if your phone is SIMlock free. Come on...

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Which means the network has to submit the auth codes to the manufacturer. Currently with SIM-cards they don't have too, since their on the SIM.

A SIM Card is removable storage, but its vital to making the phone work, and enabling competition.

If SIM-cards are removed from the tech, then that makes it crap like CDMA2000

You have no idea what you're talking about. Seriously. Do you think paper tickets are vital to making a plane fly?
 
Not in 90% of the rest of the world.



Try "free for 10kB" because you have 3 carriers to choose from, instantly and unrestricted. Particularly if your phone is SIMlock free. Come on...

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You have no idea what you're talking about. Seriously. Do you think paper tickets are vital to making a plane fly?

Their not vital to making it fly, but their vital to getting on it :).
 
make the sim card even smaller and my cat may accidentally inhale it. :)
 
What!!?!?!?! Uh, no. Absolutely not. Where in the world did you get that?

Attention cavemen, Amish, grandparents, et al. A SIM card is not magical. It's removable storage. It loads numbers and passcodes into your device. The VERY SAME THING can be done by doing a carrier search and logging onto their network with the same codes contained on your SIM. Your smartphone or tablet can hold those codes, and upload them to the carrier while loggin on to the network. Done and done.

Please, stop this nonsense. You're comparing CDs to mp3 downloading here.

it may work the same but the issue remains, good luck trying to convince your provider that you want something changed or switched to another provider for a while. its far easier to take out a SIM which u can actually do YOURSELF. its not like i can just overwrite the stored data myself if its indeed just stored on the phone
 
What? What about when you want to change network inside your own country. SIM card is the vital part of GSM..

I don't even care about changing networks. I care about being able to use the phone I want to when I want to and not have to try and find a competent CSR to switch my details over.

If my battery's dead, I can switch. If someone has a spare phone I can use, I can switch. If my phone is being repaired, I can switch.

No hassle. No involving the phone company. Just my SIM and the ability to do what I want with it.
 
Really? You think tracking down a retailer and driving to a shop, negotiating in a foreign language and buying a tiny piece of plastic at inflated prices is preferable to making a phone call?
I don't know where you are traveling within the Europe/the EU, but my experience has been smoother
- Grab a SIM card for around 10EUR (at this point yes, you may want to communicate with the locals; but since you are Swiss - and as many educated Europeans - you surely speak many languages).
- Put it in the phone/tablet
I won't go through this (simple) trouble for a simple phone call; I was thinking of the horrendous DATA roaming charges, e.g. for an iPAD.

(...) And anyway more likely this would be a simple process of doing a carrier search and logging on while choosing a package and making a payment all from the phone, no calling an operator necessary.
And no operator would allow to make it so simple; this is not how this happens in the US with non-SIM operators.

There's no difference between physically "playing" with numerous SIM cards and switching between numerous carriers via internal programming. The SIM is just loading information into the phone.
Again, you're mixing real life with what's easily technically possible.

This is beginning to remind me of my grandfather complaining that his photos are not all burned onto a Kodak photo CD because he wants to "hold them".
This is the part where you are out of line and getting closer to useless aggressively.
Thank you for your input above however, as you will have noted, I respectfully disagree.
 
it may work the same but the issue remains, good luck trying to convince your provider that you want something changed or switched to another provider for a while. its far easier to take out a SIM which u can actually do YOURSELF. its not like i can just overwrite the stored data myself if its indeed just stored on the phone

Really? THAT'S WHAT AN ESIM WOULD ALLOW. You'd do exactly that- overwrite the data stored on the phone. Why is this so difficult to understand?
 
Really? THAT'S WHAT AN ESIM WOULD ALLOW. You'd do exactly that- overwrite the data stored on the phone. Why is this so difficult to understand?

you make it sound so easy, just look at the no-sim providers in the US. you'll be "locked" in just in other ways. you cant just overwrite the data as u please. you'd have to convince the providers to overwrite it for you, good luck with that
 
Really? THAT'S WHAT AN ESIM WOULD ALLOW. You'd do exactly that- overwrite the data stored on the phone. Why is this so difficult to understand?

Because the AUTH keys have to be stored in your phone? And how would such login service be universal?

SIM-cards are convenient.
 
Again, you're mixing real life with what's easily technically possible.

Ha! Gotcha.

Look man, they're talking about changing a standard to allow a new process, and you're saying the process wouldn't work because it isn't currently allowed. Maddening logic.

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Because the AUTH keys have to be stored in your phone? And how would such login service be universal?

SIM-cards are convenient.

Um, I dunno. Ever configure a router? Same thing.

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you make it sound so easy, just look at the no-sim providers in the US. you'll be "locked" in just in other ways. you cant just overwrite the data as u please. you'd have to convince the providers to overwrite it for you, good luck with that

My god I'm talking to the wall here. The eSIM would allow for that. Rinse, repeat.
 
Here in Europe they already don't hesitate to restrict temporary switching. It's called SIM locking. The reason carriers rejected Apple's eSIM was because the SIM is what allows them to restrict carrier switching. You've got it backwards.

They do because they are subsidizing your phone (please read my comment fully), and by the way, this practice is closely regulated in most countries and the operators is REQUIRED to unlock your phone after a certain period of time.
It's annoying, but it's part of a sound business model.
After this period, you are free to switch SIMs as you go, without ever having to warn you operator(s)...and by the way, whether this would be done online or on the phone (as in 1985 as you say) does not matter: at this point the operator would have to power to prevent you from switching.

Without a SIM, your phone is linked to an operator until you make a change. That was my point. If you are so jealous about SIMless phone, try to move to the US and to ask a transfer to Sprint for a week-end...
This whole conversation is not about "loving hardware" versus "modern guys who embraces dematerialization"; it's a about commercial practices that are rendered easier or harder based on the hardware.

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My god I'm talking to the wall here. The eSIM would allow for that. Rinse, repeat.

We are talking to a wall...you have no experience of E-Sim providers, and just focus on the theoretical advantages of the E-SIM (on which I fully agree).
 
As longs as I do not have to use a magnifier to see the sim-card I'm fine with whatever size they have. After all they are free to exchange where I live, if you are in need of a smaller one.
 
Because Apple wants a PATENT on it which will force everyone to pay Apple even more money.

Basically, Apple wants *ZERO* competition.

It would be a FRAND patent, of the type that Nokia has a lot with respect to mobile devices.

Nokia seems upset that Apple is registering multiple subsidiaries as members of the standards-setting organization to boost their voting power.
 
I don't even care about changing networks. I care about being able to use the phone I want to when I want to and not have to try and find a competent CSR to switch my details over.

If my battery's dead, I can switch. If someone has a spare phone I can use, I can switch. If my phone is being repaired, I can switch.

No hassle. No involving the phone company. Just my SIM and the ability to do what I want with it.

It is almost like you trust yourself more than you trust carriers.
 
Smaller sims are the way to go. Make way for more battery!

Would a third less of a micro-sim really make that much of a perceivable difference ? Also a lot of the micro-sim devices require the device to carry a bracket on which to hold the micro-sim ? Surely that in itself is counter productive if the aim is to reduce space wastage ?

I honestly don't think we need 'yet another' change in sim card size at this current stage.

It's tiresome, and very awkward and an inconvenience to customers who share their mobile data plan sims between devices. Maybe that is apple's real intent and that too would please mobile carriers (more data plans)...
 
We are talking to a wall...you have no experience of E-Sim providers, and just focus on the theoretical advantages of the E-SIM (on which I fully agree).

uh, I am American, lived for 32 years in the US, where theory is put into practice in the name of progress and convenience. I've had phones with Sprint and Verizon, which are not eSIM (since such a thing does not yet exist), but rather CDMA. The eSIM as Apple proposes would still be GSM, and simply eschew the physical media.

You and your "we" are thinking inside a box, in which current standards and practices are hegemoniously locked into place while new processes and standards are considered, and you can't see outside of your confines to embrace a better system because you just accept the way things are.

Apple is fighting, in the big picture, to eliminate the SIM and adopt a new standard. Any carrier that accepts the standard would follow the rules, supposedly, by not blocking your switch to another carrier. In fact, the standard would provide for authentication via predefined keys, which would be stored in any of a number of ways, such that physical media wouldn't be necessary. It would be as simple as signing up for a service at the time of a carrier search, much the same way you log into public wifi services. Your account and credentials such as credit card would be stored with a third party (I'm sure Apple would love this to be them, utilizing your Apple ID! But it could be PayPal, eBay, amazon, google, etc). It's really as simple as that.

And viola! The theoretical becomes reality. Isn't that how it usually works?
 
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Because the AUTH keys have to be stored in your phone? And how would such login service be universal?

SIM-cards are convenient.

Fully agree, i would hate it i was dependent on the carrier and wouldnt be able to use my phone if there was a problem with the carrier. Imagine traveling abroad (many many countries i can think of) and having no network access due to carriers negligence to "new" customers who travel.
This would be a nightmare. I want my freedom and that is to have a sim-card thank you.
 
This needs to happen, phone manufactures should all get together and come up with a pin-prick blood analysis system. Oh right, we want smaller than the current design...my bad.
 
All for it as long as NO ONE holds the patent for it. Period.

A "standard" like this - if Apple wants it so bad - should be free game. There's very little incentive for other manufacturers to comply with Apple knowing they will be lining Apple's coffers (even more) with payments in perpetuity.

If Apple wants and needs this so bad - they need to ask themselves which is more important. Moving forward and or making a buck on it. Design or Dollar.
 
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