
Apple Built A SIM Card That Lets You Switch Between AT&T, Sprint, And T-Mobile - calvin_c
http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/16/apple-sim/
======
IkmoIkmo
Probably the most interesting thing from Apple today, in my opinion. The
ability to buy short term plans from different providers effortlessly can turn
my tablet into a much more versatile device, and increase competition and
reduce long-term carrier lock-in.

It's pretty sweet and if it can set a standard for phones then we'll see
carriers become true utilities between which customers can switch easily if
they get poor service. In short, pretty awesome.

Today's carrier system kind of feels like this dinosaur, like a landline...
archaic and unnecessary. With so many people travelling, changing places,
changing technology etc, it makes a lot of sense to move from subscriptions to
short-time payments, and eventually, pay-per second of use on the fly,
directly, without an account or monthly statement, with a push payment instead
of a pull payment. (digital currencies being a key element here). Anyway,
getting a bit too off-topic here, but cool first move by Apple for sure!

~~~
click170
> it makes a lot of sense to move from subscriptions to short-time payments

It makes sense for the consumer, but I don't think that's in the financial
interest of the companies who have worked hard to make long-term service
agreements for you phone something that is colloquially accepted in North
America. I'm with you, I'd like to see the market change. Just.. don't hold
your breath.

I understnad Pay-As-You-Go is much bigger in the UK, I wonder if that's
because the companies there never tried to push long-term agreements of if
they've actually found PAYG more profitable.

~~~
soylentcola
I think the real issue is that US customers (at least) have been conditioned
to think of a smart phone as something that costs between $0 and $300 due to
the common use of contracts and subsidies. Even if a carrier offers a non-
contract plan, they are often not that much better as far as price (with some
exceptions like TMobile and some MVNOs), so they balk at paying $650-850 for a
handset.

That was one of the things I liked most about the Nexus 5 when it came out.
Even unlocked you were getting a current gen phone, unlocked, worked with
three major carriers and many MVNOs, and only cost $350. At that point, it's
not as tough to make the jump and ditch the contract. Without the contract,
you can just leave if a competitor offers a better deal or if your carrier
screws you over.

Even with this new SIM, I imagine you're still either gonna pay full price or
you're gonna get it subsidized with a contract and then have the option of
flipping over to some secondary plan when needed. Might be good for smaller
carriers with good rates but less coverage. Phone works great at home but
drops off when you go to another town? Just flip to a prepaid SIM from a cheap
prepaid carrier with service in the area.

~~~
Igglyboo
Yep, no one is going to want to pay $600+ for a phone(in the US). TBH, over
$200 for a phone on contract is really high as well.

~~~
rconti
_shrug_ Just paid $750 for an iPhone 6, unlocked. The alternative was renting
it from my carrier for a similar amount, divided into 24 months, and being
handcuffed to them for unlocks and the like. By using BYOD pricing on my ATT
plan, I pay less every month than I would on a subsidy.

Yeah, I'm not _everyone_ , but arguing that "most people" won't do what I did
is kind of missing the point-- they already DO pay that much, just not all at
once. It's kind of crazier when you realize what people are paying without
knowing it.

The subsidies are going away -- ATT and Verizon in the US are forcing people
into their monthly payment plans -- which is kind of nice, because people
actually see what they're paying instead of just seeing it "bundled".

~~~
colinbartlett
I've converted at least a dozen friends and family members to this route just
by showing them with simple math how much I save.

I think it's very slowly catching on how bad a deal it is to rent your phone
on contract.

~~~
sanderjd
Step 2 is converting to phones that don't cost $750! There are some great
phones for less than $300 _unsubsidized_ nowadays.

~~~
TeMPOraL
One thing I learned is that there are things in life you shouldn't be cheap
about, and one of them is most definitely a smartphone. You're buying a device
you'll be using every day, likely pulling it up for few seconds every little
while. You definitely _don 't_ want to have a smartphone that looks like crap,
hangs up all the time and in the end won't let you do half of the things it
was supposed to do. This would be introducing an incredibly big source of
frustrations into your daily routine. I wouldn't be surprised if additional
psychiatrist bill would be bigger than money saved on the phone.

I was stuck for three years with a crapphone (LG P150) that was too weak to
lift its own operating system (Android). After those three years of torture
(and using it only for calls and text messages, as turning on Internet would
max out the processing power and memory and would require taking out the
battery) I can say _such phones should not be allowed on the market_.
Especially not pushed by telecoms on contracts. It's especially sad to look at
people who get burned by this when buying their first smartphones. It's
basically a story of shattered dreams. It's just evil.

So folks, either buy a dumbphone (if all you need is text and calls), or shell
out for some decent tech. Buy that Nexus or S4. It's worth the money.

~~~
ams6110
I've got a Moto-G from Republic Wireless. $149 to buy the phone and $10/month.
It's perfectly fine.

~~~
reportingsjr
My SO switched to the same thing about 4 or 5 months ago. She was paying
$40/mo with AT&T and had a crappy alcatel lucent phone. She has absolutely
loved the Moto G. It is very, very similar to the Galaxy Nexus with a few
updates. Definitely a good deal!

------
apayan
Apple filed a patent on this Virtual SIM card in 2011. More info here:
[http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2011/11/apple-
in...](http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2011/11/apple-introduces-
us-to-the-virtual-sim-card.html)

The linked article suggests it's a method to save space in the hardware design
so the SIM is not user serviceable. However, it also forces you to only buy
data service from Apple approved carriers. Notice in the screen shot from the
OP's article that Cricket or any of the more affordable MVNO's are not
available as options.

This change is just as much about control over where you spend your carrier
dollars (and, possibly, Apple getting a kickback) as it is about saving space.

~~~
bradddd
People are missing the point that there isn't an actual sim card now, that you
don't get the "apple" convenience AND the ability to pop in some random
carrier's. It's convenience at the cost of flexibility.

~~~
bentcorner
That's actually pretty terrible. I was thinking it was a SIM card with some
Apple-designed logic in it. Not a baked-in SIM card. I wasn't really
considering the device but now it's out of the question. Hopefully they don't
do the same thing to their phones.

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davb
I really don't like the sound of this. The SIM card is the one thing that
keeps mobile service relatively divorced from the hardware. I can keep the
same phone but change SIM whenever it suits. I can also take change hardware
and just move the SIM.

I don't need to ask my provider or hardware OEM for permission. I have
control. In the Apple scenario I'm giving this up. I vaguely remember some
wrangling with GSMA over this.

Ultimately, as with many Apple products, we'll be trading control for
convenience.

~~~
milkshakes
nobody says you have to use the Apple SIM. it's just a card. remove it and
replace it if you do not like it.

~~~
techsupporter
But that's his point: What incentive does Apple (or any other mobile device
manufacturer) have to make devices with user-replaceable SIMs?

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maximumoverload
I admit, as an European, I see no point to this.

If you want a new SIM card, and you don't have a contract, just buy a new SIM
card and put it in your phone / tablet.

If you have a long-term contract, this won't help you anyway.

Where is the catch? (Sorry if I am sounding stupid)

~~~
Ricapar
Think about the user experience.

If switching, a user no longer has to wait on delivery of a small physical
item from the new carrier. The user doesn't have to fiddle with a paperclip to
pop out the SIM. (Average user could be scared to do so, or could scratch/bend
the rather fragile SIM tray). It could all theoretically be done from a
settings menu.

~~~
korzun
Walk in any providers store and they will do it for you, free of charge. Takes
2 minutes.

People who understand what a SIM like this does, will definitely understand
how to replace SIM's. In my opinion anyways.

~~~
brianpan
Most people don't even understand what a SIM _is_ , let alone how to replace
one. They probably can find their Settings app though.

~~~
josteink
In Europe, everyone I know who has a cellphone knows what a SIM is (even
grannies), and they know this is the item connecting their phone to their
service subscription.

I guess to people from the US this may seem "foreign", but it's really simple
and it really works.

~~~
brianpan
Exactly, I was speaking from a US perspective. The historical reason for this
is in Europe, interoperability as you travel between countries was a priority,
so a single European protocol (GSM) with a removable, interchangeable SIM
developed.

In America, competition/free market was the priority so the result was many
non-compatible digital protocols (CDMA/TDMA/Nextel/GSM). In the US, if you're
switching carriers, you are probably throwing away your phone and getting a
new (subsidized) one from your new carrier. Even if you are moving from a GSM
to another GSM carrier, because of the subsidies the old SIM is probably
locked to your old carrier and it might be cheaper to get a new, subsidized
one anyway.

------
BuildTheRobots
I'm slightly amazed at the awed coverage this is getting.

As others have pointed out, multi-IMSI SIM cards are nothing new, though
points to Apple for getting the network carriers on board and sharing keys.

Getting a replacement SIM card is not a problem (certainly not in the UK).
Most of the networks will happily post you out one for free and you can buy
them for virtually no money in all phone shops, most supermarkets, market
stalls... everywhere -even in this tiny backwater technophobic village where I
work.

My worry is that this is the start of a path down to devices having embedded
SIM cards that are not user replaceable, or even have no SIM at all and just
use the secure storage module built into the chipset. This seems like a bad
hole to be heading down as it would directly take choice and power away from
the end user.

~~~
netcan
I'm on the other side completely, I'm a little awed at the lack of coverage,
and consumer demand for this.

I don't think this is a technological thing, it's an industry structure thing.
Why do we even need SIMs? Obviously we need some way of deciding which phone
should ring wen a call goes through the either, but why does it need to be a
piece of plastic.

A simple software replacement for a SIM would open a lot ip. You could buy a
$10 plan when you're in a different country for a week. If one of those
company offering cheap international call sims could just sell you a software
sim that doesn't require you to switch over everything.

The ability to shop selectively using different providers for different calls
would be a profound change to the ecosystem. It'd have a lot of knock on
effects.

Apple are good at bulling through changes like this. This could be the start.
iPad only is a little weak though. I hope their reliance on carrier subsidies
to sell phones doesn't impact Apple's willingness to push on this.

~~~
noselasd
The physical SIM card is secure, it stores your private keys for identifying
you, and you can't extract those keys without damaging the SIM card. At least
if the SIM cards are produced to spec. Can you make it equally secure in
software, or can I borrow your phone and "easily" clone you ?

~~~
runeks
> Can you make it equally secure in software, or can I borrow your phone and
> "easily" clone you ?

I think we need a TPM-like[1] device for that to work. And I think an iPhone
has one of those[2].

Perhaps that is the point: Apple convinced credit card companies to give them
"card present"-prices for Touch ID purchases because a Touch ID-enabled device
uses special hardware for key storage. Perhaps Apple has convinced mobile
carriers to allow them to store private keys for cellular networks in the same
place, because of its alleged security.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Platform_Module](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Platform_Module)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_ID#Security_and_privacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_ID#Security_and_privacy)

------
silveira
In Brazil people have been using things like these for about a decade.
[http://www.dx.com/p/triple-sim-cards-adapter-for-
iphone-4-4s...](http://www.dx.com/p/triple-sim-cards-adapter-for-
iphone-4-4s-yellow-194250#.VEA3p611ZRg)

~~~
adventured
The concept has been around since the first full-featured cell phones became
available.

------
gcb0
that probably overrides/ignores the SIM card and use hardcoded GSM ids from
the device. as if it has a sim slot plus 3 hardcoded sim, that you can select
which one to use on software.

so i doubt you will be able to activate those hardcoded sims with any plan
that easily. i doubt you will even be able to activate it without apple help.

but of course, im just guessing. have no idea if that is the case.

~~~
durkie
what about sprint? I thought they were cdma.

~~~
jkap
LTE uses SIM cards regardless of the network's voice system.

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hazmatter
Actually this feature is not Apple exlusive.

I created a little project that allows remote usage of multiple SIM cards as a
Software-SIM on MTK based Android phones. Forward the commands via TCP from a
modified Baseband-firmware. This means you could e.g. have multiple SIM cards
for your business trip without changing the card in your phone. Also malicious
people could steal your SIM authentication if you use a vulnerable Android
phone and use it:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6_mZyQdEuU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6_mZyQdEuU)

[https://github.com/shadowsim/shadowsim](https://github.com/shadowsim/shadowsim)

------
Evolved
I pay $176/month for 3 lines with AT&T and all 3 lines still have the
unlimited data @$30/month on them. I can buy 3 subsidized iphone 6s for
$600+tax total ($200 each) or I can buy them each at $650. The price per month
works out to about $27/month per phone. Will AT&T knock $27 off per month per
phone if I buy them outright? The answer is no. I've talked to supervisor
after supervisor about it and there is no discount if I upgrade and buy the
phone outright up front. So I ask, where's the incentive?

AT&T is by no means perfect but given all the traveling I've done and my
experiences with Verizon and T-Mobile (never tried Sprint) I've found that
AT&T and Verizon are interchangeable and T-Mobile is not quite on the same
level.

I know my rate plan hasn't become more expensive when I upgrade so how can I
expect that it will become cheaper if I bring my own device?

------
akandiah
The concept is called multi-IMSI. It's been possible to do this for a while
now.

------
wy
This is really an interesting feature (let's say 'feature' at this moment).
Actually, in person, I do really consider this is an tremendous improvement
for any carrier-required mobile devices.

It makes mobile devices really "mobile". Customers do not have to physically
enter a local carrier store to add a new line/data-plan or transfer to another
carrier. It might save a great amount of time and efforts especially when
traveling overseas.

Hope it came to iPhone in near future. Due to the easiness of switching
carriers, hope it would help bringing down prices.

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defen
So with this tech, how long until Apple starts offering MVNO services? And
eventually completely destroys whatever profit margins the current operators
have?

~~~
sp332
MVNOs still pay bulk data fees to real MNOs. And their traffic gets lower
priority on the network. So the only current operators they could challenge is
other MVNOs.

~~~
defen
Yeah, I was imagining a situation where with "a little more software" Apple
products could automatically detect which networks are available, their
relative speeds, etc, and automatically use the right one all the time. And
they could buy in sufficiently large bulk to get a good deal on the data
rates.

~~~
iamadeveloper
A lot of devices in the M2M communications world already perform operations
similar to this with available networks. Alongside use various weighting
metrics regarding such as network strength and bandwidth cost to determine
which one to use.

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deadweight3
I've known about this for a while, though I don't remember my source. I seem
to recall that it was first envisioned under Jobs, and AT&T started swinging
punches when they caught a whiff. Although the source appears solid in
hindsight, I chalked it up to a subterfuge project. Can anyone who has since
left confirm this was the same initiative?

------
burn
Wow this is a serious game changer, I was thinking about this the other day. I
would be great to be able to turn off and on a sim card in your smartphone. So
if you were using an iPhone and wanted to use your Android phone you just
turned the iPhone sim off and used your android phone without having to call
and de-activate it everytime.

~~~
kalleboo
Dual-SIM plans have been around since the 90's. You call a special number (* #
whatever *) to toggle which one calls and SMS arrive to.

------
hayksaakian
Why would they NOT talk about this today?

It baffles me.

~~~
wy
I agree. Such an improvement of user experiences of mobile devices (tablets so
far).

------
jlarocco
How does this work?

I have an iPhone 5 with Sprint, and I thought I was more or less locked in
because they used CDMA. I thought I would need a new phone if I wanted to
switch to anything else.

Would love to know I've been wrong and can switch without buying out my
contract and buying a phone...

~~~
abraham
I just depends on what the phone hardware supports. The Nexus 6 e.g. has two
hardware variations. The US variation supports T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, and
Sprint all with the same device.

[http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/10/15/the-nexus-6-will-
com...](http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/10/15/the-nexus-6-will-come-in-two-
versions-for-the-americas-and-rest-of-the-worldhere-are-all-the-supported-
bands/)

------
Animats
Why not have a phone with three SIM card slots? Avoid the kickback from the
carrier to Apple.

~~~
drdaeman
Why have SIM cards at all? What's the point in keeping credentials from the
legitimate customer?

Store Ki directly on device. Modern phones have HSMs so key will be kept as
secure as with a "real" SIM HSM, and bet phones could do the necessary crypto
just fine.

Sure, a customer will be able to clone their own SIM card and share it with
others, but I don't think that's a major issue. Logging onto the network with
a cloned SIM is certainly preventable, and if you get kicked out every time
other card clone logs in (and if that happens too frequently your account gets
suspended altogether until you resolve the issue with a human support),
sharing would be anything but desirable option.

~~~
X-Cubed
The nice thing with SIMs is that if your battery is flat, or you put your
phone through the washing machine, you can grab the card and throw it into a
spare phone (or a friend's) and carry on.

If you have the Ki on the device, you're effectively going back to CDMA-style
devices, whereby you need the carrier's assistance to move between handsets.

------
seanmcdirmid
When I was in Thailand, one carrier had the ability to co-opt my China unicom
SIM and provide service there. I don't think my SIM was a soft one, I think
they were actually co-opting the numbers!

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ChuckMcM
Interesting they don't mention Verizon. They do mention that participating
carriers are subject to change though, so presumably they can add (or delete)
carriers from the device.

------
jpkeisala
I remember some years back Nokia made software SIM but it disappeared from the
radar probably due Telcos pressure. Glad we get something to that direction
finally.

------
wlesieutre
Does it work with prepaid, or just contracts? If you could just temporarily
swap over to T-Mobile's $30 prepaid unlimited data, that would be a big deal.

~~~
soylentcola
Not sure. I mean...I've swapped cards to switch carriers before but I never
thought buying or swapping to another SIM was enough trouble that I'd need a
programmable or multi-profile SIM.

I'm sure it's technically possible but the carriers could just as easily make
it only work with certain plans. I remember needing a SIM activation kit to
get on that $30 plan when I first got it. You couldn't just use any TMo SIM
without some code from the kit and you couldn't get it in any TMo store. No
idea if the adding of the code needed to activate the SIM would work with this
new thing.

~~~
wlesieutre
I'm mostly thinking it would be interesting for mobile data competition.
Though so many people are tied up in complicated family plans that maybe it
doesn't matter much.

If my AT&T 2-year commitment ran out and I could just press a button, put in a
code from a card I bought at Wal-Mart, and take T-Mobile for a 1-month test,
there'd be more pressure on AT&T to keep their prices sane.

------
tapsboy
With Multipath TCP across multiple LTE networks, this could enable substantial
improvement in network performance.

Edit: I meant it as a future possibility

~~~
beagle3
SIM = Subscriber Identity Module - it's just what identifies you to the
network.

To be on multiple networks at the same time with current technology you need
multiple modems and RF equipment.

------
rbcgerard
This will be great for people who have different mobile phone #'s in different
countries if it evolves that far...

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kleptco
This is about trading carrier lockin for apple lockin, that's all.

------
lurkinggrue
But makes it harder to switch devices... Nice one Apple.

------
airencracken
This is less about switching providers more easily and more about preventing
users from modifying even the SIM card. Apple wants you to never open or
modify the device in any way possible.

