Re:Ask HN: Why are SIM cards still a thing?
by djhworld on Sunday October 30, 2016 @05:06PM
(#12832282)
> on top of that a SIM can store your contacts (up to a certain number).
This presented a usability nightmare back in the days of feature phones, where if you didn't specifically say where to store contacts, it would often default to the phone's storage rather than SIM, or if you breached the number of contacts on a SIM you'd have overspill onto the phone memory (sometimes without realising)
This presented a lot of unnecessary confusion when it came to upgrading devices, or if you damaged your phone.
Re:Ask HN: Why are SIM cards still a thing?
by WatchDog on Sunday October 30, 2016 @05:19PM
(#12832389)
Well by the same token, sims offered a simple way to move contacts between devices, which was otherwise difficult to do without a pc and proprietary cables/software to export data from the phone.
Re:Ask HN: Why are SIM cards still a thing?
by shavingspiders on Monday October 31, 2016 @12:08AM
(#12834240)
It still is an issue - carriers (at least in NZ) still ask you if you've backed up SIM contacts before switching the phone number to a new card.
Re:Ask HN: Why are SIM cards still a thing?
by RandyRanderson on Sunday October 30, 2016 @12:19PM
(#12830582)
When ppl mention a "software SIM" they mean the same basic chip embedded in the handset that you can switch with software. It has the same level of security as removable chips.
Re:Ask HN: Why are SIM cards still a thing?
by rblatz on Sunday October 30, 2016 @02:06PM
(#12831231)
I don't recall ever needing a PIN to unlock a SIM card.
The ability is there. Many people don't bother setting it.
Re:Ask HN: Why are SIM cards still a thing?
by Aaargh20318 on Monday October 31, 2016 @07:54AM
(#12835931)
Every SIM card I ever received came with a random pre-set PIN.
The SIM is what separates your identity from the hardware of the phone (which has its own identity called 'IMEI').
A 'software solution' would need a carrier, that carrier IS the SIM.
Another nice benefit of having the SIM device is that it makes it much harder to 'clone' a subscriber ID, something that would regularly happen in the days before the SIM card, note that the SIM was a development that came along with GSM, and that GSM was the first mobile phone standard resistant against cloning. It's one part of the 2FA (something that you have) that gives you access to the phone network (the other being the PIN code (something that you know) required to unlock the SIM).