Everyone wants a phone that’s both bigger and smaller. In the last half decade, sadly we’ve seen phones get larger and heavier, after a long period of seeing weights go down even as screen sizes went up. It seems like around 2017 we got to a point where those smaller batteries just couldn’t keep up with those bigger screens. Phone makers have done everything they can to keep thickness and size down. They’ve introduced higher quality batteries with more energy density and integrated frames. It all comes down to saving a millimeter here or there. But, the biggest thing that most manufacturers have done is to take stuff out of phones that they think we won’t miss.
Don’t believe me? Phones used to have headphone jacks. They used to have home buttons. They used to have actual number pads where you would push numbers to dial. Heck, they used to have physical keyboards. All those things are gone now and replaced with one big screen. I’m not complaining. It’s just how things are today.
The next choice for removal would be the SIM card. Before we bid farewell to the SIM, let’s talk about its long history. The SIM, originally called a “subscriber identity module” was developed in the very early 1990s in Europe. Unlike the US, Europe has always had one cellular standard and it’s practically impossible to get a free phone there. So, even back then everyone paid full price for a phone and then went to whichever carrier they wanted.
The goal was to create a way for people to change carriers as much as they wanted. In Europe, even the Europe of the late 20th century, people went from country to country far more often and since they didn’t want to pay roaming charges, they wanted a way to use the local country’s cell service.
By creating a “card,” in reality a small piece of computer board, that held all the important information about a phone, it became possible to bop from carrier to carrier easily.
The SIM card started to make its way to the US in the very late 20th century as digital cell service became the norm. GSM, the standard used in Europe, also made an appearance here in the US as one of the competing standards. Part of the GSM standard is the use of the SIM card, so SIM cards came to the US. Keep in mind there wasn’t much reason for them even then. People couldn’t really change carriers since the phones were locked down and every carrier used different technologies. But SIM cards were there anyway.
Phones from Verizon, Sprint, and other non-GSM carriers never had SIM cards until very recently. Mobile internet became incredibly important in the 2010s and the key was LTE. LTE is actually an advanced implementation of GSM, so even if the voice part of the phone didn’t work with GSM, the data part would. This led to some interesting contradictions.
By 2015, the Verizon version of the iPhone supported LTE. That means it had a SIM card which was used for data only. It also meant that you could bring a Verizon phone to AT&T and activate it — because it had all the hardware to make AT&T’s service work. You couldn’t, however, bring an AT&T phone over to Verizon because … it didn’t have what it takes.
Since every phone regardless of carrier now had a SIM card to make it easy to swap between carriers, there was only one logical next step: the SIM card had to be taken away.
With good cellular data service nearly everywhere, there’s very little reason for a physical SIM. It’s just as easy to have the same information built into the phone, so long as you can change it by sending a code to the phone. That’s why the eSIM was born.
The eSIM is just the same programming as a SIM card, just built into the phone. It contains the same information, and it’s just as easy to change if you want. With the right app you could change your own information, at least the part where your phone is being billed by the right people. Of course there are some protections in place to make sure the phone’s unique serial numbers can’t change.
It would also be extremely easy to bring any phone to any carrier and activate it, as long as the phone was designed for it. Almost every major phone has gone to eSIM and you only find the physical cards in lower-end phones and some cellular routers.
Activating a device with eSIM is incredibly easy. One benefit here is that you can generally have multiple eSIMs on one device so you can even try out another carrier before you full-on commit. This also comes in handy if you’re an international traveler, as you can just get an eSIM to use while you’re away.
The most recent development has been the use of eSIMs in devices like RevGen’s IQMC series. Using eSIM allows the router to intelligently switch between every major carrier so you’re always getting the best speed.
Even at its current size, SIM cards take up too much space. They need a big slot to fit into and every millimeter on a phone is precious. Keep in mind, not only do you have to make space for a physical SIM, you also need an ejection mechanism and a way to strengthen the frame around that mechanism. An eSIM could be about the size of a grain of sand and still work. That would free up a lot more space on a phone for a battery, which is pretty much the only part of phone that hasn’t gotten smaller or more advanced.
I would say no. I get it though. With no 2-year contracts and no little physical cards to worry about, people can jump to a new carrier easily. eSIM is here and it’s the way of the future. Even though you’d think that it would make things harder for people who want to switch, it’s quite the opposite. eSIMs bring flexibility and ease of use while making more space for a gigantic battery, which is really what you need. If you want to know more about how eSIMs can make your life easier, call the experts at Solid Signal at 888-233-7563 or fill out the form below.
The post What is an eSIM? appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
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Don’t believe me? Phones used to have headphone jacks. They used to have home buttons. They used to have actual number pads where you would push numbers to dial. Heck, they used to have physical keyboards. All those things are gone now and replaced with one big screen. I’m not complaining. It’s just how things are today.
Can we remove anything else?
The next choice for removal would be the SIM card. Before we bid farewell to the SIM, let’s talk about its long history. The SIM, originally called a “subscriber identity module” was developed in the very early 1990s in Europe. Unlike the US, Europe has always had one cellular standard and it’s practically impossible to get a free phone there. So, even back then everyone paid full price for a phone and then went to whichever carrier they wanted.
The goal was to create a way for people to change carriers as much as they wanted. In Europe, even the Europe of the late 20th century, people went from country to country far more often and since they didn’t want to pay roaming charges, they wanted a way to use the local country’s cell service.
By creating a “card,” in reality a small piece of computer board, that held all the important information about a phone, it became possible to bop from carrier to carrier easily.
The SIM card started to make its way to the US in the very late 20th century as digital cell service became the norm. GSM, the standard used in Europe, also made an appearance here in the US as one of the competing standards. Part of the GSM standard is the use of the SIM card, so SIM cards came to the US. Keep in mind there wasn’t much reason for them even then. People couldn’t really change carriers since the phones were locked down and every carrier used different technologies. But SIM cards were there anyway.
The SIM takeover
Phones from Verizon, Sprint, and other non-GSM carriers never had SIM cards until very recently. Mobile internet became incredibly important in the 2010s and the key was LTE. LTE is actually an advanced implementation of GSM, so even if the voice part of the phone didn’t work with GSM, the data part would. This led to some interesting contradictions.
By 2015, the Verizon version of the iPhone supported LTE. That means it had a SIM card which was used for data only. It also meant that you could bring a Verizon phone to AT&T and activate it — because it had all the hardware to make AT&T’s service work. You couldn’t, however, bring an AT&T phone over to Verizon because … it didn’t have what it takes.
Since every phone regardless of carrier now had a SIM card to make it easy to swap between carriers, there was only one logical next step: the SIM card had to be taken away.
Enter the eSIM
With good cellular data service nearly everywhere, there’s very little reason for a physical SIM. It’s just as easy to have the same information built into the phone, so long as you can change it by sending a code to the phone. That’s why the eSIM was born.
The eSIM is just the same programming as a SIM card, just built into the phone. It contains the same information, and it’s just as easy to change if you want. With the right app you could change your own information, at least the part where your phone is being billed by the right people. Of course there are some protections in place to make sure the phone’s unique serial numbers can’t change.
It would also be extremely easy to bring any phone to any carrier and activate it, as long as the phone was designed for it. Almost every major phone has gone to eSIM and you only find the physical cards in lower-end phones and some cellular routers.
Activating a device with eSIM is incredibly easy. One benefit here is that you can generally have multiple eSIMs on one device so you can even try out another carrier before you full-on commit. This also comes in handy if you’re an international traveler, as you can just get an eSIM to use while you’re away.
The most recent development has been the use of eSIMs in devices like RevGen’s IQMC series. Using eSIM allows the router to intelligently switch between every major carrier so you’re always getting the best speed.
Why bother with eSIM?
Even at its current size, SIM cards take up too much space. They need a big slot to fit into and every millimeter on a phone is precious. Keep in mind, not only do you have to make space for a physical SIM, you also need an ejection mechanism and a way to strengthen the frame around that mechanism. An eSIM could be about the size of a grain of sand and still work. That would free up a lot more space on a phone for a battery, which is pretty much the only part of phone that hasn’t gotten smaller or more advanced.
Should you fear the eSIM?
I would say no. I get it though. With no 2-year contracts and no little physical cards to worry about, people can jump to a new carrier easily. eSIM is here and it’s the way of the future. Even though you’d think that it would make things harder for people who want to switch, it’s quite the opposite. eSIMs bring flexibility and ease of use while making more space for a gigantic battery, which is really what you need. If you want to know more about how eSIMs can make your life easier, call the experts at Solid Signal at 888-233-7563 or fill out the form below.
The post What is an eSIM? appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
Continue reading...
