I'm pitting cellular providers (I think)

The BBQ Pit
1

If I understand this article correctly, then this is a well deserved pitting of cellular providers.

It’s about iSIMs. They’re planning to do away with SIM cards. Phones will come.with the number integrated into the processor. While it’s not stated explicitly in the article, this would seem to mean that every time you need a new phone or change providers you will need to purchase a new phone from the provider. It could even make it possible for providers to force you to buy a new phone with each contract renewal.

Personally I only get a new phone when there’s a physical need for a replacement, at which point I buy a refurbished older model and transfer the SIM card. I’m always a model or two behind but it’s saved me a lot of money, and I’ve had the same contract for years.

It seems like this change would put an end to that, and also could cause a lot of people to have to purchase phones more often, leading to more expense for consumers, a greater use of resources, and an even larger pile of hard to recycle electronics trash.

I can think of no technological reason for them doing this. Its all about milking the consumer.

Is there some legitimate reason for thsi that I’m not seeing?

Edited to add a better link to the same article.

2

Same reason they made the battery non-user replaceable.

3

Exactly. The battery thing really pissed me off.

4

The text of the article is locked inside an app for me. Is there anything about how this is supposed to play with eSim tech? I can see a phone being preloaded with its own eSim, as long as it still has slots for new eSims to be loaded and activated. All that would mean is the death of the physical sim card, which is a technological holdover these days.

If the eSim slots are going away too, then I endorse this pitting.

(eSim tech served us very well on our recent trip to Türkiye.)

5

Sorry about that link. I didnt notice that it was in an app.

Here’s the original source:

6

Phone numbers aren’t permanently etched in stone onto SIM cards. You can get a new SIM card for your phone, and still keep your phone number. Presumably, with integrated SIM cards, you could still do something like that. And if you can edit the SIM in place, then there’s no reason to make it a separate, removable component, and multiple good reasons not to make it that way.

7

The article explicitly talks about iSims cohabitating with eSims. Unless I’m misunderstanding something, I think this is a non-issue. The physical sim card goes away, the iSim preloads the plan in a dedicated memory slot, and additional slots are available for eSims. If this is wrong, please correct me.

8

But that’s not what it seems to be saying.

9

So if I want to replace a phone that has an iSim I’ll have to purchase a preconfigured eSim that can override the old iSim on a refurbished phone? What will the provider charge me for that eSim, and what happens if I turn on that old phone without the eSim? Maybe I’m just being cynical but this seems like a lot of unnecessary technological complication for anything other than milking the consumer. Surely having an iSim plus an eSim slot is more complicated and more expensive then the current configuration.

This seems like more built-in obsolescence like the non-replacable batteries.

10

All modern phones have several eSim slots already. You buy it from an online service, it downloads into an empty slot, and activating it and switching your phone to use the associated plan takes maybe three or four minutes.

As far as I can tell, all the new iSim does is rip out the tray for the physical sim.amd replace it with something like the eSim so the manufacturer/seller can preload a plan.

11

Semi-disagree with this. The issue with user-replaceable batteries is that it compromised the case. Which isn’t an issue to me, but IS an issue for the desire (real or industry provided, granted) for waterproof phones. As phones became more water resistant, the easily openable case was contra-indicted.

Now, would I prefer a user-replaceable battery v water resistance? Most of the time, the battery. But I wasn’t consulted.

Speaking as a former tech agent for T-Mobile though, I had a lot more complaints about phones that just “stopped working” and when I had the customer check the water damage indicator, it was bright red. After which, there was some hemming and hawing, and then an admission that the phone miiiiight have been dropped in the toilet, or other immersion than a failed OEM battery.

But, on the other hand, the phones that had equally “just stopped working” because the batter had failed, died, or was otherwise unwilling to charge weren’t uncommon. Just MANY of them could be fixed by cleaning lint out of the charging socket, figuring out the underlying hardware or software issue (why didn’t you mention that you dropped the phone and the case was cracked???).

On the gripping hand though, most people were calling tech support for New-ish phones, even when I was working there, the assumption that a 5-6 year old phone was going to be screwed was the norm.

Back to the main point of the providers and programmable SIMS of all flavors… I’m of many minds. Yeah, feels like this is a pushback to all the portability of prior years, after being locked in for many years prior to that. But, again, from experience, the number of people who hated fiddling with physical SIM cards, or would do literal hacks of cutting an oversized old SIM to fit a new phone, or who broke the damn fragile trays…

Still, I was Very uncomfortable when T-Mobile switched to charging $25/35 for new SIMS as a default when getting a new phone, or setting up a new line. It felt a lot like when airline carriers started their campaign to surcharge everything, and a really bad step after they had been trying to simplify with the “One” program with everything baked in and dropped it only a few years later.

12

That was the excuse sure, and maybe there’s some truth to that, but I have to wonder if it was the main motivation, and it does lead to wasted resources and a larger amount of electonics trash for waterproofing that’s only really required by a small number of users.

13

But, unless I can copy the eSim myself, it still puts the carrier in charge since they’re under no obligation to allow anyone to download an eSim image without a new contract or the purchase of a new phone.

14

I don’t think so. Here’s how modern phones work.

You have a tray in a slot that holds a physical sim card. This identifies your phone and your plan to the network so the system knows how to connect and bill you. There is also a set of eSim slots. These allow you to download and activate a virtual sim card, which functions exactly the same as the physical card. Once active, you go into your phone’s settings and tell it which to use. As far as the phone is concerned, they’re interchangeable. The physical sim is still in its slot, and you can use your settings to switch between them (for as long as the eSim remains active).

Now as far as I can tell from the article, this iSim business just replaces the physical card. Instead of acquiring a phone and signing up for a plan which requires a sim card to be inserted, the iSim will be preinstalled and preconfigured (to some extent), eliminating the need for a physical card to be inserted.

Nothing about that, as far as I’m able to glean, eliminates or obviates the eSim memory slots, which will still exist in parallel. If you travel to Morocco (or wherever) and you don’t want to pay your carrier’s data roaming fees, you just go to Airalo (for example), spend six or seven bucks to get a 7-day eSim, download it and activate it when you arrive, and your old sim sits in the background, unused. I’ve done this more than once and it’s a piece of cake.

I see nothing in the linked article that says this will work any differently with the iSim tech compared to the current situation.

15

Then why am I not even given a choice? Why can I not find a mainstream cell phone that has that option. Because the reality no matter what they say is buy a new phone not a new battery.

16

The battery is almost always replaceable, you just have to bring it into the shop. Still generally a lot cheaper than a new phone. For most of them it will be under $100. Meanwhile phone are now pretty darn water resistance.

So you have to weigh that <$100 vs. age of phone, condition of phone and satisfaction with phone. Mine is complete paid for and I’m happy with it. If the battery failed, I would get a new one put in, the phone is working very well still. I believe in theory my battery is nearing end of life but I’m been careful about recharging cycles and hope to extend its life by at least a year. So far, so good.

Now on the other hand, there might be a deal for a phone that is only 1 generation old that would cost me only $5 per month for 30 months. I would seriously consider that when it is time. But a new battery beats even $10/month.

17

No disagreement from me, which is why I very carefully that it was a fix for a desire real OR industry created. But, while very few people need the high end waterproofing standards that are the norm, there are a lot that need the bathroom proofing, which could arguably have been done with lower exposure.

For me, what I think is most insidious for cellular providers is the endless pushing of ever more expensive “base” phones, at very low initial prices, so that you’re always trapped by your phone payment even if contractually you’re free to leave at any time. Selling that low monthly payment for an upgrade 80+% of people will never need, while concealing it’s a leash around your neck.

That’s IMHO worse than making the SIM less serviceable, but YMMV.

Seriously? Because even MORE than the cellular company wanting you to buy a new phone, the cellular manufacturer wants you to have to buy a new phone every two years! Like I just mentioned, the cellular carrier looks at you with a phone payment that makes it less likely you’ll leave, but even if you don’t, they get their money every month.

The manufacturer lives and dies by you buying the new phone every two-ish years. And they’ll give massive incentives to the carriers to sell the latest and greatest via trade-in deals and rebates to keep making it happen.

Sure, we’re just pushing the pitting up/back one level, but as in many things, follow the money. :slight_smile:

18

I’ve been using Google Fi since it was in beta, and sometimes I forget how most phone companies work. I don’t have a contract, I just pay for the data I use. Every time I look at other carriers they are so so so much more expensive.

Google Fi works perfectly with Pixel phones and everything else is a little bit of a crapshoot. But my husband has a Samsung that works just fine.

I’m sure if they can get away with it they will also try to screw over customers, but not having a contract this will probably not affect me much.

19

I haven’t had a monthly payment for my physical phone in years. When my current one needs replacement, usually because of charging issues, i go on Amazon (yes I realize that doing business with them is also problematic), purchase a warranteed refurbished older model, swap my apps, data, and Sim and just continue with my current plan.

I also use the setting that prevents the battery from being charged beyond 85%, which extends the life of the battery. They probably depend on people not using, or even knowing about, this option.

I’m surprised that they’re not trying to make everyone lease, rarher than own, their phone. I’m expecting rhat eventually companies will want to lease you everyrhing, even refrigerators, ovens, etc. Imagine a home robot that refuses to clean up a spill unless you do something about your credit rating. “I’m sorry sir, but you need to be above 650, or make an escrow deposit, for that functionality”.

20

Doing away with physical stuff you can only get from your provider is somehow bad?
WTF?
Are you shilling for a phone shop?

Not all change is bad.
Not needing physical inventory in brick and mortar shops to activate phones means more companies can compete for you phone contract. This can only benefit the consumer.

For all the whining about planned obsolescence: phones last 3-4 times longer with soldered batteries than they ever did with swappable batteries (who had extra batteries anyway?)