[vidarh]

On the contrary, it is the result of a concerted effort to reduce friction.

With SIM cards, users can switch to a new phone by just moving the SIM, or switch to a new provider while keeping their phone (assuming its unlocked) by just replacing the SIM.

Prior to SIM cards phones where frequently programmed to be tied to a specific provider.

A pure software solution could work, but requires the network operators to be able to trust the phone manufacturers to secure it well enough to not let end users change things in ways they're not supposed to (e.g. consider a hacker harvesting authentication details from phones). The SIM card is the simple solution.

[glennos]

I take the point on the security of physical + pin for protection. I guess I'd just love a solution where I could simply switch between accounts without physically swapping something or having a multi-SIM phone.

[icebraining]

But why? Multi-SIM phones are cheap and easy to come by.

[nandhp]

Not in the US

[ci5er]

To be fair, "multi-" here typically means "dual-", but even w/o going to Alibaba, they're definitely out there:

  - http://www.androidauthority.com/best-dual-sim-android-phones-529470/

When I had to travel a lot, I had a small booklet of sim-cards that I could pop into my single-SIM phone (this was the 90s), in most regions I visited to get (much) cheaper rates than I was getting for world-wide roaming from AT&T at the time (this was before AT&T was really Southwestern Bell). Except Japan. (Curse you, and your island-nation cell-phone local-only standards, Japan!)

[Frondo]

Heh, I'd disagree. I picked up a dual-sim Windows phone, unlocked, for $150 at the Microsoft store.

I've already taken advantage of it being unlocked by switching carriers (saved some bucks) when I saw the prices on one were now better than what I'd been paying.

[dozzie]

Well, of course it's hard to come by a dual-sim iPhone. You need to look for other brands.

[TeMPOraL]

Go to Shenzhen. They like to make iPhone clones that are cheaper while having better specs, including multiple SIM card support.

[rahimnathwani]

The iPhone-lookalike phones you can buy in China don't run iOS, so I don't consider them 'clones'.

[RandyRanderson]

Unless you personally know some heads of some major carriers you can't say that and also it's unlikely carriers do things to reduce friction.

Unlocked phones are still relatively rare in the US so I don't agree with your second point either.

Network operators trust Gemalto, etc to write the SIM card software and also the provisioning and tower software. They also trust the phone manufacturer software as they rigorously test it before it's pushed to it's subs. That's actually why updates take so long (excl apple, of course).

Note that I have actually worked for some major carriers and have been in discussions with VPs discussing this very issue. See my other answer further down the thread.

[cflee]

> > With SIM cards, users can switch to a new phone by just moving the SIM, or switch to a new provider while keeping their phone (assuming its unlocked) by just replacing the SIM.

> Unlocked phones are still relatively rare in the US so I don't agree with your second point either.

As you point out, where GSM networks are concerned, this observation is mostly specific to the US - swapping phones and swapping SIMs has been a reality in the rest of the world for years.

Instead, the main source of friction is frequency bands. When swapping phones, it's not often an issue when switching between locally distributed phone models, since they are the Asia/international models with more band compatibility. When swapping SIMs domestically, it's not an issue for the same reason. When swapping SIMs internationally, phone service typically works, but if you want high speed data _then_ you check for band compatibility.

I'd say that for most of the world, the reduction in friction is real. It's a pity that the US market is so different.

[djhworld]

> swapping phones and swapping SIMs has been a reality in the rest of the world for years.

It's still prevalent here in the UK, although the competition is fierce enough for you to be able to find a vendor that sells a phone unlocked.

[RandyRanderson]

I'm all for reduction in friction and I believe software sims will reduce this. I mean I can conceive of a world where connecting to a 3g+ network is little harder than a WIFI network.

It wouldn't be good for the carriers but it'd be great for consumers.

[Sanddancer]

In the rest of the world, though, unlocked phones are super common. Also, with sim cards, if my phone dies while I'm out on vacation, I can swap it into my backup phone with a minimum of effort. Software actually makes that harder because all the security benefits of a physical device go out the window. In order to be secure, I'd need to make a secure password, one which I'll probably forget five minutes later. At which point, I'd need to store it on some password aggregator. Thus, when I'd actually need the username and password, I'd not have access to the one device needed to access that information.

Usernames and passwords suck. A lot. We should be striving to get rid of them, not make more places need them.

[vidarh]

Yes, I can say that. The history of GSM is well known, and SIMs were introduced because having phones that were programmed specifically for one provider and that needed to be replaced or taken in to a provider to reprogram was seen by everyone including the providers themselves as an impediment to adoption.

> Unlocked phones are still relatively rare in the US so I don't agree with your second point either.

That leaves the vast majority of the world market. The US is not even the largest cellphone market any more, and haven't been for a while.

> They also trust the phone manufacturer software as they rigorously test it before it's pushed to it's subs.

Not GSM network operator has no control over what devices are on their network, just what SIMs are on it. They may or may not have control over their own subscribers, but roaming ensures that any random GSM capable device can appear on their network, E.g. I have some Chinese phone that my network operator probably haven't heard about.

> Note that I have actually worked for some major carriers and have been in discussions with VPs discussing this very issue. See my other answer further down the thread.

Unless said VPs were VPs in European carriers or manufacturers ~30 years ago, when the discussions in CELP and later ETSI led to the adoption of SIMs in the GSM standard, that is quite irrelevant.