SIM cards and how it’s changing
Have you ever been in a situation where you desperately needed to remove your SIM card because your phone had gone haywire?
Well, I definitely have.
And after frantically searching for the sim ejector pin or even a safety pin, I had to remove my earring to take the SIM out.
In this panicky situation you also have to pull the tray carefully and half the time I’m fretting over its breakability. Plus, there is a high probability of losing this teeny tiny chip! I’m sure you get the picture.
Well there are no more of these struggles now.
Even though not in large numbers, consumers are slowly shifting to eSIM.
Here is a slight peek into the technicalities, development and future of SIM cards.
So what exactly is a SIM and how does it work ?
SIM short for Subscriber Identity Module, and just like its name signifies, it is used to identify a subscriber and connect the device to a network. It is a microcontroller made of silicone and plated with gold or other metals to maintain contact with phone.
It contains a processor, memory and security circuits. It also stores data like the name of your service provider, your PIN, PUK code (used to unblock the card in case of PIN authentication failure),IMSI or International mobile subscriber identity (which identifies and connects your phone number to the device it is in). It can even store contacts, messages and last dialed numbers.
Coming to their working, the mobile base station keeps records of that SIM and related data in a network computer. Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is the standard for mobile telephone systems in the world. Setting up a call between two communication devices seems like a very quick and very simple operation, but on deeper analysis, we can understand that a lot of operations are happening within a short span of time.
When a person tries to call another person by dialing a mobile number, the mobile number data is transmitted to the network computer of the nearest mobile base station of the caller. Immediately after verification of the number, the network computer tries to locate the receiver via the nearest base station.
When the receiver is traced, the phone rings. SIM plays a key role in this process. All messages between phone and network are encrypted (in the form of a secret code). The security keys used to encrypt and decrypt the messages are stored in the SIM. In other words, the SIM card contains the password necessary to unlock the messages thus ensuring privacy and security.
A Quick Flashback
SIM cards have come a long way from their introduction in 1991.The 1st SIM cards (now called full sized or 1FF) were developed by Giesecke & Devrient, a German company that specializes in banknote securities and smart cards. These looked similar to the credit cards we use today. With a data storage of 32KB to 128KB, it could store around 5 messages and 20 contacts. These may seem insignificant today - because who cares about the kilobytes when our phones are equipped with hundreds of Gigabytes of internal storage? But this kilobytes mattered when flip phones took the market by storm.
In 1996,the 1 Form Factor(1 FF) cards were replaced by mini-SIM cards or 2 Form Factor which are quite familiar to us. Every cell phone had a SIM card tray that perfectly fit in the mini-SIM, and this could be switched between devices when it was time to upgrade .
With the introduction of smartphones, the increased demand for smaller devices that packed more power inspired manufacturers to shrink the SIM card again, while maintaining its versatility and processing powers. In 2003,the mini-SIM was redesigned into micro-SIM (3 FF). A reduction in size didn’t affect the performance as the chip area did not change, just the extra plastic was cut out. Years later a trimmed version of micro, the nano-SIM (4 FF) became the standard and continues to be the dominant form.
Shortcomings of the traditional cards
Billions of SIM cards are manufactured all round the globe annually and are greatly utilitarian. But, despite all this there were some shortcomings for the traditional SIM cards. Firstly, their size. Even though SIM card were growing in sophistication and shrinking in size over the years, they occupied a large amount of space in a device, especially when you consider its functionality against that of other components.
Physical sim cards also have more risk of theft and damage. The growing number of subscribers and development in the field of IoT questions the practicality of physical cards. There is also a great deal of plastic that goes into the manufacture of SIM cards.
Here comes the revolutionary step : eSIM
eSIM technology addresses the constraints of traditional SIM cards. Sure, it has similar roles to the traditional SIM. It stores information that is used to identify and authenticate users, and to connect devices to the Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM). But, there is one thing that makes it stand out from the others- these are programmable ICs soldered into the device .The insertable card is now mounted on to PCB.
How is this more advantageous ?
Clearly, going from a nano SIM of 12.3mm x 8.8mm to an eSIM of 6mm x 5mm saves more than half the space. Then the hassle of finding the ejector and eventually using a safety pin because you can’t find the ejector, moving the fragile SIM tray with utmost care and the task of procuring the card out without losing it is real tedious. Now it can all be done with a quick click on your phone. If you wish to change the service provider and modify restrictions or permissions on your tariff, these are rewritable and the switch is done in no time. SIM information is updated over the cellular network rather than by physically changing a card. It can also be used to register a single device on multiple operators, simplifying international roaming.
These have an obvious edge over the physical card. These cannot be removed without some messy desoldering, after which they probably won’t work. Thus it is an anti-theft and tamper proof alternative.
More importantly, from the enterprise perspective, these paved the way to new cellular IoT solutions. Airtel, Jio, and VI, the three leading operators of our country, allow you to change the physical sim into an eSIM in India. Even though eSIM handsets are available it is still not mainstream.
iSIM : The next step
The key difference between eSIM and iSIM is in their implementation. While the former is a dedicated chip attached to a gadget’s processor, the latter is embedded in the main SoC (system on chip) alongside the processor. From the product development perspective, it is an easier device to design at a lower cost. These could go beyond mobile phones and could be integrated into laptops, IoT devices, smart watches and even virtual reality platforms. With the device design enhanced, there’s more scope of innovation in design.
Though not yet a standard but widely adopted by industry, iSIM builds on the improvements offered by eSIM technology. Telecom operators will have to embrace the idea for it to become mainstream. It could be several years before it debuts.
And the good news is that recently, a concept demonstration was done by the chip manufacturing giant-Qualcomm.
More on that, Qualcomm with Vodafone did a concept demonstration on iSIM. A demonstration was conducted in Europe on Vodafone network. The device used was Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G powered by Snapdragon 888 5G processor, running the Thales iSIM operating system. The proof of concept took place in Samsung’s R&D labs using Vodafone’s remote management system.
So we can definitely hope that the leap to eSIM and iSIM is accelerated. With breakthrough advances in closely connected fields like 5G and IoT , these technologies are inevitable and could be expected in a few years./
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