LTE devices to have Sim cards?

[pyroscott]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 15 January 2012

 

Will sprint have to include Sim cards with their LTE devices? I think Verizon has them for their LTE devices. Well it allow customers to swap the Sim like GSM and IDEN phones?

[autoprime]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 15 January 2012

 

i dont think verizon encourages sim swapping but yes you can pull lte data on any device you put the sim in. i think ive read that a hotspot sim wouldnt allow you to make any calls if you were to swap that sim into a galaxy nexus.

i dont think Sprint has come out and said it yet.. but i think all lte devices worldwide will have sim cards.

 

im thinking we could buy a "bad esn" galaxy nexus.. swap a valid sim into it from another device and keep on rollin. this seems silly now.. but as more and more devices will have sim cards.. itll make more sense.

 

sprint could change the way swapping works but i doubt itll happen. any lte device that supports the correct frequencies will work when you pop a provisioned sim into it. the imei(meid code) tied to the device itself will no longer be whats used... tho during initial provisioning they may want imei info.

[legion125]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 15 January 2012

 

What will really be interesting is in 3-5 years when VoLTE becomes the new standard. Unless the carriers lock the phones down, you should be able to switch phones between the carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile do now since voice will no be on CDMA or GSM.

[autoprime]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 15 January 2012

 

 

 

What will really be interesting is in 3-5 years when VoLTE becomes the new standard. Unless the carriers lock the phones down, you should be able to switch phones between the carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile do now since voice will no be on CDMA or GSM.

 

 

we should be able to do it as soon as we see LTE chipsets supporting all bands. not sure how the whole sim swapping will work... or if sprint for example would ever just sell a sim card to activate. i think they may only be paired with devices.. so you'd need some sort of "donor" phone.. say a cheapie sprint lte device. take the sim out of that and pop it in the ATT LTE phone which supports the same frequency. imei's may need to be cloned as well if they ever try to look past the sim itself for authentication.

[S4GRU]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 15 January 2012

 

This is a great thread. I love these kinds of conversations. Good job!

[MacinJosh]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 16 January 2012

 

Since LTE is a GSM technology, Sprint will use sim chips in their LTE devices as well. However, LTE sim chips might not read and register with other carrier LTE devices since they operate on different frequencies and interoperability and roaming with LTE isn't really much of a reality at this point. And due to the fact that MEID locking to carriers still exists, swapping devices that utilize both CDMA & LTE probably won't function like we would want it to.

[Validorama]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 16 January 2012

 

Since LTE is a GSM technology, Sprint will use sim chips in their LTE devices as well. However, LTE sim chips might not read and register with other carrier LTE devices since they operate on different frequencies and interoperability and roaming with LTE isn't really much of a reality at this point. And due to the fact that MEID locking to carriers still exists, swapping devices that utilize both CDMA & LTE probably won't function like we would want it to.

 

I asked Verizon specifically about whether I could switch the SIM card between Verizon devices and have it work. They said yes, including the voice/3G (CDMA and EV-DO Rev. A) service. The person checked to confirm that LTE and CDMA would transfer when moving it from one Verizon LTE phone to another.

[S4GRU]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 16 January 2012

 

That's great news that the CDMA capabilities transfer with the LTE service when moving SIM cards. So that's the good news in all this. The bad news is that sometimes those SIM cards take up valuable real estate in a device and you might not get expandable storage via a Micro SD card slot.

[pyroscott]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 16 January 2012

 

I really like the ability to add storage with a micro SD but the manufacturers are releasing more and more storage on board the phones. At this point I think I would give up the SD slot for Sim slot as long as there is 32 GB+ memory

[legion125]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 16 January 2012

 

I guess in thinking ahead a bit, we'll have to wait and see if the chip makers start to put everyone's freq's on the chips ets so the phones can truly become interchangeable. Another thought, if the chip set problem is licked, I'm surprised the FCC hasn't made the carriers forge out an LTE roaming agreement yet.

[S4GRU]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 16 January 2012

 

@pyroscott...I think with at least 32GB on board storage, I may consider it. However, I like to take my SD card out and put into my computer when moving files. At least large files. I can't stand how slow the USB connections to my devices run.

 

@legion125...I think the FCC is waiting for the technology to be there to easily support it and then they are going to start mandating it. Especially on spectrum and merger deals. And I think the technology is really going to be readily accessible this year. Carriers...you are on notice. No more anti-competive network hogging is going to be tolerated for much longer. You might as well start working out deals on your own now.

[pyroscott]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 16 January 2012

 

@S4GRU I forgot about that. I do the same. Although I have done some wifi music transfers that I started on my way to bed, plugged the phone into the dock and in the morning it was complete. The USB 3.0 that is in the works will speed it up too, but who knows how far off that is...

[mikey227]

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 16 January 2012

 

 

 

I asked Verizon specifically about whether I could switch the SIM card between Verizon devices and have it work. They said yes, including the voice/3G (CDMA and EV-DO Rev. A) service. The person checked to confirm that LTE and CDMA would transfer when moving it from one Verizon LTE phone to another.

 

Yes. Just like gsm phones, the phone number is stored on the sim cards in verzion lte phones. When u activate a verzon lte phone it is just like att when it first turns on. The phone does not dial *228 to activate. It automatically pulls info to the sim card. They even say don't provision your lte phone like you would a cdma phone because it would burn the sim card. In theory Sprint LTE sims should work the same way. I tried it with one of our demo phones where I work and it did work!