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Why isn’t anyone pushing for naked SIM cards?

Categories: Ideas and rants
By: , IntoMobile
Wednesday, December 27th, 2006 at 12:22 PM

Here in the good old, backwards ass telecommunications industry, US of A only a handful of providers offer something called naked DSL.

No it’s not a porno, but instead it allows consumers to purchase DSL from their local phone company without the need to have a phone number. Still don’t understand? You move in to a new apartment and the first thing you get turned is the power, and water. Once that is completed you find out your options for internet access. Here in America DSL is the dominant technology, which means it’s a service provided by a phone company. Keep in mind that you have a mobile phone which you use exclusively. You call up AT&T for example, tell them you want DSL, and find out that you also have to register for their local phone service. You need to get a phone number, which you’ll never use, to get DSL. Does this sound batshit insane? The providers here who we shall call the “good guys” let you get a DSL connection without having to sign up for any extra bullshit. This is called naked DSL.

That same experience is being echoed in the cellular industry. When you think of a SIM card what pops into your mind? It is a little piece of plastic that grants you permission to hop on the cellular network with a unique phone number. What if carriers offered naked SIM cards? What if we changed our perception of what a SIM card can do, instead of being something that plugs into phones to do voice, it can be something we plug into devices to get network access.

Every phone manufacture right now is trying to make devices that can do everything but buy your groceries and clean your laundry. Why not let devices we already have today just connect to the net? Why can’t I pop a SIM card into my Canon point and shoot and have it upload to Flickr directly from there? Why can’t I pop a SIM card into the GPS system in my car so I can get real time traffic information and updated maps? Why can’t I pop a SIM card into my television and get IPTV plus those wacky youtube videos? Why can’t I pop a SIM card into a device like the Sony eBook reader and get the latest info from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and my RSS feeds all at my convenience?

Today you can pop a SIM card into a laptop and use the net, this is something mobile business users have been asking for and it’s only recently started happening. Intel is going to release a Centrino chipset in the future that will be cellular enabled. The SIM card isn’t a little piece of plastic that has a phone number; it’s your passport to the world repository of information. We need to push carriers to accept this. A beautiful future would be $49.99 a month for unlimited data and voice on one SIM card, then $9.99 a month extra for every SIM card (without a phone number; unlimited data only) after that.

Am I crazy to want this or does it make sense to you guys too?

Wikipedia gives a more comprehensive and technical definition of naked DSL

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

  • Ricky Cadden

    I’ll tell ya, I had to read this twice before I actually caught on to what you’re asking for. Basically, instead of your SIM card having a phone number (cause that’s what distinguishes a useful SIM card from a piece of plastic) it would have an IP address. Cause in order to access data you have to have one of the two.

    I agree. When I was in school, I often dreamed about being able to “Call” my coffee maker from class and tell it to turn on, so that when I got home I had a nice hot cup waiting for me. But I wasn’t about to pay $10/month extra for an added line to my account.

  • Rex

    India has always had ‘naked’ SIM cards…here you buy your phone and the connection separately. So if you’re changing cities, all you do is buy a new SIM card for a new number and pop it into your phone (number portability across operators is coming by April 2007)

  • Stefan Constantinescu

    Ricky: Prices can be negotiated

    Rex: Re-read my post, I’m not talking about phone numbers. I’m talking about access to the network.

  • Todd

    T-Mobile (yes, in the USA) offers naked SIM cards; it’s just not “on the menu”. I haven’t tried ordering one via phone, but I have bought one directly from their walk-in mall kiosk store. No phone charge at all, just a SIM card. I didn’t use the term “naked SIM”; rather, I asked for “a SIM card to activate an existing GSM phone”, and they knew what I wanted. I did get a canned paragraph of lecture regarding no support or insurance replacement for unbranded devices, etc.

    They preferred to have some sort of device in hand to verify operation, but if that were not possible (e.g. if buying a data plan for a PCMCIA card), they could use one of the in-house tester phones to verify activation. Combined with the fact that they don’t near-force you into the new 2-year contract trend (T only has 1-year contracts), this was pretty nice. What’s more, as I was already a customer and was *not* buying a phone, I didn’t have to extend my contract, because there was no subsidy involved.

    Of course, as always, your mileage may vary. Maybe not all their stores have clueful people.