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Some Great Tips About SIM Cards

By Morten Hansen


The Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) is a smart card chip, of the dimensions of a postage stamp, which when inserted in your mobile phone, forms the intelligent source of the various kinds of communications. A Smart Card is an integral circuit card (ICC) and is generally accepted to be a small card with embedded integrated circuit. Though there are numerous applications, ICCs are catagorised into two broad segments. One is the non-volatile memory stick which contains only the storage elements, and the other being a type of a microprocessor circuitry composed from memory or microprocessor parts.

The SIM is a microprocessor unit with memory storage capacity, which stores all the unique information about your account. It holds your identity in the shape of your account number with the service provider and identifies you to the network. The currently available SIM card has 16 to 64 kb of memory, which stores your private phone numbers that you call, text messages that you receive or send and other price added services. There are often options given as value added services where you can download a picture or MP3 songs and even a ring book for your mobile. The memory storage available in your SIM card stores these information or info for you to avail them when you need. There is a demand of bigger memory spaces to store high resolution pictures, large MP3 files and also enable live video streaming.

One of the 3rd generation mobile telephone technologies is known as Universal Mobile Telecomms System (UMTS). A Universal Customer Identity Module (USIM) is an application for UMTS mobile telephony running on Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC). UICC is another type of chip smart card utilized in GSM and UMTs. Unlike SIM, this card has a huge memory space and holds 1 or 2 kilobytes of info. With the approaching of more services the storage area in the smart chip have to be bigger. In a GSM environment, the UICC has an application of that of SIM where-as in a UTMS environment it's the USIM application. The SIM that you have is uniquely identified by its World Circuit Card ID (ICCID).

SIM cards are available on the supposition of a subscription on signing a contract with the service supplier. They're available either on a pay as you go basis, where you get your monthly bills or as a pre-paid subscriber, where you pay a certain charge in advance for the service that you need. This depends upon the type of contract that you sign.

2 SIM cards may be employed in your cellphone. All that you need to do is to buy dual SIM cover from your dealer for the model of the cellphone that you have. This has many advantages viz. You might hold 2 SIM cards in a single cell-phone, featuring pay as you go and pre-paid as well , for your office and private use respectively.

In most of the cases, the SIM can be removed simply from the cell-phone, permitting you to carry your mobile subscription and information through different types of cellphones that you can opt to have along the line of GSM telephones available. It may so happen the mobile phone with the SIM card in it is misplaced somewhere, nicked or lost. You will, at the earliest, ask for the service supplier to deactivate that SIM, giving them the reasons why, and obtain another replacement card for your new phone. You may be liable to pay a charge to the service provider for issuing the duplicate SIM card to you.

Generally the cellphones available are 'SIM unlocked ' and as such it could be used with any SIM card from any carrier in the world. Led by the contract you sign, many cell telephones are 'SIM locked ' by the service supplier, and in almost all of the circumstances, till a certain contract period. These telephones will not work with another SIM card as in the previous case.

The inserted circuitry of the SIM card holds info regarding the service plan that you've selected as a subscriber. The data about your present area location (LAI) in the network is also stored by the SIM as network information. You'll find that when you switch on your mobile telephone, the software inside, searches for the network you are registered with and lock you on to that service supplier. It does so by taking the mandatory info from your SIM and search for the LAI it was in.

The SIM card in your mobile phone identifies you, by holding a Global Mobile Customer Identity (IMSI). All GSM and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network users are uniquely linked with IMSI, and this number. Is held in the SIM. When a call is created, the cell telephone sends this number to the network which is used to obtain other details from the Home Location Register (HLR) or as available in the Visitor Location Register (VLR). The VLR contains all of the data of the subscriber, which are required for any call handling and mobility management in the area controlled by the VLR. Due to security reasons, the IMSI is sent out very rarely and TMSI is sent as an alternative which is the Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity and is quite regularly used.

For security purposes, the SIM card features storage of Personal Identification Number (PIN) code, which is a 4-8 digit password chosen by you, and entered whenever you want to gain access to your mobile telephone. There's also a PIN2, used to get access to more advanced features in the mobile and is available for GSM II applications. On blunder, the system allows you to enter the password three times before the SIM card get locked and you'd need a Private Unblocking Key (PUK) from your network operator to unblock your mobile. PUK2 is used for similar purpose as PUK but for PIN2.

As well as the mobile telephone smart cards mentioned above, viz, SIM and USIM, the following are the other types which have application in different network technology:

ISIM - IP World Services Identity Module is a smart card like the SIM, which is applicable in a UICC smart card environment in a 3G (3rd Generation Technology) mobile telephone in the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) environment. IMS is architecture for telecomms operators applied to a standarised New Generation Networking (NGN), a network that sometimes encompasses info and voice communication, as well as the optionally available media, for example video. ISIM can co-exist with SIM and USIM, provided that they are on the same UICC.

R-UIM - The Removable User-identity Module is like a SIM but capable of working with both, in CDMA and GSM phones and networks. The R-UIM slots into any existing GSM telephone and is compatible with any GSM SIM.

W-SIM - The Wilcom SIM has been developed by Willcom, which, as well as the functions of a SIM, provides radio receiver/transmitter facilities as its built in feature.




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