Talk:SIM Card sizes/@comment-26674008-20160218223941

I have mixed feelings on the eSIM. Like you say, it could be used to restrict choice and force users to use their home country's overpriced roaming plans. But eSIM is being primarily pushed by Apple and Samsung although the telecom's have backed it also, and Apple has not shown itself very interested in boosting the telecom's revenue.

We have one reason to be optimistic. This change has long been planned and documented on the technical side and so we don't have to listen to only marketing talk. 4G SIM cards are quite substantially different today than their ancestors in the days of 2G. Back then, SIM cards were very static, storage limited to some contacts. They held preprogrammed subscription information for their home network.

Today, SIM cards are fully programmable and capable of running a variety of applications. Telecom's today don't use much of the full capability. In principle, a single SIM card can store subscription applications for several different networks, and dynamically update by adding or removing these on demand. This is the exact virtual equivalent of going to a phone store and buying a SIM card, except you are downloading the SIM over a data connection. Then "swapping" SIMs would be as easy as a menu in settings. Each "virtual SIM" is completely separate from the other and it's not clear if a network would even know you have other SIMs installed.

Now, Apple has the capability to implement this kind of system and has already done a very crude version of this with their "Apple SIM" which currently offers not so cheap GigSky roaming. If local telecom's back this then this could be a boon to travelers: you would land at an airport, turn on your phone, and instantly be offered to buy virtual SIM cards from every prepaid operator in the country.

Some parts are unclear and we have to wait and see. How are SIMs to be moved from phone to phone? How will expiry policies change? Will networks offer all their prepaid offerings by virtual SIM or only special overpriced ones?