SIM chips

Sep 14, 2023 Last reply: 2 years ago 7 Replies

I recently switched phone providers, replacing the SIM chip. Which got me wondering an old wonderment: what's inside?



It's remarkable that the industry has standardized on a single form factor and pin out. But I'm curious, what is the separation of functions, between the chip and the surrounding device? How to characterize it as a black box, what exactly are the signals which flow across the pins? Do any of those pins carry analog waveforms?



I figure this is a reasonable place to ask such a question -


torsdag den 14. september 2023 kl. 19.58.07 UTC+2 skrev RichD:

I wonder if maybe, just maybe, google will have an idea, ..

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You can buy a USB adapter, that comes with software to read the content.

Modern mobile phones also offer eSIMs with no physical card at all.

A SIM chip can be replaced by software? I thought they had rf detectors inside, TDM, FDM, CDM...

no, it is only a bit of data to identify you on the network

I know Qualcomm is a big player. I thought their CDM devices are inside the SIM chips.

What exactly are they selling then?

no,

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The main chips that makes up the functionality of a cellphone the SIM card is only a bit of encrypted data to identify you on the network

the phone doesn't need a SIM card to make calls, you can call 911/112 without a SIM card

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