AT&T and Verizon Agree To Change Their eSIM Practices (engadget.com) 15
In early 2018, the Department of Justice launched an investigation into whether AT&T, Verizon and the GSM Association (GSMA) worked together to limit eSIM technology. Today, The New York Times reports that the DOJ is closing the investigation and has found no evidence of wrongdoing. From a report: The DOJ was initially concerned that AT&T and Verizon attempted to lock devices on their networks even if the device had an eSIM. But the parties have agreed to change how they determine standards for eSIM, which will allow consumers to use eSIM to switch carriers, rather than having to insert a new SIM card. And as a result, the DOJ is dropping the investigation.
English Translation (Score:5, Insightful)
We caught the arsonist, and because they have agreed not to set anymore fires, we let them go.
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> We caught the arsonist, and because they have agreed not to set anymore fires, we let them go.
Regulatory Capture [econlib.org] is why we can't have nice things.
AT&T and Verizon Wireless Admit NUSSING!!! (Score:1)
They'll just be starting to follow the law and stuff. Nothing to see here. Move along now.
Good thing the US government is more interested in covering up for corporate misdeeds
so we don't have to hear about how these companies scammed consumers for years.
What? You bought an eSIM device? And you expected carrier flexibility?
bwaahahhahahahaha
Thanks US Government for doing exactly negative ... worse than nothing... you let these
rapists run amok doing what they want.. and when finally caught let them go with
Why were Sims ever required in the first place? (Score:2)
Seems totally archaic to have to break the waterproofing to put in a physical card.
All that is needed is a secret that could be typed into the handset. And then combined with an in phone secret.
If someone typed the secret into two different phones at the same time the system would pick that up pretty quickly and just disable both of them.
The secret need never be transmitted plain, just a hash of it and a nonce.
Anyone know the history of sims? Analog phones did not need one.
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SIMs were put in because prior to SIMs a phone had its own internal memory and nothing could be moved to another. The GSM providers in Europe created the concept of a SIM which would include a Subscriber Identity Module so you could move phone to phone, and contacts so you could take your contacts with you without having to reenter them. That's how it used to be before SIMs.
Once SIMs became successful then there was clearly a limitation on their storage capacity, so "smart" phones (Microsoft Windows PC 20
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SIM card also contains security credentials to prove and secure subscriber identity. eSIM has the same capability. It has nothing to do with operator lock as such. That is more the device capability - to use only the specific operator network where it is 'locked'.
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Sim cards aside from trying to reuse them are actually very flexible.
They come in 3 sizes but can be converted just by physically cutting them down to the size that's needed or just using the smallest size and an adapter set.
Prior to verizon switching to LTE all of their devices were CDMA and if you wanted to switch devices you had to call the company and read off the number of your new device to switch them (could also be done online later)
If they didn't recognize your device for any reason it couldn't be
Translation (Score:3)
The Carriers Aren't The Only Problem Here (Score:2)
For a society to have faith in the system of justice it operates, that system needs to be more than impartial, it needs to be seen to be impartial.
Instead, we have:-
1. An Attorney General who told Congress in a public hearing that he thought that law enforcement agencies (specifically, the FBI) spied on a presidential election campaign, without ANY substantiating evidence; and then went ahead and started in investigati
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And don't forget about this doozie: https://slate.com/news-and-pol... [slate.com]
How does eSIM work in the real world? (Score:2)
So if I'm in Amsterdam once a month, on my first trip I get a pay as you go SIM for my unlocked iPhone. Now each time I arrive in Amsterdam, I pop in my local SIM and away I go on the local network. When I return to the US, it's the same thing with my ATT SIM.
How does this switching work with eSIM?
Is it some kind of deal where I have to hit a carrier web site to "re-activate" and have some black magic transmitted to my phone when I want to switch? This seems awkward if I'm traveling in a country and have
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