Hey Corpsman-up

The overall main convenience of a sim card is if you travel overseas.. Other than that , it stores your contacts which you can transfer the sim.. but back up assistanst will transfer you phone book as well. Bottom line, if a sim is damaged ie wet, ran over whatever it won't transfer your contacts so backup assistant is overall better as on website, don't have to worry if phone is wet, it is saved on the net. And your right, coming in few days there are things free re: back up of ph book with VZW.

yeah but your computer could crash with your sync stuff on it!!!

Your computer is more likely to crash or in need of a format as opposed to the sim messing up due to water damage or any other phone trauma

Sim cards generally survive water damage. If contacts are saved to sim, most damage to the phone asside from complete damage don't affect the sims operability. I have only seen to sims damaged beyond use since i have started. One due to water damage(out of hundreds) and one from rovers precision bite.

LilShorty said:
That's not to say the convenience of sim cards don't have their downsides. I've had 2 phones stolen this year, and one last year, and how easy and convenient for the thieves to put their sim in MY phone and use.

Even so, If you have a GSM phone stolen (if you had a phone block) no-one could have had access to any of your contacts. I had my phone stolen before, and because of this no-one was able to make any phone calls under my phone number. Plus, since I had a phone block; that SOAB who stole my phone was not able to see any of my contact (phone #s that is) So, I had no need to report my phone stolen... (this is good for those drunk fellows out there who lose their phones and won't find o...
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Anxiovert said:

Even so, If you have a GSM phone stolen (if you had a phone block) no-one could have had access to any of your contacts. I had my phone stolen before, and because of this no-one was able to make any phone calls under my phone number. Plus, since I had a phone block; that SOAB who stole my phone was not able to see any of my contact (phone #s that is) So, I had no need to report my phone stolen... (this is good for those drunk fellows out there who lose their phones and won't find out until late the next day)

But still...good money paid on phones... 😢

I might be a bit confused here, but if you didn't lock the phone, they could still view your contact list, right? Any phone can be locked, though don't think most people overall lock their phones.. If a phone doesn't have a sim and the phone is locked no one can see contacts either.

Can somebody please explain the technology of why CDMA handsets can't have SIM cards?

It would be nice to switch phones; business, casual, PDA or whatever all on the same account.

The idea can't hurt any company that sells phones.

wnrussell said:
Can somebody please explain the technology of why CDMA handsets can't have SIM cards?

They can and do in China the technology is available, verizon just need to implement it.

wnrussell said:
Can somebody please explain the technology of why CDMA handsets can't have SIM cards?

It would be nice to switch phones; business, casual, PDA or whatever all on the same account.

The idea can't hurt any company that sells phones.

Here is an article for you 🙂

http://www.wirelessweek.com/article/CA508696.html?sp ... »

gunny said:
Here is an article for you 🙂

http://www.wirelessweek.com/article/CA508696.html?sp ... »

Thanks, Gunny. The article was from March 2005 and it looks like there is still no progress.

It looks like Nokia is trying to lead the pack, but is being held back. "Slow Going With R-UIM"

The reason VZW (and other US CDMA carriers for that matter) don’t adopt the technology is clear. THEY WOULD LOSE CONTROL OVER YOU ! ! !

If a SIM system was in place, any manufacturer could build and market a phone to use on Verizon’s network and include any features they want. For example, let’s say Apple finally develops the long anticipated iphone and makes a CDMA version. Every ipod loving VZW subscriber would buy it, load it up from the itunes Music Store and be happy as a clam. VZW would lose a phone sale and revenue from Vcast Music. Very uncompetitive practice.

I am politically pretty conservative and don’t like government regulation in general, but this is one case where the FCC should step in and force carriers to open their n...
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You do realize they CAN lock SIM phones, right?

They might lose money on the sale of a phone, but that is not their main attraction in the phone biz, and they don't make that much off of it.

Simply put, it wouldn't matter if they lost phone sales over it.

And last I remember, Cingular locks the phones that they sell, so you can't just take them and run.

Honestly, I want a world-PDAphone, all GSM and CDMA bands, unlocked in CDMA and GSM. It would also have 802.11b/g/n, BT2, A2DP, 1ghz processor, VGA res screen, lots of RAM, etc.

(Like the i770 that is over in China now. It has CDMA and GSM...)

Right now, I will have to settle with the i830, which IS a great phone anyway.

Living Ghost said:
And last I remember, Cingular locks the phones that they sell, so you can't just take them and run.

It's been posted here before that, in Europe, just about any phone vendor can unlock a GSM phone for a new customer.

Is it easier to do that here on a GSM phone, than all of the work those HoFo hackers do to move a CDMA phone around in the US?

You're correct that Cingular and T-Mob lock the phones you buy from them, another practice the FCC should ban. But in any case, if you are a Cingy subsciber you can throw your SIM in any unlocked phone you want.

Cingular does suck, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking of going back (I had TDMA) just because of the SIMs.

Wireless Buddy said:
Cingular does suck, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking of going back (I had TDMA) just because of the SIMs.

Mayube they do, but if I could carry a Q at work, G'zOne to the beach, and a RAZR the rest of the time it would be fabulous.

Why wouldn't a carrier want to sell any subscriber extra phones?

I believe, that VZW is correct about not bringing the technology. I belive that you bring a technology only if you have enough customers to know how to use it. Why wasting money on majority who just want to flip the phone open and call?

S3vSt3R said:
I believe, that VZW is correct about not bringing the technology. I belive that you bring a technology only if you have enough customers to know how to use it. Why wasting money on majority who just want to flip the phone open and call?

That's exactly the issue. There are millions of people, probably half of the subscribers, who will be perfectly happy with a basic flip phone, and that business model worked perfectly for years.

But now, the rest of the people have special needs. Like the Nextel type folks - all they really care about is PTT. The music fans could care less about PTT, but they demand A2DP for their stereo headsets and lots of storage. The PDA business people care mostly ...
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Not that close to decision time yet. In addition to four line VZW Family Share account, my companies business account is also with VZW, and 60% of the calls to wireless phones are to VZW customers, so IN calling is big for me.

I want to try another carrier, and the biggest reason is for SIM cards. The ETF's I would incur right now along with the possible increase due to losing VZW IN calling holds me for now.

I imagine that within the next year or two I'll make the switch, probably on impulse when Verizon does something that PO's me and I'm not looking at 4 x $175 ETF.

CDMA SIM card however would go a long way toward keeping me a customer for life.

ArmySF said:
I'm surprised you think that. I feel cingular is still a good long ways before they are at the verizon level. I tried them a year ago and was very disappointed, nowhere near verizon voice quality. Are you going to port the entire family, or just try a single line first?

Gosh, Army! It's been a yr already? 😳 Well, maybe you should try again Army, cuz many, many, many things have taken place during the past yr. 😉