What is changed after introducing with microSIM?

 Hello everybody, after a half month, finally our new blog pops up. Because of a lot of stuff to handle, I could not be here. Anyway, I decided to write something about SIM cards. Like I said from prior blogs our goal is share information with people with simply and useful practically so we will not go into detail and get your feedback with questions, suggestions.  So that, we can enhance our knowledge.

What is SIM?

SIM means Subscriber Identity Module. SIM card is smart card, it holds subscriber information like IMSI, MSISDN ,SMS server information and memory for contact info , sms . SIM card also keeps authentication parameters like Sres, Op/Opc, Ki etc .

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), which sets the standards for SIM cards, tells us that except for the size of the plastic around the chip, micro SIM cards are identical to the SIM cards we normally find in phones.

There are two type SIM cards;
The first basic families are SIM/USIM (for 2G and some 3G networks), the RUIMs (for CDMA networks) and UICCs (for 3G and LTE networks).

USIM:Universal SIM   RUIM: Removable User Identity Module  UICC: Universal Integrated Circuit Card

Why do I need to use SIM card?

SIM card is our ID in mobile phone network. To be able to get into this network we need authentication. So this very small smart card holds all authentication parameters. Regarding GSM technology it uses different type Authentication algorithms like Milenage in UMTS and Snow-3G in LTE.

SIM Card capacity:

Each product family is then defined by the size of the memory made available to the telecom operator. They are usually 64KB, 128KB, 256KB, 500KB, 700KB, etc.  But i did not see any SIM card in real World with capacity 700kb for gsm.

 Which phones are using microSim?

Lates phones are Samsung Galaxy S4, BlackBerry Q10, LG Optimus G LTE 4G, HTC One 4G, Sony Xperia Z, Motorola RAZR i and Nokia Lumia 520.

Why microsim?
I could not find a good answer for it because of vendor requests. Physical Size of chip in both SIM and MicroSim are same.  Maybe it is for preventing unlocking but it is cutting to new microSIM shape with some special tools. So this theory is not valid at least in Turkey. If someone knows the actual reason please enlighten me J

How can I program SIM card

First you have to find SIM card reader. Some of them are Orga and Gemalto. But do not forget you cannot find any tool that can reach the files where authentication parameters are storing.

 Does SIM have special applications on it?

We call it VAS; it stands for Value Added Services. A value-added service (VAS) is a telecommunications industry term for non-core services or, in short, all services beyond standard voice calls. It was SMS, MMS and such kind of basic things in the past. After changing customer expectations it is changed to more advanced applications like Push-To-Talk, Call conferencing, SMS auto reply, Weather information, voicemail and so on. Since VAS is not simple thing, I am planning to explain VAS in future.

 

Sources:

http://www.eservglobal.com/solutions/value-added-services

http://cellplan4u.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=41

http://apcmag.com/card-tricks-why-apple-put-a-microsim-into-the-ipad.htm

http://asia.cnet.com/whats-the-big-deal-about-the-microsim-62200148.htm

 

 

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What is going to be happen with LTE?

Following figure shows the simplified general view of wireless telephone technologies

Journey of Wireless mobile technologies started with 2G in 1980s ( we are not interested in 1G which was using  analog telecommunications standards like AMPS in North America, TACS, NMT etc in other regions and before 1G breakthroughs.)
We have introduced with GPRS in the beginning of 2000's  and few years later EDGE popped up.
After 2003, we have met with CDMA based 3G networks. And now( not exactly but not so much time occured by the way) our new buddy is LTE.

 Above picture indicates the radio interface multiplexing enhancement. LTE is using OFDMA for dowlink and SC-FDMA for uplink.

 OFDMA simply provides;
 Spectral efficiency 
 Resistance to multipath interface
 

 




















MIMO
The multiple input, multiple output antenna or better known as the Mimo antenna technology uses multiple radios to transfer more data at the same time and it is really very important innovation.  

 All-IP Based Network Architecture 

The above figure shows gateway solution, offers one device including MME and Serving/PDN Gateway in one place. This is great enhancement for operators. So that, they will be able to update their  network without paying huge money. This upgrade provides also higher network performance, efficient IP routing and latency reducing. 
All-IP, Simplier, Flatter Network = Reduced OPEX & CAPEX
This improves the quality of experience, so let's imagine, it will give us better satisfaction for real time  applications of communication like VoiP.

 As a result,

LTE will have a large impact on application performance

and network capacity

LTE can be introduced in a progressive, scalable, and 

cost effective way

REFERENCES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
http://www.3gpp.org/LTE
http://nortel.com
http://www.mobileisgood.com/ofdm.php
http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/sb/cs-025345.htm
http://www.wildcatalliance.org/the-mimo-antenna-and-its-pros.htm
http://www.digikey.com/us/en/techzone/wireless/resources/articles/wireless-mimo-driving-rf-challenges.html
http://www.iphase.com/products/lte_about.cfm
http://gsmcommunications.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html

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