A little more on this topic: in current available keitai in Japan subscriber
information is stored on the volatile memory of the phone itself as Ben as
said. However there is one exception according to DoCoMo: some car phones
need a special device to write erase subscriber information. Don't know any
details.
The UIM being introduces by FOMA seems to be fully compliant with IMT-2000
standard. I have in my possession a sample UIM card for 3G (developed by
oberthur card systems) and it looks the exact same as a 2G SIM card. I have
seen photos of the FOMA SIM and they too appear the same. I would imagine
the main advantages of using a UIM are the same as a SIM i.e. portability
and security/authentication.
However GSM also supports the SIM Toolkit. This is an ETSI/SMG standard for
Value Added Services and e-commerce using GSM phones to do the transactions.
It enables the SIM card to drive the GSM handset interface, build up an
interactive exchange between a network application and the end user and
access or control access to the network. In IMT-2000 a similar protocol
exists in the specifications at least. I quote from the spec: "USAT (USIM
Application Toolkit) is a set of commands and procedures used by the UICC
during the network operation phase in GSM 2+ and UMTS. By specifying the
interface, interoperability between an UICC and any mobile terminal is
ensured, independent of the respective manufacturer and operator. It allows
the UICC to proactively execute commands, reversing the master-slave
relation between the mobile terminal and the UICC and thereby enabling any
application to be realized on a SIM card or UICC."
Not really sure what this means in practice but probably a bit academic as
SIM toolkit had very little take-up in 2G and from our experience with 3G
license holders in Europe the same will be true.
john whelan
www.alatto.com
-----Original Message-----
From: keitai-l-bounce@appelsiini.net
[mailto:keitai-l-bounce@appelsiini.net]On Behalf Of Ben Hutchings
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 8:10 PM
To: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Subject: (keitai-l) Re: GSM->SIM : iMode->?
Samal Chandran wrote:
> A fundamental question...
> A GSM phone uses the SIM card for storing Subscriber details. So
> what is the equivalent in the iMode (PDC-P?) phones.
There is none. Subscriber details are not physically removable from
the phone. It is possible to read out and re-write these details, but
this is not something that subscribers are meant to be able to do.
> What about the 3G phones, what do they use?
DoCoMo's 3G 'FOMA' phones use a smart card called a 'UIM' (User
Identification Module).
> and what about the other networks that use CDMA ?
There's an 'R-UIM' (Removable User Identiification Module) smart card
system, but this is not part of the basic standards for CDMA
telephony. I don't know which networks, if any, are using it.
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Received on Wed Sep 26 11:51:25 2001