Re: Software SIMs are a superior solution
Doug invented "It would be basically a software certificate..."
There's a fundamental system security flaw in this approach. When, inevitably, somebody cracks the 'software certificate' handling algorithm, then you've lost the whole system. To fix it, you'd need to rewrite new certificate handling software in several OS ecosystems or innumerable baseband chipsets. It'd be an irreparable mess. It could be fatal to a smaller carrier.
With SIM cards, in the worst case, the carrier orders up millions of $0.50/each next generation SIM cards and mails them out. It only costs $2.00 per customer to renew the whole security system.
The bigger issue with SIM cards is that they change size as fast as many people change phones. Even when they're the same size, 'Sorry, this phone needs an LTE compatible SIM." I don't recall ever actually being able to swap a SIM.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
