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Comment by lajamerr | Hacker News Reader

I imagine a world where you just a bring a phone anywhere and it you open your network settings, go to your cellular data menu, and then automatically it detects the mobile network providers that support the towers it can see.

Then you tap on the one you want, select the package you want, pay for it from that menu and then bam you are connected.

All without having an existing Wi-Fi or Cellular data plan.

There needs to be some basic/back-end service that allows for this type of communication to people not already subscribed to a mobile network.

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> Then you tap on the one you want, select the package you want, pay for it from that menu and then bam you are connected.

And what if those menus are in some foreign language I don't understand? And how would that work with cash? I'd have to fork over my credit card (assuming that's even an acceptable form of payment) and may end up with a recurring charge for a cell plan in a country I'll visit for a week.

Visions like yours are nice, but my money is what we'll actually get is a far crappier, buggier version.

One impossible-to-replace benefit of physical objects is that you can use physical control to place limits on them. Pay with cash, no recurring changes, move the card, move the service. Theoretically you could do that in software, but practically you won't because those are expensive features that almost always get cut.

This feature is already implemented in many areas. As an English speaker your going to have few issues.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_SIM

>And what if those menus are in some foreign language I don't understand? And how would that work with cash?

The menus will be in whatever language your phone is set to. You can use contactless payment like Apple Pay or Google Pay and there's no recurring charge unless you want there to be one.

>contactless payment

You do understand how strange this sounds? Like airdropping files from C:/Downloads to C:/Archive

Can you elaborate? I can get an eSIM with service in less than 5 minutes and never leave my house/hotel using Apple Pay.

Yes, but is it contactless?

If I write you a letter on a piece of paper, is it wireless transmission? Mind you, paper has no wires.

Contactless payment is the marketing term for NFC technology. It has nothing to do with you not interacting with other people.

My point was that the payment was contactless. You don't have to give any paper or anything to another person. It's handled by Apple Pay using whatever payment method you want and the vendor/provider never gets your info.

My point was that paper letter was wireless too. Wireless, same as contactless, is a name we use for particular technology.

I totally agree that it could have been Apple Pay, Paypal Pay or whatever else Bingus Pay, but it definitely was not contactless, because there was no NFC radio communication involved.

And my point was that "contactless" has more than one definition depending on context. I'm not going to respond anymore as I've been warned about arguing semantics on here.

You've completely ignored my argument that it was wireless too.

That's not relevant to the point I was making.

That was exactly my experience traveling from USA to Europe. My iPhone didn't support global bands and wouldn't work with a local SIM. My iPad, however, came with the Apple SIM and let me purchase a local data plan in 2 different countries through a convenient menu that came up automatically. I'm sure there's a telecom company requirement for why this capability doesn't seem to work in a regular phone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_SIM

Does sounds like your giving away a lot privacy. But it does sound really convient especially if you like to travel.

You can do all of that with SIM already. The only restriction placed is by cell providers. You either use roaming feature, or if you use SIM that supposed to use multiple providers (like Google Fi) then it can use multiple networks.

This change is bad for the customer no matter what. It's similar to me to what Verizon had during CDMA days.

My ideal goes further than that. All I want is a reasonable data plan with non extortionate roaming rates from my existing provider (phone service is not important to me these days due to FaceTime/WhatsApp/etc). Some providers were starting to offer decent roaming to a large selection of countries that came out of your existing allowance with no additional charge but they seem to have started rolling back on that now as margins are getting squeezed. There is no reason for roaming charges for 1 week to be higher than the cost of a 1 month pre-paid local sim.

My Verizon plan has worked seamlessly across 30+ countries over what past 5 years. Your proposal sounds worse than the status quo.

Come to Canada, where our plans are shit and their international roaming rates are even more shit. The second I'm across a border the SIM card comes out...

Even better: It just works

(For iPhones to work on your network you would HAVE to sell bandwidth to Apple who then uses it for international roaming. The user really is connecting to and using Apple's Network, the local ISP only has the priviledge of serving packets to Apple devices.)

That is exactly how it does (or did?) work with the Apple SIM card in an cellular iPad. You unlock the iPad it asks which network you want to connect to, and you pay with your credit card for the duration you choose

How is that simpler than sliding in a prepaid sim card?

Scanning a carrier provided QR code… this is how it’s currently done with iPhones

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