July 27, 2007 3:07pm by swood | 
Are SIM cards supposed to make our lives easier or something? What are they good for? Does anybody know?
I’ve had a couple of cell phones in my life so far, and never once have I been able to take the Contact List from one phone, stick it on a SIM card, and load it into the new phone.
Is there any consumer-oriented use for them?
In theory they are great. You can take your number and contacts from one phone to another. My family do that all the time in Europe. Also, my family can go from Ireland to Poland, buy a local SIM card and use their own phone. They can make calls that way.
The problem here in this country is that both the phones are locked, so that you can’t use new SIM cards in them, unless they are from the phone company that sold you the phone. I know this for a fact as I tried to purchase a SIM card in Poland to use while I was there.
So, the simple answer to your direct question is no. However, they have the potential.
See, this is one of those things that they need to teach in High School. How the heck is anyone supposed to know All About Sim Cards ™? The research required to understand their purpose, potential uses, and whether or not you in particular can use them is not worth the expected benefit.
1) I think young people already know how to use them. You (and I) are just to old.
2) Why learn about them when you can’t put the to full use? The cell phone companies took an open system and closed it. Besides, you think they want you to know that when your phone breaks you can just take your old phone that you used to have (before upgrading to a new 2 year contract) and slip the SIM card into it until you are eligible for a new reduced price/free cell phone? Nope. They want you to buy a new one.
just about every phone has bluetooth nowadays. I dont think I’ve ever used the sim card to transfer contacts. I just BT’d them over.