Wi-Fi In a SIM Card

gaijin_ writes "What if, rather than buying a MiFi or using a Wi-Fi router app like those on the Palm Pre Plus, you could stick a SIM in any device and have a shared 3G connection? That's what Sagem Orga and Telefonica are promising: they've developed the SIMFi, a USIM card with an embedded Wi-Fi radio that, when dropped into any standard handset, can share the 3G HSPA connection with various Wi-Fi clients as an instant access point."

Comments

Antenna?

[molo]

You still need a 2.4GHz antenna, which at 1/4 wavelength is more than 2cm. Where are they going to put it? Certainly not in a standard SIM chip package.

-molo

Re:Antenna?

[adolf]

I agree -- it's not practical. Just look around: there's no other products that manage to shrink an antenna down in size, and still operate at 2.4GHz, are there?

Given the severe lack of anyone doing stuff like this, it must be impossible to use an antenna shorter than a quarter-wavelength for anything, ever. I mean, it's obvious, isn't it?

Re:I'm wondering

[ircmaxell]

I think that will depend on the control you have over the functionality. Will the handset be aware of the radio? Will it be able to control it (turn it on and off)? Does it support encryption?

OTOH, it could be a portal for providing ubiquitous coverage for WiFi. Imagine having a city full of people with these (Even with reduced range to reduce the clutter). Then you would be able to access a "hot spot" from just about anywhere. Of course you'd be charged for access (by the provider most likely), but still it's a pretty cool idea...

Re:iPhone

[LiENUS]

What?

Re:SIM=GSM

[sznupi]

Well, Sagem and Telefonica certainly aren't concerned primarily about limitations of US cellphone market. Telefonica cares mostly about their network technology, which is quite firmly in GSM family. As is 80+% of mobile subsribers in the world.

I don't expect any drivers to be neccessary; this solution seems to be precisely about NOT using "special" phone. SIM cards typically expose to a phone their customized menu item, so there's certainly a way to control any functionality added in the hardware of said card.

Re:Progress.

[migla]

"We are put on this earth to fart around and don't let anybody tell you any different."

Re:I'm wondering

[aztracker1]

You have this backwards, TFA is talking about sharing the phone's 3G connection with other computers (say your laptop).

Re:I'm wondering

[ircmaxell]

Latency would be the problem with that kind of network. Unless the density of these routers was so high that you were never more than 3 hops away, but then you wouldn't really need to have the mesh network in the first place...