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

solves the wrong problem

[czmax]

This is a technical "solution" to a non-technical problem. The ability exists today but is predominately blocked by the cell phone providers.

This quote from the article shows how deluded these people are: "it seems likely that carriers would give the SIMFi away as long as you took out some sort of mobile data contract". If that was the case then I'd be able to use tethering on my iphone RIGHT NOW.

Sure, neat technical hack. Nice miniaturization there. But making this functionality available in a smaller form factor isn't the problem.

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...