AT&T Sells SIM-only Service
AT&T’s new SIM-only option is a positive step towards open access, and opens a new chapter in the US cell phone service market. However, it also highlights just how far behind the US is compared to the rest of the world.
A few days ago AT&T began offering customers the option to purchase cell phone service online without buying a phone, but the deal made no sense. The service-only SIM cost $5 ($10 minus $5 online rebate), but required you to commit to a standard 2-year contract. Elsewhere on the site you can get a free phone in return for signing a 2-year contract. There’s nothing to stop you from selling the phone on eBay and keeping the SIM. Why pay $5 to NOT get a free phone?
Wired and Gizmodo ran articles on this bizarre offering, and a day later AT&T said they had made a mistake. The SIM-only option does not require a 2-year contract, and will be available with a pre-paid or month-to-month post-paid plan.
This is good news, but we have a long way to go. In Europe you can buy a SIM card and phones independently at dozens of independent retailers. US carriers have designed all of their systems and processes around selling phones tied to long-term contracts through carrier-owned stores. We have ourselves attempted to purchase SIM-only service in their retail stores and been refused. If you want to buy an unlocked phone you need to know to ask for a “no-commitment price” handset. We suspect that some part of AT&T’s online store was never designed to handle SIM-only service. (Today the cards are “temporarily out of stock.”)
Thank you AT&T. We hope that this is just the first step in flinging your network open.