SIM card in other devices, is that allowed or not?


SIM card

Providers often do not allow the use of a SIM card in an Internet dongle or mobile router. They refer to the conditions and the authorities. They say that 06 numbers cannot be used for this. European rules do not allow providers to prohibit the use of a smartphone as a Wi-Fi hotspot. Can you now use a SIM card in other devices or not?

A burning question from a reader: his provider Tele2 threatens to disconnect him from the mobile network. He used the SIM card in a router in a certain month. That is contrary to legislation and regulations, according to the provider. The reader is given fourteen days to use the SIM card as intended: in combination with a 4G telephone. If he does not respond, he will be closed.

A few questions naturally arise. Which laws and regulations does the provider talk about? And are you not free to use a SIM card and the internet bundle of the subscription as it suits you?

Tele2 conditions

Tele2 has been in the hands of T-Mobile for about a year. Not much has changed yet for customers. This also applies to the conditions. The provider has been applying a policy of proper use of mobile services for years, a so-called fair use policy.

In the past the provider was very explicit and even the so-called tethering was prohibited in the conditions. The smartphone takes care of the internet connection of other devices. A typical example is switching on the Wi-Fi hotspot on the smartphone. This prohibition has had to remove the provider from the conditions, because it violated the European rules on net neutrality.

The provider still tackles the “unreasonable use”, especially that of large users. In addition, the Unlimited subscription from Tele2 is in practice not as unlimited as it appears.

Unlimited subscription really unlimited?

Tele2 is best known for its Unlimited subscription. There are no hard limits for calling, texting and using the internet for this. In fact, the provider even encourages “to completely empty the internet”. They are nice sales pitch, but the practice is different. To start with, there is the additional condition that if you have used more than 5 GB in a day, you must send a text message for free extra data. But don’t worry: you can do that “as often as you want.”

Yet people are approached if they use a lot of data. That already happens, if we can rely on user responses, when more than 10 GB is used for a few days. Or more than 120 GB in a month. That may seem like a lot, but with services like Netflix and YouTube things can go fast, especially with a high video quality. And it is only a miniscule piece of internet that you have “emptied” with it.

Consumer and Market Authority

What Tele2 has become somewhat stricter in recent years, as the readers’ question makes clear, is the use of a SIM card in other devices. For example in a router, dongle, laptop or mifi. The latter is a device that, after you have inserted the SIM card, independently connects to the internet and offers a Wi-Fi connection. Here Tele2 goes back to the law, to be precise regulation of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM).

This regulator states that devices used for purposes other than mobile telephony must not have a 06 number. They can only get a 097 number. This is due to the impending shortage of 06 numbers. A legal numbering plan applies here that attempts to prevent this. That shortage is not yet an issue for the time being. Recently, the regulator recovered millions of unused numbers from providers. But ACM does monitor usage more closely, although the responsibility lies with the provider.

The applications for which no 06 number may be used are all covered by the M2M communication, machine-to-machine. These are mainly automated applications where devices talk to each other without human intervention. Examples are a navigation system that retrieves traffic information, an alarm system that calls the security company or a car that calls the emergency number after a collision. Remarkably, ACM also calls the use of a dongle for mobile internet M2M communication.

Appen

Mobile internet and M2M

For true M2M applications, it will be clear that a 097 number is sufficient. It only goes a long way to prohibit and punish using a dongle or mifi with a SIM card. That cannot be the intention of the law. The use of a mifi actually comes down to the same technically as turning on the Wi-Fi hotspot on a smartphone. At most, with the difference that you could also make calls with the smartphone and that you are thus protected by the rules for net neutrality.

A recent lawsuit against Tele2 does not fully determine your rights. Tele2 lost a case against a subscriber who used a SIM card in a mobile hotspot to connect multiple devices to the 4G network. Tele2 suggested to the court that the SIM card may only be used in a telephone.

The court ruled that the SIM-only subscription may also be used with other devices that support the Tele2 4G network, without the telephone supplied. The terms of Tele2 did not specifically state that it had to be a smartphone. These days, the Tele2 terms and conditions state that you must comply with legislation and regulations. Your 06 number is only intended for devices that are being called. And that does not include a mifi or router.

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