Can Phones/Tablets use WIFI without SIM ?

👤 Diwas Poudel 🕒 11 Sep 2022 📁 TECH

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We are here with a new topic, and it is about whether or not it is possible to use WIFI on smartphones and tablets without a SIM card. In this article, we will talk about "Can we use smartphones and tablets without SIM Card? "No" and "Yes" both are the correct answer.

SIM
WIFI
Can we use smartphones without SIM?
Relationship between WIFI and SIM?

First, let us briefly discuss SIM and WIFI.

SIM

SIM stands for Subscriber Identity Module, and it is a small memory chip that is manually inserted into your phone by the user. As shown below, it is a physical card. It contains unique information such as the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) for connecting subscriber data to servers and communicating with owners.
This module enables the user to send and receive calls, send/receive SMS messages, allow mobile data to connect to the internet, Authentication SIM Key (for verifying and signing in to Mobile Network), Location Area Identity (for checking and validating of local available network), and up to 250 small contacts.

There are normally 4 types of SIM and they are:

FULL-SIZE SIM
MINI SIM
MICRO SIM
NANO SIM

The SIM has a small yellowish part that is the main part.

Also read: How to Check Phone Processor [Android,iOS] ?

WIFI

Nowadays, the majority of smartphones and tablets have included a WIFI module. WIFI Modules are used to establish a wireless internet connection. They are built into the motherboard of your phone and tablets. They are also known as WLAN modules.

It is important to note that in order for the phone to receive wifi signals, you must enable WIFI from the Phone Settings menu. As soon as you enable it on your phone, it displays all nearby available WIFI and allows you to connect to it. If the wifi is secured, you must enter a password. After entering the password, you can use the internet to surf and do other things.

There are generally 4 types of WIFI technologies.

Wi-Fi-802.11a
Wi-Fi-802.11b
Wi-Fi-802.11g
Wi-Fi-802.11n

Both of the WIFI technologies used in the Router are mixed types like b g and n or b and g only etc.

Note: Actually the WIFI module and SIM Module are independent modules.

Can we use smartphones/tablets without SIM?

There are many different ways that we can connect the smartphone to the internet. Popular ways are:

Using WIFI
Using Cellphone Data (either LTE, 3G, 4G, 5G, etc)

You do not need a SIM card in order to connect to the internet using WIFI because these devices use an internal 802.11 radio in order to connect to short-range WIFI access points (85-105 meters).

Also read: Why do phones slow down? How to Fix it?

You will need a SIM card, however, in order to access the internet through your cellphone's data service. This service uses a multiband cell phone to talk to a carrier tower that is in close proximity to where you are. This radio transmitter is significantly more powerful and has a longer range (45 to 72 kilometers) than WIFI. If the cell tower is closer to your phone/tablet, you will have better connectivity. Therefore, in order to connect to the internet using this type, you will require a SIM card.

Relationship between WIFI and SIM?

If the authentication process for the WiFi network uses EAP-SIM, then the SIM can have an effect on the authentication. To my knowledge, this is the only connection that can be made between WiFi and the SIM card.

Conclusion:

The main purpose of WIFI is the Internet, and with this in mind, if we want to use the internet using cellular data, we need a SIM card, whereas if we want to use the internet using mobile WIFI module, we do not need a SIM card.