Hi msfu,
my cards are these cheap chinese magic cards.
Vague descriptions of this kind are generally not useful when you are
trying to *program* a SIM card - such programming generally requires
knowing the _exact_ model of your card.
I am, however, a bit concerned by your use of the word "magic" in
describing your cards: in my experience so far, I have only heard the
name "Magic SIM" in reference to ancient COMP128v1-only cards that
were specifically made for SIM cloning, back in the days when
operators' use of COMP128v1 made such cloning possible. To the best
of my knowledge, these "magic" SIMs allow *multiple* IMSI+Ki pairs to
be programmed into them, and they have some kind of STK application
that allows switching between these multiple programmed identities via
a menu on phones that implement STK. I don't like cards of this kind
at all, instead I strongly prefer a model that mimics a traditional
cell network operator as closely as possible: in my paradigm, you put
on the hat of a network operator when you program an FCSIM1 card with
fc-simtool, including programming of IMSI and Ki (and you can do
COMP128v3 too, you aren't limited to v1), and from that point onward,
the card looks and feels like a legitimate operator issue, not some
cloning hack.
they have 88888888 as their adm
Does your card support *just one* IMSI+Ki identity/key to be programmed
into it, or is it a "magic" SIM that allows programming multiple
identities with an STK menu switching between them? If your card is
of the multiple-identity "magic" kind, I won't be able to help you
further with it, but if it supports just one IMSI+Ki and you say it
has 88888888 as its ADM key, then it *might* be a GrcardSIM2 card.
The easiest way to find out would be to look at your card's ATR -
please tell me your ATR, and I will tell if it's any of the cards I
recognize.
Do you know how to get your card's ATR? If you don't know how to get
your ATR with whatever tools you are already familiar with, now would
be a good time to install and learn my fc-sim-tools:
https://www.freecalypso.org/hg/fc-sim-tools/
The most straightforward way to retrieve your card's ATR with my tools
would be to run fc-pcsc-atr.
and worked nice with osmocom till today :)
Another vague statement - please tell us *exactly which* Osmocom tools
have previously worked successfully with your cards.
but even if i try with this 8-digit number the tool
says Time out
during card request.
When you say "the tool", do you mean sysmo-usim-tool.sjs1.py? If so,
you are using the wrong tool for your card model, and it can't
possibly ever work.
do i need those sysmocom cards for using
sysmo-usim-tool?
Technically yes, but you are posing the question the wrong way.
Instead of starting with a preconceived notion of which specific
software tool you are going to use and then looking for a card model
that works with that specific tool (which might be impossible, as card
model SJS1 which is specific to the tool you are trying to use, has
been discontinued in 2020), you need to proceed as follows:
1) Decide which SIM (or perhaps USIM/ISIM) card you should use based
on your actual application requirements, and then
2) Once you have settled on card vendor ABC model XYZ, use the right
tool (normally provided by the vendor, at least if the vendor is a
decent FLOSS-friendly company like Falconia or Sysmocom) to program
your cards.
To answer question 1 above (which card model would be right for your
application), ask yourself these further questions - and if you post
your answers, then I and other members of this list (if they feel like
engaging in this thread) will be able to give you suggestions as to
which cards would work best for your application:
* Are you running (or seeking to run) a pure GSM/2G network, or are
you more interested in 3G/4G/5G technologies?
* What kind of phones are you going to put your SIMs into, presumably
for the purpose of connecting to your own network? Are they 2G-only
phones with classic 2FF SIM sockets ("big" SIMs), or are they
"modern"
smartphones with 3FF or 4FF (micro/nano) SIM sockets that prefer
3G/4G/5G and only support 2G as a backward compatibility mode?
* How do you personally feel about the industry's transition from the
classic GSM 11.11 SIM protocol toward UICC and USIM/ISIM? Do you
consider this UICC/USIM/ISIM innovation to be a welcome and positive
change, or do you consider it to be a misdesign that needs to be
resisted and opposed?
The last question should really be the most relevant one for deciding
which SIM or USIM/ISIM cards you should invest into and use. If you
*like* the philosophical ideas of UICC/USIM/ISIM, if you are going to
stick your cards into phones that speak these protocols, if you wish
to program files under ADF.USIM and ADF.ISIM, and you are prepared to
invest into the associated learning curve and tools, then I
wholeheartedly recommend that you buy your cards from Sysmocom: their
webshop cards are targeted to just this audience, and their latest
pysim-shell tool is made for those cards.
OTOH, if you detest UICC/USIM/ISIM as *unwanted* innovations, if you
work primarily with phones that don't speak any of those protocols, if
your network is exclusively GSM/2G and you don't want to devote any
brain cells to knowing, understanding and programming files under
ADF.USIM and ADF.ISIM, *then* I recommend a SIM-only card model that
has *no* UICC/USIM/ISIM capabilities - and the only such card model I
know of that is available without cost-prohibitive MOQ is my FCSIM1.
and where can i get your cards? are they available for
buying or something?
So far I haven't sold any, I have only given them away free of cost to
those whom I (at the time) considered to be worthy recipients. If you
tell me more about yourself (please be as verbose as you can be, *at
minimum* as verbose as I am, preferably more), then I will decide if I
can send you some cards free of cost, or not. If you don't qualify
for free-of-cost cards, I will be happy to sell you some, but I don't
have any kind of webshop setup, thus it would have to be a strictly
informal transaction, similar to a street drug deal. :)
If you happen to be anywhere near San Diego, California, USA or
Tijuana, Mexico (either side of the border is fine), I strongly prefer
in-person transactions - but if you are on the other side of the
planet from me, then shipping will have to be the way. Thankfully
they haven't made SIM cards illegal *yet*, at least to the best of my
IANAL knowledge...
M~