Why don't they understand sim cards?

fasttalkerchat

I noticed that they explain what a simcard is during the disposable phones story and no cops understood. Why is that? Did they just underestimate the intelligence of the audience or did phones work a different way at some point in America?

dahamsta

AFAIK only one network is GSM in the US, even now; the rest are CDMA, which don't use SIM cards. So yes, most people wouldn't be familiar with them.

EDIT: Sorry, two: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_wireless_communications_service_providers

fasttalkerchat

Waow, I didn't know that! Thanks for the info.
That also explains why they threw away phones and not just the sim cards...

Sinfonia

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

Waow, I didn't know that! Thanks for the info.
That also explains why they threw away phones and not just the sim cards...

Except for Stringer, and *Season 3

when they find him Bunk says something like "I have no clue" and Jimmy explains "It's a cell chip", to which Bunk says "Oh", in a way that suggests he understands...

Bothered me too.

klong

Sinfonia wrote: »

Except for Stringer, and *Season 3

when they find him Bunk says something like "I have no clue" and Jimmy explains "It's a cell chip", to which Bunk says "Oh", in a way that suggests he understands...

Bothered me too.

And

doesn't Stringer have large amounts of sim cards? I remember him changing sim cards in one episode alright

A Primal Nut

klong wrote: »

And

doesn't Stringer have large amounts of sim cards? I remember him changing sim cards in one episode alright

Yep, interestingly they could still have got around that by intercepting on IMEI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mobile_Equipment_Identity#Lawful_interception

al28283

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Yep, interestingly they could still have got around that by intercepting on IMEI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mobile_Equipment_Identity#Lawful_interception

One of the plot points of the show was that they never had the money or sometimes the authority to use that kind of tech. In one ep even

getting a microphone was a big deal

expectationlost

they did eventually use one of those to get stringer

UL_heart_throb

in america they sell disposable phones, there is no simcard or if it is it's inbuilt, you can't can't change it.

James McNulty

UL_heart_throb wrote: »

in america they sell disposable phones, there is no simcard or if it is it's inbuilt, you can't can't change it.

Between disposable untraceable phones and purchasing shotguns over the counter in Wal-Mart, it's like a criminals wet dream