Mobile station

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Mobile station ( MS , engl. Mobile Station ) is the terminal in the GSM (GSM). A mobile station essentially consists of the two units Mobile Equipment (ME) and Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) .

Mobile device

One unit of the mobile station is the real mobile terminal ( English m obile e quipment (ME) ), this is a cellular telephone , a UMTS data card or a UMTS - stick to the pure data transmission , a stationary GSM desktop telephone, a mobile radio gateway , a UMTS router or a mobile device for card payment in a taxi.

The end device is assigned a unique number, the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI). The IMEI can be used to determine whether the device is approved and where the device was manufactured. The network operator can query this IMEI during authentication and thus identify unauthorized, malfunctioning or stolen devices and, if necessary, block them.

SIM card

The second unit of the mobile station is the SIM card ( English s ubscriber i Dentity m odule (SIM) ). The SIM card contains a processor and data memory and is protected against unauthorized use by a changeable personal identification number (PIN). The mobile terminal is assigned to a network and authenticated by the SIM card . Algorithms and secret keys are stored on the SIM card for this purpose . The encryption of the voice and signaling data (encryption) does not take place in the SIM card, but in the end device. The corresponding (temporary) keys, however, are made available by the SIM card. Other data can also be stored on the SIM card, for example:

  • preferred networks
  • Configurations of mobile services such as SMS, MMS , GPRS etc.
  • News of the Short Message Service (SMS)
  • phone book
  • temporary, network-related data
  • prohibited networks