wrote:
I wonder why the carriers can't reuse the sim cards?
I most likely answer that I can think of is that they jsut don't want to allow it. There really isn't anything preventing it from being done. In fact, sometimes when a carrier deactivates someone's service either by request or by accident, and even then proceeds to close out the account, carriers do have the ability to reactivate the old sim card.
Also, the carriers want to get you into the store. By requiring pruchase of a new sim card, that gives them a sale opportunity to potentially up-sell you. Although it may be wasteful, sim cards are generally considered to be inexpensie and disposable. And while, I'm sure that sim cards are usually very durable, it's probably never a bad idea to start off with a new sim whenever activating a new service. Sim cards that have been previously used my have been had the electrical contacts heavily scratched or the sim cards may have been exposded to the effects of ESD.
The carriers also likely don't want to have to deal with potentially having to keep track of multiple customer information of people who have used that same sim card before.
