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Can a home computer, obviously with some sort of antenna, be used as a cellphone?

If I understand right, a SIM card is just a sort of memory card that holds information about the user/operator; therefore, you can copy this data into a computer which can then, at least in theory, be able to emulate a cellphone?

What do you think? Tried googling this, but didn't find any info.

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What do you think cell phones are, except really tiny computers? You would need a cellular radio card (possibly that hooks up via USB), though, not just an antenna (which is only a piece of wire). Also, this isn't really about programming. – Tyler McHenry Jun 19 '10 at 15:21
It's not enough to have an antenna -- you have to have the radio. There's no technical reason why you couldn't do this -- after all, that's basically what a smartphone is. I know HAM radio guys that have been hooking their computers up to their radios for years. – tvanfosson Jun 19 '10 at 15:24
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migrated from stackoverflow.com Jun 19 '10 at 20:55

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Of course you can do this :) it just depends on how much time and money you have. There's an introduction to GSM modems here: http://www.developershome.com/sms/GSMModemIntro.asp. You may even be able to hook up your cellphone to your computer and communicate directly with it to make calls. But may I ask why you need this? Can't you use VoIP, for instance?

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Thanks for the link, I'll look into it. :) >>> But may I ask why you need this? Can't you use VoIP, for instance? Well, I want to understand how this stuff works from the inside, not like I just want to make a call from my computer. :) – Anonymous Jun 19 '10 at 15:27
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yes, most cell phones text message centers allow you to send emails to a phone number at a special address you can see the codes and a description here: http://www.emrupdate.com/blogs/ducknet/archive/2008/11/30/how-to-send-email-text-messages-to-any-cell-phone-for-free-from-your-computer.aspx

and for calling you can use an application like Skype. although in order to get any of those features to work you need some kind of internet.

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