Re: [87attendees] SIM purchase at the IETF (was Re: [87all] IETF 87 Berlin Meeting Review)

[joel jaeggli <[e-mail]>]

On 8/21/13 9:30 AM, Dave Crocker wrote:
> On 8/19/2013 1:47 PM, George, Wes wrote:
>> [WEG] RFC6640 exists as a (hopefully) useful guideline for those
>> locals willing to provide advice, either in a meeting wiki or a
>> standalone website - questions culled straight from the attendees'
>> lists. I'm not sure if IAOC is providing a pointer to this for the
>> host or not, but it is worth noting that the host is in no way
>> required to provide much of this sort of information, and may not be
>> able to do so because they are not actually local to the area
> 
> 
> I made a very specific proposal about SIM cards. My intent was to define
> a concrete means for of making it easy for attendees to buy SIM cards
> and to task IETF staff with assuring that.  Especially for a demographic
> like the IETF -- and with this issue's having been raised repeatedly due
> to real challenges in different venues -- convenient SIM card access is
> a reasonable goal to pursue by IETF staff.

Former employee of a multinational cellular equipment vendor here.

while I won't dwell on the the details, different nations, have
different identity/registration requirements for cellular telephones and
the sale of such items is regulated. While not intractable the mechanics
vary and it's worth keeping in mind that while outwardly simple, it will
frequently be more complex then first glance affords.

> In the abstract, this requirement breaks down into convenience of
> access, language, and information.  That is, it needs to be physically
> and transactionally easy for an IETF attendees to get a local SIM card.
> 
> If that can be achieved in a venue without having a table at
> Registration for a couple of days, fine.  If the community supplies
> information that resolves the requirement with some pointers, that's
> fine too.  If local vendors have no interest in assisting these
> purchases, that's unfortunate, let's not use that possibility as a
> reason not to pursue the topic; let them make their own business decisions.
> 
> The essential point is to task staff with /ensuring/ the capability for
> each event.  Claims that this is somehow an unreasonable burden for the
> staff imply a distorted sense of the scale of the task, as well as
> inviting review of the tasks assigned to the secretariat.
> 
> While many/most IETF attendees have extremely well-developed travel
> skills, an organization purporting to be open and inclusive should put
> energy into assisting those will fewer skills.  There are, of course,
> limits to what should or can be done in this regard, but as noted above,
> the issue of SIM cards is both important and a continuing concern.
> 
> d/
>