What does NFCmix.com recommend? ...NFC cards, of course

What does NFCmix.com recommend?… NFC cards, of course! At NFCmix.com we believe there is nothing more modern, more durable, safer, more reliable and at the same time more forward-looking than contactless cards fitted with an NFC chip. Not only can you load all kinds of things onto an NFC card, and until its content is locked it can be rewritten over and over again. But unlike other security features, NFC (and RFID) cards are not subject to mechanical wear. A nice property is also that the chip is placed inside the card and not on its surface, so it does not disturb the card's design in any way.

Why, in our view, is an NFC card better than another card?

You can easily load a URL onto an NFC card, for example, which after reading the tag displays a web page, plays a video, or instantly takes us to our favourite e-shop. In addition to a URL, you can load commands onto tags such as "As soon as I read the NFC card with my phone, it turns on mobile data/the camera….". No needless clicking through a slow operating system - just one read and the whole thing takes only about 1 second. Onto chips with larger capacity you can easily load our e-business-card and, when needed, also send it via NFC to someone interesting in a flash.

Are NFC cards safe?

Not only can you have a lot of fun with NFC cards, but they can also serve as our electronic wallets (or money). Thanks to the use of very well-secured chips that have encrypted memory (encryption), or require a password before they display content, we can be completely at ease - NFC can look after our money without the money being stolen from the card. And if someone were still not sure about the unbreakable nature of the protection, then for a few crowns they can get a SkimStopper paper card sleeve, which is lined on the inside with a metal layer and is designed specifically for NFC cards. Thanks to a special metal alloy, it gives radiation at the 13.56 MHz frequency not even the slightest chance of reading data from the chip.

What does such an NFC card look like?

Inside every smart contactless card there is a chip, or rather a chip in a form called a tag. A tag is the basic form in which NFC technology most often reaches the world.

The basis of every NFC tag is a passive chip (microprocessor) and a metal antenna, which behaves less like an antenna and more like a coil reacting to electromagnetic radiation. The chip and antenna are connected by a fragile bond that must not be destroyed, otherwise the whole tag is fit for the bin. So that the fragile tag can withstand something, the chip with the antenna is placed snugly between two thin layers - usually plastic, but sometimes a combination of plastic and paper is used, or a combination of plastic and a special ferrite layer, which shields out unwanted radiation in case the tag is placed on a metal surface.

In the vast majority of cases, the bottom layer of the protective material is adhesive (the tags are supplied on a transfer film), which makes working with NFC tags very pleasant and easy - you simply stick it wherever you want it. Easily, quickly and effectively, without nails, adhesive tape or glues that only get your hands dirty.

It should also be added that tags can be of various sizes, but they usually take only three basic shapes: round tag, square tag and rectangular tag. The last mentioned rectangular tag, specifically with dimensions of 85.6 x 53.98 mm (CR80 format), is the most commonly used tag in contactless chip cards, because its proportions are built precisely for that.

How does data transfer using NFC work?

An NFC tag does not need any power source of its own to exist (so no batteries) - the only thing that can force it to actively send the information that may be stored on it is electromagnetic radiation emitted by an NFC-active device at a close distance. However, NFC tags are not satisfied with just any electromagnetic field - in fact NFC tags are quite picky, because the only frequency they react to is 13.56 MHz (+-7 kHz).

It is precisely this value that ensures the transfer of information occurs only if the device comes to a very small distance of about 1-5 cm. In essence, this is a security condition thanks to which NFC technology is increasingly spoken of in connection with contactless payments.

The future of NFC cards vs. the RFID cards of the past

Imagine that you have a payment card in your wallet that does not meet the NFC standard, and anyone who wanted to and was able to could read the data stored on such a card even from a distance of, say, up to 3 metres. That is about 50% of the people you meet on public transport. That would not be very safe for your money. This is the principle on which RFID chips work, which were very popular earlier and in some sectors may still enjoy partial fame, but for some purposes they are simply not suitable. RFID logically does not meet NFC standards (ISO 18092, NFC Forum type 1 - 4 specification, full compatibility with smartphones and readers), whereas NFC technology meets all RFID standards (ISO 14443), being in fact a very specific subset of it.