on T-Mobile USA: I preordered my iPhone 15; the QR eSIM and automated SIM transfer system was completely down and I had to spend 30 minutes to an hour on the phone with customer service to swap over my physical SIM to an eSIM I could type (IIRC) into my new phone.
yea, that’s my biggest annoyance with it, if you can’t pass security on the phone (talking to you prepaid carriers who have absolutely shit CS and protocols) you can no longer just hot swap the sim to get your verification code. You are just locked out of your account now. It’s nice that it’s more secure but, also such a pain in the ass for people who don’t call their carrier a lot so they don’t know their security.
I’m not sure if there’s some special calling feature to reach a previously associated provider, but when I’ve been in that situation I just borrowed my roommate’s phone.
On the phone that isn’t connecting to the internet, because it doen’t have a SIM yet? Or do eSIM phones use free internet before they have an eSIM issued?
In the store if you’re getting the phone from a store, or somewhere with wifi (home, a friend’s, a cafe) if you’ve gotten it some other way.
If you don’t have any of those, you probably live way out in the jungle, and I’d be surprised if you had service even if you got the eSIM. But in the edge case that you somehow got home delivery postal service in the jungle, you’d probably be able to survive just fine without it until your next trip into town.
In the extreme edge case that you are in the jungle, get service, and your need is critical, I would have an activated backup phone tested periodically and ready to go.
Exactly the same as a normal one. It just works and you don’t really need to do anything with it. Everything seems the same just no little card in the side of your device.
I thought you could too but I use Google Fi and I just log into my Google account on a new device and it lets me deactivate the old phone and download the sim to the new phone.
I don’t want a “new sim”, I want my old one, which doesn’t exist anymore since it was virtual and only existed in my now broken previous phone. How does it work in that situation?
Exactly. What a shitty anti-feature. Your answer proves that the people saying that “eSIMs are functionally the same as normal SIM” are full of absolute shit.
Not the person you asked but I have a couple of sims by different providers that I swap between phones/sim routers when I need to make calls or use data from that carrier. Popping the sim into an old device and configuring whatever I need is super convenient.
Keeping my number. Are you saying that I can immediately, online, get my existing number connected to a different handset? If I can’t, then that’s why I want to transfer the physical SIM.
They’re functionally the same as normal SIM, instead it is stored in a secure location of the storage (which can survive factory reset). In a way, it makes it a bit more secure as a thief can’t just yank out the SIM card to avoid being tracked (although it doesn’t defeat a faraday bag) or take it out to use it in another phone.
The major function of a normal SIM is the ability to take it out of one device and put it into another one, effectively disconnecting my identity towards the network provider, from the handset. With eSIM, that doesn’t exist, and if my phone breaks, it’s unclear what happens.
To me, that’s not secure, that’s unsafe and insecure.
From a corporate device perspective it’s an interesting evolution though, since we can remotely provision an eSIM through our mobile device management platform. No SIM to handle from the user point of view, and they can’t take it out.
Generally you go to some site your carrier has, enter the IMEI or some number from your phone’s settings, then scan a QR code. It’s not bad… depending on your carrier.
When I got my Pixel 8 Pro it asked me if I want to convert the physical SIM from my Xiaomi 9 SE (and disable the old SIM). I didn’t have to take off the case and move the SIM, so I liked it.
Yep, same here. Wouldn’t want to use eSIMs at all if they were any more hassle than this. But their process to me is good enough to outweigh the physical SIM swapping process.
How do these eSIMs work from a user’s perspective? I’ve only ever had phones with physical sim slots
on T-Mobile USA: I preordered my iPhone 15; the QR eSIM and automated SIM transfer system was completely down and I had to spend 30 minutes to an hour on the phone with customer service to swap over my physical SIM to an eSIM I could type (IIRC) into my new phone.
How frustrating
Yeah same, I want to know how you move phones if one breaks, or any number of similar situations where you can’t run an app or access another device
That’s my big concern as well.
With Google Fi you just sign into the fi app and transfer the phone. You need wifi but that’s it.
Yeah, I’ve been using Fi for more than 5 years and haven’t needed to worry about sim cards in a really long time.
The process with esims is so easy.
You call support and have them issue a new one.
yea, that’s my biggest annoyance with it, if you can’t pass security on the phone (talking to you prepaid carriers who have absolutely shit CS and protocols) you can no longer just hot swap the sim to get your verification code. You are just locked out of your account now. It’s nice that it’s more secure but, also such a pain in the ass for people who don’t call their carrier a lot so they don’t know their security.
Don’t you need a SIM for calling?
I’m not sure if there’s some special calling feature to reach a previously associated provider, but when I’ve been in that situation I just borrowed my roommate’s phone.
As in ring the network (presumably on a third, working phone) and wait for them to post you something? Doesn’t sound like a great user experience!
No, they issue it virtually. Then you download it via their app or via regular cell network provisioning.
On the phone that isn’t connecting to the internet, because it doen’t have a SIM yet? Or do eSIM phones use free internet before they have an eSIM issued?
In the store if you’re getting the phone from a store, or somewhere with wifi (home, a friend’s, a cafe) if you’ve gotten it some other way.
If you don’t have any of those, you probably live way out in the jungle, and I’d be surprised if you had service even if you got the eSIM. But in the edge case that you somehow got home delivery postal service in the jungle, you’d probably be able to survive just fine without it until your next trip into town.
In the extreme edge case that you are in the jungle, get service, and your need is critical, I would have an activated backup phone tested periodically and ready to go.
Exactly the same as a normal one. It just works and you don’t really need to do anything with it. Everything seems the same just no little card in the side of your device.
Until this article I thought you could swap eSIMs between phones, exactly like normal ones
I thought you could too but I use Google Fi and I just log into my Google account on a new device and it lets me deactivate the old phone and download the sim to the new phone.
What if I need to change the SIM?
You get a QR code for the new sim, go into the eSIM manager on the phone, and scan it
I don’t want a “new sim”, I want my old one, which doesn’t exist anymore since it was virtual and only existed in my now broken previous phone. How does it work in that situation?
Call your carrier or go into a store and they move it over. If your phone is broken you’ll kinda be SOL since there’s no way to authenticate the move.
Exactly. What a shitty anti-feature. Your answer proves that the people saying that “eSIMs are functionally the same as normal SIM” are full of absolute shit.
Genuinely asking, what do you gain by transferring the physical Sim?
Not the person you asked but I have a couple of sims by different providers that I swap between phones/sim routers when I need to make calls or use data from that carrier. Popping the sim into an old device and configuring whatever I need is super convenient.
Keeping my number. Are you saying that I can immediately, online, get my existing number connected to a different handset? If I can’t, then that’s why I want to transfer the physical SIM.
Without a SIM?
@AdmiralShat @FragmentedChicken phones that support esims have actual sim chips inside, and esims basically flash the carrier data onto that chip.
They’re functionally the same as normal SIM, instead it is stored in a secure location of the storage (which can survive factory reset). In a way, it makes it a bit more secure as a thief can’t just yank out the SIM card to avoid being tracked (although it doesn’t defeat a faraday bag) or take it out to use it in another phone.
The major function of a normal SIM is the ability to take it out of one device and put it into another one, effectively disconnecting my identity towards the network provider, from the handset. With eSIM, that doesn’t exist, and if my phone breaks, it’s unclear what happens.
To me, that’s not secure, that’s unsafe and insecure.
From a corporate device perspective it’s an interesting evolution though, since we can remotely provision an eSIM through our mobile device management platform. No SIM to handle from the user point of view, and they can’t take it out.
The same way Verizon phones used to work: less well.
Generally you go to some site your carrier has, enter the IMEI or some number from your phone’s settings, then scan a QR code. It’s not bad… depending on your carrier.
When I got my Pixel 8 Pro it asked me if I want to convert the physical SIM from my Xiaomi 9 SE (and disable the old SIM). I didn’t have to take off the case and move the SIM, so I liked it.
With Google Fi
Yep, same here. Wouldn’t want to use eSIMs at all if they were any more hassle than this. But their process to me is good enough to outweigh the physical SIM swapping process.