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SIM cards were never swappable for me. They were locked to a phone. Changing to a new handset meant going to the carriers store or having them ship me one. I we

SIM cards were never swappable for me. They were locked to a phone. Changing to a new handset meant going to the carriers store or having them ship me one. I welcome the ease of portability that eSIM brings.

secondcoming 4y ago
In order to test various 5G offerings, I have 3 SIM cards at the moment. All are freely swappable between my phone and my 5G router.
LeoPanthera 4y ago
This feels like an American perspective. In Europe (and Asia too?), sim-swapping is pretty seamless, and relatively common.
- jraph 4y ago
  There's also the simlocking. In France, (many/all?) phones bought from the carriers (with a subscription with some time commitment) were (are?) simlocked, meaning that they could only accept SIMs from these carriers. But carriers are also forced by law to let you sim-unlock your phone for free after a few months. So yes, pretty seamless and common indeed. Everybody expects to be able to switch carriers and keep their phones.
- Daz1 4y ago
  Not in Japan. Some carriers like Docomo you can't even buy a standalone SIM.
  - kalleboo 4y ago
    Not true https://onlineshop.smt.docomo.ne.jp/sim-card/index.html https://onlineshop.smt.docomo.ne.jp/sim-card/index.html I'm on docomo and I only have a SIM from them, I brought my own iPhone from abroad. When I turned my iPhone in to Bic Camera to have the display swapped, I could just swap my SIM into a spare old phone quickly and it worked seamlessly.
    - Daz1 4y ago
      Oh that's good, I went into one of their branches and they told me it wasn't possible and I'd have to buy a phone from them. Probably just pushy salespeople trying to meet quota.
  - mason96 4y ago
    [dead]
- eloisant 4y ago
  In France for example SIM cards where a thing since cellphones exist, however I've lived in Japan and US in the 2000s and in both countries there was no SIM, you had to go through your carrier to change phones and they would setup your phone in the shop.
- vel0city 4y ago
  Not an inherently American perspective. I've been able to swap SIM cards between devices in the US using both large and small carriers since the 90s in the US.
zamnos 4y ago
Hmm but if they're locked to a phone for you, what's preventing phone companies from doing the same thing with esims?

secondcoming 4y ago

In order to test various 5G offerings, I have 3 SIM cards at the moment. All are freely swappable between my phone and my 5G router.

LeoPanthera 4y ago

This feels like an American perspective. In Europe (and Asia too?), sim-swapping is pretty seamless, and relatively common.

jraph 4y ago
There's also the simlocking. In France, (many/all?) phones bought from the carriers (with a subscription with some time commitment) were (are?) simlocked, meaning that they could only accept SIMs from these carriers. But carriers are also forced by law to let you sim-unlock your phone for free after a few months. So yes, pretty seamless and common indeed. Everybody expects to be able to switch carriers and keep their phones.
Daz1 4y ago
Not in Japan. Some carriers like Docomo you can't even buy a standalone SIM.
- kalleboo 4y ago
  Not true https://onlineshop.smt.docomo.ne.jp/sim-card/index.html https://onlineshop.smt.docomo.ne.jp/sim-card/index.html I'm on docomo and I only have a SIM from them, I brought my own iPhone from abroad. When I turned my iPhone in to Bic Camera to have the display swapped, I could just swap my SIM into a spare old phone quickly and it worked seamlessly.
  - Daz1 4y ago
    Oh that's good, I went into one of their branches and they told me it wasn't possible and I'd have to buy a phone from them. Probably just pushy salespeople trying to meet quota.
- mason96 4y ago
  [dead]
eloisant 4y ago
In France for example SIM cards where a thing since cellphones exist, however I've lived in Japan and US in the 2000s and in both countries there was no SIM, you had to go through your carrier to change phones and they would setup your phone in the shop.
vel0city 4y ago
Not an inherently American perspective. I've been able to swap SIM cards between devices in the US using both large and small carriers since the 90s in the US.

zamnos 4y ago

Hmm but if they're locked to a phone for you, what's preventing phone companies from doing the same thing with esims?