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What’s good about physical SIMs? I do like apple for daring to improve the status quo there, so I want my European Edition with only e-simsz
by kaba0 4y ago
What’s good about physical SIMs? I do like apple for daring to improve the status quo there, so I want my European Edition with only e-simsz
- W4RH4WK55 4y agoThat I can just take the SIM out and put it in a different phone? what's the migration process for eSIMs?
- tshaddox 4y agoYou need the carrier to offer eSIM, of course, but then you can just store a bunch of eSIMs on your iPhone and switch which one is active in the Settings app.
- spockz 4y agoI think the GP question was how to migrate your eSIM to another phone. You can transfer the sim but it needs to be activated on the other phone. I have even seen reactivation charges of €5.
- W4RH4WK55 4y agoYes, about how to move it to another phone, especially when my current phone just died. Maybe I dropped it and now the display no longer works.
- otterley 4y agoAsk your carrier to send you a replacement. They can be delivered by QR code.
- rhn_mk1 4y agoThat's the problem. Now your carrier is a single point of failure, and the typical person has zero leverage over the carrier.
- otterley 4y agoLeverage? This is a standard customer service process.
- rhn_mk1 4y agoAnd when that process fails, what recourse does the average Joe have? Especially when you can't afford to have much downtime between phones.
- otterley 4y agoI think you’re unnecessarily worried about this. If you don’t trust your carrier to get this process right, perhaps it’s worth choosing a different carrier.
- rhn_mk1 4y agoDo you know a carrier which you have any leverage against? I don't. Better get a physical SIM. Oh, you do? It's still a single point of failure. Customer support servers down? Should have gotten a physical SIM. Unbeatable servers? Good luck swapping eSIMs when you want to sell/throw away your phone abroad, out of range of internet. Should have gotten a phyical one. Never out of range? Wonder what you do when your phone breaks and you have no one to babysit you through the process. Should have gotten physical. Etc. That's what an additional sigle point of failure means: less control over your own infrastructure.
- otterley 4y agoIf this actually happens to people in real life, let’s talk about it. All indications are that this problem isn’t a serious one yet. New technologies often improve things in some way while introducing concerns and potential drawbacks in other ways. The question is whether, on balance, the new way is worth the risk. My experience so far is that it is — it’s very convenient to be able to use a service like Airalo to order prepaid eSIMs for data service in foreign countries in advance. It makes traveling a joy now, and my wife is irritated a whole lot less by the prepaid SIM hunt I used to go on when traveling abroad. Plus no more tools or risking losing your SIM tray (or the SIM itself) when you swap it out on an airplane tray table.
- ec109685 4y agoTo the sibling reply to this, how is a physical sim any worse in this regard?
- shinycode 4y agoMy carrier is currently not doing eSIM. Also some low cost carriers can’t be contacted in any other way than a chat. Which is a problem in many real world situations if you need an eSIM asap. Sometimes there is no one in the chat available at all.
- otterley 4y agoIf your carrier doesn’t support eSIM, then this discussion doesn’t apply to you. Carriers aren’t going to make eSIM available until they have the support structure available to make it useful to customers.
- tshaddox 4y agoI’ve heard of that but never ran into it myself. Isn’t that also the case for some carriers with physical SIMs too?
- spockz 4y agoI guess eSIM is still a luxury for now so they want to milk it. I have only ever heard of first time activation of a sim. Vodafone in NL requires an activation via their app, or phone, before first use. But I think that is normal. The last time I got a physical sim it was in 2013 and I have transferred the same sim across multiple phones since.
- geocar 4y agoBetter: it’s a menu option. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212780 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212780 eSIMs also have the advantage of an activation card can be sent instantly from almost anywhere (it’s a QR code) which is great if your phone (and physical sim) are lost or damaged.
- Xylakant 4y ago> Some carriers support SIM transfers from your previous iPhone to your new iPhone without needing to contact them “Some” is true afaik. It’s at the providers discretion. AFAIK it’s also only possible if you’re moving from iPhone to iPhone, not if you’re moving to an Android. I’m not certain moving back and forth between multiple phones is easily supported. I like e-sims in general, but this is a downside for some use cases.
- supertrope 4y agoIn theory eSIM allows for self service without going to a store or waiting for shipping. In practice you might be on hold with your phone company for an hour. Some USA MVNOs don’t support eSIM.
- Xylakant 4y agoAs the person managing phone contracts in our company, I really like that part of eSIMs. I can mail a phone or have the employee purchase one and then mail my providers support and I‘m all set. About one hour later, the phone will have connectivity. If you‘re using an MDM solution that supports it, you can even manage the assigned eSIMs there. Now, we‘re on a business contract and we have a responsive team on the other side, so the comfort of this hinges on the provider obviously.
- geocar 4y agoSounds terrible. Here in socialist Europe it is exactly as easy as I just made it sound.
- black3r 4y ago
- JD557 4y agoUnfortunately, I don't think this is always true for physical SIMs. I recently bought a temporary SIM in the US during my holidays (StraightTalk) and was surprised that you can only use the physical SIM after you register online with you IMEI. I haven't checked, but I imagine that after that the card would only work with that IMEI. Fortunately, I don't think this is a practice in Europe.
- EvanAnderson 4y agoTo be fair, though, Straight Talk is absolutely hot garbage. I had a fiasco trying to activate two physical SIMs and port numbers to them back in January. Their provisioning system chokes and dies on phones with both eSIM and physical SIM capability (like the factory-unlocked iPhone SE 3rd gen models I was trying to activate). I spent hours on the phone holding and talking to reps, getting disconnected and calling back to start all over again. It was a nightmare.
- JD557 4y agoI'm quite happy to read this, because my experience was also awful - they didn't accept the IMEI of 3 phones I tried and their app is full of ads (not to mention that I kept receiving scam calls). I really hope that it's because they are awful and this is not the typical American mobile phone experience.
- otterley 4y agoThe migration process is, you ask your carrier for a new eSIM. They send you one via QR code. That's pretty much it.
- jl6 4y agoeSIM is a potentially smoother setup process if the alternative is getting a card through the mail, but physical SIM switching is better than having to contact your carrier.
- Hamuko 4y agoAnd then your carrier bills you 3€ for it, because they can. They can also just disable the iPhone-to-iPhone eSIM transfer functionality. Ask me how I know. eSIMs are incredibly user-hostile because they switch the ownership of a SIM card from the customer to the provider, so you're completely at their mercy if you need to transfer over your SIM card from one device to another. And Apple facilitates this.
- onion2k 4y agoDealing with the carrier is usually the worst part of owning a phone. Asking for a new esim is likely to send you down a path of navigating a process where they try to sell you an upgrade, or they send you a QR code that doesn't work, or a million other possible problems.
- vladvasiliu 4y ago> Dealing with the carrier is usually the worst part of owning a phone. It's probably intentional. I was reading an article in the French press the other day [0] on the subject. Some head of something or other in the industry said they were weary of mostly Apple, Samsung, and Google starting to like playing the providers and removing the actual carriers from the users' psyche. "The SIM card is the last physical link between the carrier and the client". I've also checked my carrier's site for getting an esim. Apparently I'd have to pay the same amount to get one as for a physical one (minus delivery costs). But at least, contrary to some other commenters' situation, they seem to allow you to move it from phone to phone as long as you hold on to your qr code. They, of course, don't offer the option of storing it in the "secure" client area. [0] https://www.lefigaro.fr/secteur/high-tech/avec-l-esim-la-carte-sim-bientot-en-voie-de-disparition-20230420 https://www.lefigaro.fr/secteur/high-tech/avec-l-esim-la-car...
- Moldoteck 4y agoSome people value privacy and can buy phisical sims from stores without id's and it's perfectly legal
- WastingMyTime89 4y agoNot in most of the world, no. Most place will have to scan your ID when selling you a SIM card.
- ulfw 4y agoMy China iPhones don't even have any eSIM support. Instead we get a dual nano SIM card slot. https://support.apple.com/en-hk/HT209086 https://support.apple.com/en-hk/HT209086 Personally I'd love for eSIM to be there in ADDITION but not replacing the nano SIMs.
- pmontra 4y agoThe last time I dropped my phone and broke its screen I took out the SIM and left the phone in a repair shop. I went home, put the SIM in an old phone. If the broken phone had an eSIM, would I been able to use the old one as a backup? Maybe by going to a shop and askig for a physical SIM. That would be slower and less convenient. A physical SIM fits in a Samsung A40 which is probably the smaller and lighter Android phone available today and in much smaller phones of the past so it's definitely not a burden.
- vore 4y agoIf your old phone was also eSIM compatible, you can just download the eSIM from your carrier like you would if you moved to any other phone.
- 76SlashDolphin 4y agoBut you would need to somehow get in touch with said carrier. Granted, you could probably do that over WiFi but if my phone breaks when, say, I'm out camping I'm SoL.
- jackothy 4y agoWhile I could see how the camping scenario might matter to a few people, I would personally rather have a couple mAh larger battery because of the slight physical space savings that I imagine eSIM brings.
- 76SlashDolphin 4y agoOh yeah, agreed. If moving an eSIM requires me stowing away a QR code with my backup phone then I'll gladly give up my physical SIM slot for more battery.
- HopenHeyHi 4y agoThe associated esim app has free connectivity to complete the signup flow without wifi. It is obviously more convenient to download an app to your backup phone than futz around with physical sims you just have to remember to do so before you go camping. Now you might retort aha! See! In a very narrow set of circumstances.. let me cut you off, look, you're going to need to remember to bring a paperclip or sim tool to do it the old fashioned way anyhow. So you're remembering something. If you're an amnesic lost in the woods you got bigger problems. Besides, those are 2 grams of weight savings in my ultra light backpacking setup!
- reustle 4y agoIf you travel to more than 1 or 2 countries per year, especially less developed countries, you'll learn that your life (connection) depends on picking up cheap $5-15 sim cards at the border for each country. I couldn't imagine them jumping on the esim train in any useful way in the near term.
- kaba0 4y agoBut without a major company pushing for the technically superior solution, it will never change, so I don’t get the pushback.
- WastingMyTime89 4y agoThere are multiple companies like Airalo offering pre-paid $5-15 eSIM cards for most countries in the world. They also offer continental and global eSIM working in multiple countries if you are moving a lot. The offering is a lot better than what you find at the border and you don’t have to get your passport scanned by a random person. Most backpackers I know switched a long time ago. It’s actually the scenario that finally convinced me that eSIM was a good idea.
- reustle 4y agoI've used Airalo for years as well, but their global sim only supports 84 countries, and is usually 5-15x the price a local sim per GB. If you're spending a considerable amount of time in the country and tethering, it adds up.
- kmbfjr 4y agoI think you need to compare the service tier of what world eSim carriers provide before mentioning the price. Yes, you can get service for that price. It has paltry data allowances compared to what OP is describing.
- WastingMyTime89 4y agoI can. I have used them extensively while travelling (always local offers - I never needed a sim for multiple countries but a European one is barely more expensive than a single EU country one for example). Airalo sells local esim for something like 200 countries with prices which are competitive and offering which are often better tailored to travellers. In plenty of countries if you try buying straight from a local provider you can’t buy low amount of data or have to get voice with it. Meanwhile Airalo allows you to buy 1, 5 or 10GB for very cheap and topping up is pushing a button in their app. I meant it when I said it was insanely more convenient.
- worble 4y agoI know nothing about esims, what makes them so much better than a physical sim? I can't say I have any major qualms with what I have right now, I just shove it in my phone and forget about it.
- kaba0 4y agoIt takes up space for no good reason, especially if you want to use multiple numbers.
- HopenHeyHi 4y agoI am in Japan. I am using some app called Ubigi. When I landed I made a one off 400 yen payment, like tree fiffdy or something, and immediately had data working right at the airport for the rest of the month. Apple Pay, one off, no contracts, no queues, no diligent service people. It saved probably 1 hour of my life! And it is somehow significantly cheaper (depends on the country, ymmv). Frankly I pity people who get off a long flight and wait in line to get an overpriced piece of plastic to stick in their phones like it is 1823.
- jlund-molfese 4y agoIt’s a minor benefit, but you should get better waterproofing because you have one less port
- dontlaugh 4y agoThey’re actually supported by carriers. In the UK there’s only EE and only with a contract. I can’t use eSIM with EE pay as you go.
- zarzavat 4y agoIn many countries there are zero local carriers that support eSIMs. Maybe in some hypothetical future this is not the case, but at least in this decade a phone that has a physical SIM is essential.
- artdigital 4y agoRecently moved to a new country (non-EU). The carrier I'm using does not offer eSIM and shipped me a physical SIM card. This is not an outlier, I have a couple of physical SIM cards, some US, that I wouldn't be able to use if the phone was eSIM only, like the recent US iPhone. Also moving a eSIM from iOS device to non-iOS device (for example to plug into my secondary Android) is a massive PITA. I always have to re-issue the SIM which I often can't do and need to jumps through customer support queries and hoops. My current provider back home doesn't even give me the option to do it while abroad and support told me to come back for a day, then finish the eSIM reissuing application, so I'm stuck with the physical SIM anyway. eSIMs will be great one day, but that day is not now. I much rather pop the SIM out of phone 1 and move it into phone 2, or iPad when I want, than wait hours (or sometimes days) to get a new eSIM approved, and repeat that process every single time I want to move a connection to another device
- theodric 4y agoThe eSIM is all about cost savings and more control for them, sold to you as more convenience for you. I'm not giving up my SIM!
- baby 4y agoIf you’re traveling and want to buy a cheap esim, good luck.
- madeofpalk 4y agoWhy would you want it with only esim? Seeing as esim still works in iPhones with a phyiscal sim card slot, what benefits does dropping it get you?
- dwaite 4y agothe space can be used for additional hardware, additional battery, or eliminating it can result in an overall smaller device.
- Sporktacular 4y agoPhysical SIMs are convenient, especially for travellers and facilitate competition through super-easy carrier switching. What are the improvements of e-SIMs for customers? Please don't say size.
- s3p 4y agoNot much. Apple wanted eSIM for years but carriers fought them over it. They like the physical lock-in of SIM cards. Customers can't easily switch because they have to wait for a SIM to ship or go to a carrier's brick and mortar presence to replace it. Now? People can switch carriers while in their living room. Takes a matter of minutes. Absolutely frictionless.
- doubtfulcan 4y agoIt allows for pseudonymous internet access on devices and does not tie you to any carrier for any length of time