Apple Promotes Benefits of Using iPhone 14 With eSIM While Traveling Abroad

[JOHN PRINCE]

Apple fail. My daughter just bought an iPhone 14 and will be traveling to China soon. She will have to buy an older iPhone model to bring along so she can function and do what she needs to in China which is, by the way, one of the largest iPhone markets in the world. Crazy doesn't begin to describe this.

 

[M.Rizk]

Apple fail. My daughter just bought an iPhone 14 and will be traveling to China soon. She will have to buy an older iPhone model to bring along so she can function and do what she needs to in China which is, by the way, one of the largest iPhone markets in the world. Crazy doesn't begin to describe this.

If she is not staying for a long period she can rely on Three (3) Hong Kong. They offer eSIMs with China mainland and Hong Kong based numbers. Unlimited data too.

 

[ONJ]

Yep.

The people at Apple who made the decision to remove the SIM slot are making 7 figures. When they travel, they just pay their carrier for an outrageously priced data roaming plan. They don’t think about it. They’ve never had to travel on a budget.

the funny thing is, when you are in Greece and you go to Cosmote or another local carrier, most people that work on the island's don't use iPhones! They are too expensive! They think you are a posh tourist...so, to ask to activate an eSim just adds another sense of confusion. LOL PS: Just to add to the fun here, Cosmote in Greece which is the main carrier doesn't even offer an English version of the app.

 

[r.d]

Apple also says that eSIMs eliminate the need to obtain, carry, and swap physical SIM cards, or wait for them to arrive by mail.

Meanwhile in Canada, TELUS and ROGERS came up with the brilliant implementation to only offer eSIMs on a physical card with a QR code for $10-$20 that must be mailed to the customer, and can only be scanned once. 🤦‍♂️

 

[MrAperture]

I'm just astonished at how much Apple has become so arrogant. Serioulsy, has anyone here in the past few months tried to activate an eSim with any carrier in the US? Well, I have tried many times with Verizon and T-Mobile and I have to say it's a nightmare!! Yes, surely they may have fixed and trained the carriers here in the US to activate eSims, but, can you imagine going to somewhere like Greece (Trust me, I was there and tried with Cosmote - impossible), Ghana, Guatemala etc where there is perhaps no such thing as an eSim or, you simply can't speak the language to activate an eSim at the local corner store?

It’s very easy to activate eSim with T-Mobile on their website.

 

[yg17]

It’s very easy to activate eSim with T-Mobile on their website.

And I can’t wait to see how long it takes T-Mobile’s servers to go up in flames on Friday when everyone tries to activate their eSIM on their new iPhone 14s. They couldn’t handle the load on preorder day and were down for hours in the morning. Like they are every year on order day.

 

[ONJ]

This changes with iOS 16. Apple has been in talks with carriers over the past year to make the process easier which is why iOS 16 brought new features like being able to transfer eSIM from an iPhone to another via an AirDrop like feature.

Apple also teamed with many carriers to make it possible to go from physical to eSIM on your iPhone without needing to call anyone or visit a branch. Literally a single click.

Apple is doing its best to make it as convenient as possible and I believe in them. My home country was so against eSIM till last week. Carriers there didn’t even support the Apple Watch but then Apple launches an eSIM only phone just in the US and carriers panic and start testing eSIM with the regulatory body working hand in hand with them to get it done asap.

Let's hope you are right. It is otherwise a nightmare to deal with today. I suspect it's going to take several years before other carriers in other countries make it seamless for end users that don't speak the language.

 

[ian87w]

Apple says customers can activate an unlocked iPhone 14 model purchased in the United States with over 400 carriers that support eSIM on the iPhone in 100 markets around the world. Apple adds that many worldwide service providers also offer prepaid eSIM data plans for long-term use in countries around the world.

Yeah, sounds like something a person who lives in the bubble of silicon valley and never travelled abroad using their own money would say. Pure BS. Apple could simply look at their own list and see that most of them are basically US carriers, and Apple cannot even disclose which carriers that really offers prepaid option or only offer eSIM for their postpaid customers.

Us living outside the US knows that the reality is far from this rose-tinted view. Instead of saying BS like this, I want Apple to disclose their attempts at collaborating with various carriers around the world. That would be more positive note for us and travelers, rather than this self-praised BS.

 

[ONJ]

It’s very easy to activate eSim with T-Mobile on their website.

Not on the business website. It's impossible.

 

[trip1ex]

solution: get a cheap android phone for your trip to East Africa.

Or keep your old iPhone (as a backup) for the same purpose.

And then of course don't upgrade yet is another solution.

 

[ilikewhey]

Things will change. I was just in Germany this summer and I couldn’t believe how easy it was to get an unlimited everything prepaid plan on eSIM from Telekom Deutschland. It was an amazing experience and the data speeds were so so good I never needed to connect to any WiFi.

turkey isnt germany 😂 although i do understand there are ALOT of turks in germany.

the top two, vodafone TR and turkcell, buying prepaid for esim is no where easy as just getting a physical sim.

 

[ian87w]

Meanwhile in Canada, TELUS and ROGERS came up with the brilliant implementation to only offer eSIMs on a physical card with a QR code for $10-$20 that must be mailed to the customer, and can only be scanned once. 🤦‍♂️

Yeah, I feel this will be the transition we are going through in the next few years, with these dumb and lazy carriers doing things like offering eSIM only for postpaid, requiring physical item (ie a piece of paper with the QR code) to be sold, adding fees, etc etc.

Apple's effort feels empty if they don't talk to these carriers to do what's best for consumers.

 

[mannyvel]

SIM cards are anonymous. ESIM generally requires a carrier login to function. That makes them more annoying in the third world if you want a voice line because esims are usually postpaid only.

 

[ilikewhey]

Yeah, that’s exactly what I figured.

I’ll use Airalo, as I do for every trip abroad. I don’t mind paying for the convenience, and it’s a good service. I’ll be honest that the switch to eSIM doesn’t affect me, I haven’t bought a physical SIM when traveling in years. But I still understand that there are many scenarios where a traveler might not want to use Airalo and would prefer a local SIM. Anyone spending a significant amount of time in the country or who will need a local phone number will want one.

its definitely cheaper to get a local sim, turkcell only charged 250 lira which was 30 dollars at the time for like 50gb of data.

 

[MrAperture]

And I can’t wait to see how long it takes T-Mobile’s servers to go up in flames on Friday when everyone tries to activate their eSIM on their new iPhone 14s. They couldn’t handle the load on preorder day and were down for hours in the morning. Like they are every year on order day.

What’s the difference between people activating new sims in new iPhones and people activating eSims upon new iPhone setup every year?

Absolutely no difference at all.

 

[Totally]

Yeah I think this move is going to prove to be a mistake on Apple's part. Many people are liekly open to eSim while keeping the option for a physical sim, but I bet far less people are comfortable with getting rid of the physical sim altogether.

 

[M.Rizk]

turkey isnt germany although i do understand there are ALOT of turks in germany.

the top two, vodafone TR and turkcell, buying prepaid for esim is no where easy as just getting a physical sim.

lol. Yea. I have been to both and sometimes you can’t always tell a difference when you have a good kebab durum.

If carriers in Turkey support LTE on Apple Watch then no reason they can’t extend eSIM support to iPhones or any other device. It is just a matter of time. They’ll do it.

 

[ian87w]

As Long as I can walk up to a kiosk, pay cash and get a eSim activated, while playing tourist I’m fine with that. I shouldn’t have to give a credit card and a drivers license/other personal identification material, I just buy a eSim for a week.

Unfortunately that's not the case anymore, thanks to scammers with burners. More and more countries require registration with valid ID for any SIM purchases (be it physical or eSIM). Some like Singapore even limits how many SIM you can have per ID. In Indonesia, foreigners have to register with the specific carrier first if they want to use a local SIM with their foreign phone.

 

[yg17]

What’s the difference between people activating new sims in new iPhones and people activating eSims upon new iPhone setup every year?

Absolutely no difference at all.

With a physical sim, I can just put my existing one into the new phone and don’t have to get T-Mobile involved at all.

 

[r.d]

Yeah, I feel this will be the transition we are going through in the next few years, with these dumb and lazy carriers doing things like offering eSIM only for postpaid, requiring physical item (ie a piece of paper with the QR code) to be sold, adding fees, etc etc.

Apple's effort feels empty if they don't talk to these carriers to do what's best for consumers.

Yeah... that's why I switched to Bell. You can easily switch eSIMs by logging in to Bell.ca, updating the IMEI, and it will switch the eSIM over. Not as easy as the new method in iOS 16, but at least it can be done instantly without buying a new QR code.

 

[koelsh]

We all know the benefits to eSIM, the issue is not there. The issue is that many carriers outside the US still doesn't support it today.

Some US carriers or rather MVNO's don't support eSIM either. I'm on Ting who's "been interested" in eSIM since 2017 and has been saying they're excited to announce "something soon"... since 2018.

Even better, Ting has been essentially eSIM-like for years anyway. I've read of people who can swap physical SIMs to move their phone around at will however with Ting I have to contact their representatives to have them move the phone from one SIM card to another. The physical cards are keyed/paired to the physical phone.

eSIM is nifty, physical SIMs are swell... all I want is for the bloody phone to work on the bloody network. There's zero reason for anyone on any side to manufacture technicalities to prevent it from happening.

 

[Paddle1]

eSIM works fine at home, but it sure was fun trying to use Airalo for eSIM while traveling and getting "PDP Authentication Failure" constantly.

 

[calstanford]

If she is not staying for a long period she can rely on Three (3) Hong Kong. They offer eSIMs with China mainland and Hong Kong based numbers. Unlimited data too.

Also no firewall. I highly recommend getting a SIM or eSIM in HK and roam in mainland. You can use them Googles and Faithbuks and all the other disgusting western stuff.

 

[CrzySxyCl]

My 2¢ but I am against forced eSim. I don’t travel abroad so the only use I have for my phone will be in the States. However, if my phone breaks and I have to get the damned 2 Factor code to get back into my AppleID, I can’t just put my physical sim into another phone and get the needed code to move on with my life. From what I see, there’s no method to redirect the eSim to another device to get the 2 Factor code. Also such a headache for those who forget their AppleID password, restore their phone and try to get back in!

 

[ian87w]

Yeah I think this move is going to prove to be a mistake on Apple's part. Many people are liekly open to eSim while keeping the option for a physical sim, but I bet far less people are comfortable with getting rid of the physical sim altogether.

Going eSIM is inevitable as it's basically the next step of the technology before going iSIM (the SIM being integrated into the SoC). The problem here is Apple's marketing/PR attitude, the how the carriers actually act in reality.

Instead of talking how "easy" it is, I'd rather Apple to simply show a dashboard on readiness of all their carrier partners around the world (availability, supporting all plans including prepaid, ease of transfer, the fees involved, etc). That way, customers can see which carriers are douches and which ones are pro-consumer. Transparency. Right now, Apple doesn't even indicate carriers that only offer eSIM on postpaid.