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

[Skyscraperfan]

I do not see any advantage of not having a SIM as an option. You can still use eSIM if you want.

 

[samwa3]

Yes - but they are the most expensiv ones. !00€ instead of 30€ with others...

You can get all Congstar prepaid (and postpaid) as eSIM. Just order them with physical SIM, as soon as it arrives you can call their customer support and have them make an eSIM out of it for free.

 

[M.Rizk]

Why do people keep saying this? The US is the only country where they've removed the SIM card tray and Apple knows that trying to do the same in places like the EU would never fly. You also have countries where the majority use non-Apple devices. So there really isn't an incentive for the carriers in many places around the world to either improve or support eSIM when they can just direct people to use one of the few apps that will most likely be overpriced and limited on options.

Apple doesn't seem to understand how international travel works outside of developed tourist destinations. People criticized the removal of the headphone jack but removing the SIM tray takes the cake for being their dumbest move on the iPhone in a long time.

Because it already is happening. My home country (Egypt) was actually against eSIM that they didn’t even add it for the Apple Watch. Just because the US model launched without a physics SIM, carriers now panicking and racing to get eSIM tested with the regulatory body there finally talking openly about it and wanting to make it convenient.

Apple is big. I am sure Apple also did this as a warning that future iPhones may also lack the slot so carriers are now taking eSIM more serious.

 

[contacos]

I think it got introduced in 2020 or 2021. Right now it costs 99 EUR a month. Has unlimited everything with unlimited calling to the EU too, and 68 GB in the EU and Switzerland. The postpaid equivalent is like 10 EUR cheaper and includes UK too.

OK, I thought so. That is still a bit too much. I have never paid more than 30 EUR for a phone plan since the Nokia 5510 days 😅

 

[tangfish]

I am a lifelong Apple fanboy to the core, but this is both ridiculous and outrageous. Only Apple would tell us to be happy about going from having more choices to having fewer, because there are some good points about said fewer choices.

There are indeed some benefits to eSIM, but that does not make the benefits and utility, or sometimes the reality of the best or only option for a traveler being a physical SIM any different.

C’mon Apple, why make me go hunt down a iPhone from another country at a higher cost just to have a feature that came with every previous iPhone? You didn’t even use the space saved for anything useful!

 

[samwa3]

3. Good luck trying to get esim in Japan for traveler. That is right- you can’t get it to work.

I literally have used traveler eSIM in Japan for the last 3 months. Surprising to hear now that it apparently didn't work. Guess I got my connectivity from the local Shinto gods then.

 

[Skyscraperfan]

How does eSIM work if you have multiple phones? With a physcial SIM you can just switch it from one phone to the other. How does that work with eSIM? Will it deactivate on all other phones if you activate it on a new phone?

 

[ian87w]

I agree it is the way forward but we're not there yet. And don't forget they actually make a model with a SIM card slot, why isn't this available in the US as an option!?

In the US, practically most of the carriers there have eSIM support already (even for prepaid plans), sans a few MVNOs. So it makes sense for Apple to do it in the US first as the test market.

Besides, Apple is still selling the 13 and under with SIM slot.

 

[samwa3]

How does eSIM work if you have multiple phones? With a physcial SIM you can just switch it from one phone to the other. How does that work with eSIM? Will it deactivate on all other phones if you activate it on a new phone?

You can just as easily transfer it from iPhone to another iPhone. Haven't tried with other cell phone brands. And yes you cannot duplicate it, when you transfer it it will no longer be on the old phone.

 

[M.Rizk]

Making the US iPhones esim only was daft I thought, you may get some US carriers to change over to esim, but international ones won't. It's been an incredibly slow up take across the industry and I doubt Apple trying to force changes in the US will have much impact. We shall see.

International ones already are. This is a clear warning to them that they either get on board or they may no longer be an Apple partner in the future.

 

[M.Rizk]

Apple "forgot" to mention the privacy part of having only eSIM.

What about eSIMs you think that makes them more “privacy” invasive than any other type of SIM card? If a carrier requires an ID for one, it requires it for the other.

 

[M.Rizk]

AT&T locks their phones to the AT&T Network. When I try to add another eSIM to test out anther carriers network I'm not able to do so unless the phone is unlocked. Has anyone come up with a solution for this? AT&T does not unlock the phone until the device is paid off. If you traded in your old phone phone you receive a credit each month. If you pay off the phone early you loose the credits.

No way around it. Buy from Apple directly and pay in full or switch carriers and buy from Apple and pay in full or carrier financing.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Let’s be real - carrier availability is a niche issue. Hardly any Americans travel abroad let alone regularly and the ones that do, MOST use roaming, not buy and swap out SIM cards. So the problem of going to East Africa and not being able to swap out a SIM is quite frankly NICHE.

What this will do, at the expense of that tiny tiny minority of people being inconvenienced, is get networks around the world in a war footing and realise this is coming globally and they need to adapt to eSIM or, frankly, die as customers will disappear to the networks who do.

That has long term gain for short term pain.

Time to evolve!

If it's as niche as you believe then there is also minimal incentive till all Iphones are esim only around the world

 

[ian87w]

Am I misinterpreting what is being offered here:

https://esimjapan.com/product/esim-japan-fixed-plans/

Japan's problem is not eSIM or physical SIM. Most tourist plans in Japan are data only, ie no local number. Getting a local cell number in Japan is actually quite difficult for non-residents, if not impossible. This is regulatory issue, not tech issue.

 

[randomgeeza]

So, you fly out to Thailand, you jump on an internal, you end up in the jungle or better still a paradise island. You go to arrange an eSIM. You realise that you can't and that the locals only sell TrueMove physical SIMs. Whatcha gonna do?

You will be fine in Bangkok but not in the more isolated, rural areas... and they do exist not just in Asia but everywhere...

 

[M.Rizk]

OK, I thought so. That is still a bit too much. I have never paid more than 30 EUR for a phone plan since the Nokia 5510 days

It is definitely the most expensive plan in Germany. I was there for a month and I wanted something that would offer the best speeds and lowest latency to stream some games over Nvidia GeForce Now on my MacBook Pro.

It was either that or 10 EUR a night for internet at the Marriott hotel I stayed at.

 

[DarthDon]

You can get all Congstar prepaid (and postpaid) as eSIM. Just order them with physical SIM, as soon as it arrives you can call their customer support and have them make an eSIM out of it for free.

shure. but the point was Telekom and unlimited with esim ;-) congstar doesn't have untlimited internet.

 

[ian87w]

AT&T locks their phones to the AT&T Network. When I try to add another eSIM to test out anther carriers network I'm not able to do so unless the phone is unlocked. Has anyone come up with a solution for this? AT&T does not unlock the phone until the device is paid off. If you traded in your old phone phone you receive a credit each month. If you pay off the phone early you loose the credits.

That's AT&T problem. You'll be facing that with eSIM or physical SIM phones. Should've bought direct from Apple in full.

 

[M.Rizk]

How does eSIM work if you have multiple phones? With a physcial SIM you can just switch it from one phone to the other. How does that work with eSIM? Will it deactivate on all other phones if you activate it on a new phone?

Depends on the carrier.

1. If they support iOS 16 eSIM quick transfer then you basically “AirDrop” it to another iOS 16 iPhone

2. If they do not support iOS 16 eSIM quick transfer but offer QR codes whether via email, call center, their app or their website then you delete the eSIM on Phone(1) and scan the QR code on Phone(2)

3. If it is something out of the Stone Age or owned by an oil company that wants to kill the planet so they print a QR code on a piece of plastic then you don’t really have any options

 

[M.Rizk]

So, you fly out to Thailand, you jump on an internal, you end up in the jungle or better still a paradise island. You go to arrange an eSIM. You realise that you can't and that the locals only sell TrueMove physical SIMs. Whatcha gonna do?

You will be fine in Bangkok but not in the more isolated, rural areas... and they do exist not just in Asia but everywhere...

AIS literally selling eSIMs online. I am sure if they do online then they also do locally. I hope I am not wrong here or they are really stupid.

 

[samwa3]

but the point was Telekom and unlimited with esim ;-)

I thought it was paying around 30 Euros instead of 100 Euros per month? You're not going to find unlimited mobile data in Germany for 30 Euros regardless of the shape of your SIM card.

I personally have unlimited from Telekom with an eSIM, and it's available both post- and prepaid. It's just more expensive. But if you're a resident and you're fine with a postpaid plan, and you have some friends or family who also need a cell phone plan, you can share the unlimited plan now with relatively cheap additional cards. I got my average costs per person down to around 20 Euros per month by doing so. Not possible with prepaid, though.

 

[ian87w]

So, you fly out to Thailand, you jump on an internal, you end up in the jungle or better still a paradise island. You go to arrange an eSIM. You realise that you can't and that the locals only sell TrueMove physical SIMs. Whatcha gonna do?

You will be fine in Bangkok but not in the more isolated, rural areas... and they do exist not just in Asia but everywhere...

If you're an avid traveller, you would've been prepared with something like a portable mifi, a phone with SIM slot, or not even bother buying a US iPhone 14.

I mean seriously, if you know you will need a SIM slot, why do you even buy a US iPhone 14? It's not like Apple is hiding the fact that it doesn't have a SIM slot.

I can see the problems with eSIM (3 out of 4 carriers in my country don't support eSIM). But made up situations like yours is, well, silly.

 

[MRrainer]

I use the physical SIM in our on-call Android phone and put it my iPhone XR, so I don't have to carry two phones (or rather: an Android phone that has all kinds of 3rd-party apps with questionable origin which listen to every word I say).

I'm not sure I can transfer the eSIM back and forth that easily.

Other than that, I have no problem with eSIMs. To actually do the above, I had to switch my main contract over to eSIM anyway...

 

[M.Rizk]

I use the physical SIM in our on-call Android phone and put it my iPhone XR, so I don't have to carry two phones (or rather: an Android phone that has all kinds of 3rd-party apps with questionable origin which listen to every word I say).

I'm not sure I can transfer the eSIM back and forth that easily.

Other than that, I have no problem with eSIMs. To actually do the above, I had to switch my main contract over to eSIM anyway...

“Just buy your mom an iPhone” - Tim Cook, 2022.

 

[ian87w]

This is a classic example of Apple skating to where to puck is going to be.

The move to eliminate the physical SIM will certainly cause some pain in the short term, but the move will also force carriers around the world to ramp up support for eSIMs.

I expect other phone manufacturers to follow suit, as they usually do.

The next potential candidate imo is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip. Even the Asian model is nano+eSIM only (while literally the rest of Samsung phones in Asia is dual nano SIM).