Carrier eSIM not great for international travel!

[TurboJobo]

As most of you know eSIM is not great when you travel but since most companies in the USA give you free or some sort of roaming to other countries I thought it was not going to be a great problem, but oh boy did I found otherwise.
I have Cricket wireless and was using their regular sim and had no issues with their 5g and roaming in Mexico.
Since Cricket now has eSIM I decided to switch to it and there is where the problems started.... 5G was slower and when roaming in Mexico my phone would only display "3G" and the data speeds where slow and could barely make a calls via whatsapp or google voice. After countless hours of tech support and going over things on settings I got tired and decided to go back to the regular SIM, even though tech support said it was not going to make a difference. Guess what? after going back to my regular old plastic sim card I now have full speed 5G in the states and in Mexico I have 4G LTE and data works again like it used to... My point here is that eSIM works different than SIM? why would speeds or data change if it technically works the same..... I believe eSIM only works ok on the native country you're using it but not for roaming has any body had this issues? I live in San Diego and frequently go to Tijuana and that is why I would tell about this.
I did had to go back to a store to get another sim card and had to pay for that.... but 9.99 is well worth for having a steady connection.
Sorry for the long post!
I was having this issues with both iPhone 13 and SE 2022.

 

[ChoiMinji]

I travel USA and East/Southeast Asia often. I will never own a phone without a physical sim tray. So the US iPhone 14 is completely useless for me

 

[TurboJobo]

I travel USA and East/Southeast Asia often. I will never own a phone without a physical sim tray. So the US iPhone 14 is completely useless for me

I understand that I just feel all this eSIM issues will probably be all worked out next year with the iPhone 15 but for example in Mexico there is only three carriers that use eSIM, which are Telcel,At&t, and Movistar. Only Movistar lets you get eSIM with prepaid plans and on select locations. All other require you get a plan of some sort to get eSIM which is stupid since people who travel aren't planning on getting a long plan...

 

[Shirasaki]

My iPad Pro 2018 when using esim (not technically supported by carrier at the time) the signal perception is worse compared to inserting SIM card in. Dunno if it is module issue or something else. But maybe when they talking about carrier not ready, they mean more than that, since there’s no way carrier don’t know which SIM card is esim or not. Theoretically they will provision them differently to create different performance or sth. Or the device esim module is just not good enough for the time.

Either way, there’s surely no chance full esim iphone across the world possible next year, unless apple forces everyone living inside US carrier bubble/pipe dream.

 

[Oridus]

I travel USA and East/Southeast Asia often. I will never own a phone without a physical sim tray. So the US iPhone 14 is completely useless for me

Check back with us in 5-10 years and see if any phone still uses a physical sim

 

[Diorama]

I will never own a phone without a physical sim tray.

I will never own a computer without a floppy drive.

 

[myvoip07]

I will never own a computer without a floppy drive.

so true and none of the macs since late 2013 have any cd-rom or dvd drive
all US carriers will be forced to fix any esim issues ASAP otherwise it will impact every iP14 starting Friday. So it will be a very big deal.

 

[TurboJobo]

Check back with us in 5-10 years and see if any phone still uses a physical sim

Im sure in 5-10 years cellular companies should change a lot and we should have sort it out this eSIMS issues but this is the kind of issues you get with first models to come out. By iphone 15/16 we should be ok but for now eSIM is bad not going to get an iphone 14

 

[aperfectcircle]

I spent a month in Vietnam earlier this year, travelling from NZ. I used a Holafly travel eSIM which gave me a chunk of data (can’t remember how much, but I did buy a second one after 3 weeks).

It was totally seamless. Buying and adding the eSIM was end to end digital, it just worked out of the box with no issues.

Honestly it was the easiest travel experience I’ve had. Ordered prior to leaving NZ, and activated while in transit in Singapore. Landed in Saigon and it just worked. No having to fluff around with buying a physical SIM and language challenges.

So the TLR is don’t even worry about it. I wish we were getting the eSIM only iPhone here.

 

[TurboJobo]

I spent a month in Vietnam earlier this year, travelling from NZ. I used a Holafly travel eSIM which gave me a chunk of data (can’t remember how much, but I did buy a second one after 3 weeks).

It was totally seamless. Buying and adding the eSIM was end to end digital, it just worked out of the box with no issues.

Honestly it was the easiest travel experience I’ve had. Ordered prior to leaving NZ, and activated while in transit in Singapore. Landed in Saigon and it just worked. No having to fluff around with buying a physical SIM and language challenges.

So the TLR is don’t even worry about it. I wish we were getting the eSIM only iPhone here.

I dont think you got my post, eSIM works great when you are local, but try roaming with your eSIM and people are having a lot of issues. Here in the states most companies will let you roam for free. My plan has unlimited data on North America and some countries in south america, but esim connection is slow when roaming.

 

[Nahmeanz]

I spent a month in Vietnam earlier this year, travelling from NZ. I used a Holafly travel eSIM which gave me a chunk of data (can’t remember how much, but I did buy a second one after 3 weeks).

It was totally seamless. Buying and adding the eSIM was end to end digital, it just worked out of the box with no issues.

Honestly it was the easiest travel experience I’ve had. Ordered prior to leaving NZ, and activated while in transit in Singapore. Landed in Saigon and it just worked. No having to fluff around with buying a physical SIM and language challenges.

So the TLR is don’t even worry about it. I wish we were getting the eSIM only iPhone here.

Holafly charges $64 for 30 days unlimited data only in Vietnam.

I paid about $70 for 14 months of data in Vietnam (4gb/day). Just takes going to a Mobifone store and signing up, there’s a $1 charge for the esim and you get a local number. Much cheaper than Holafly, with very little inconvenience.

 

[Taco1933]

Admittedly, I don’t know much about eSIMs. I’m hoping for two things long term: 1) home - I want to be able to give ATT a try for a while. See how it stacks up against my current provider, Verizon. I’d love for that to be a simple process straight from my phone. Kinda like when I went from true cable tv to streaming tv services. Switching cable providers was a massive pain. Switching streaming providers I can do in 15min. And I have. I’ve tried them all. I know t mobile already offers a test drive. I hope the others start as well. 2) travel - it’d be pretty cool if I could land in a city pretty much anywhere and have my phone just pop up a notification that I was roaming. Would I like temporary access to these local networks instead. Click. Apple Pay it. Done before I’ve even left the plane.

I do understand people’s frustration right now. I’m just hoping it does work out for the better in the long run.

 

[garethjs]

I live in Australia so I have a sim try for now. Firstly all 3 major providers here have eSIMs. The one I'm which (Telstra) really hasn't sorted out the downloading of eSIMs very well yet (despite them having support for the last 3 years). To avoid issues I went back to a physical sim.

Anyways I travelled to Singapore for 3 weeks and only 1 provider out of the big 3 had eSIM support. Their only prepaid eSIM was cheap but lasted only 7 days. Needless to say I had to go in every week to get a new one.

Its cheap and easy to get prepaid physical SIMS there.

Unless there are really good roaming plans going around, I'm not sure what anyone is going to do travelling to Singapore for data.

 

[TechLord]

Most Americans don’t vacation outside of the USA much and when they do it’s to a nearby neighbouring country with well established links to the USA. Apple probably figured that the money saved through removing the sim card slot outweighed the small number of customers who will refuse to upgrade because they need a physical sim card when they visit south east asia or Africa or wherever for a vacation. This strategy wouldn’t work as well in Europe where international travelling is much more common.

 

[Jackbequickly]

I travel USA and East/Southeast Asia often. I will never own a phone without a physical sim tray. So the US iPhone 14 is completely useless for me

‘The day is coming where you will have no choice. Just a matter of time.

 

[redcarlsen]

‘The day is coming where you will have no choice. Just a matter of time.

you always have a choice. if people would actually realize this and stop letting companies dictate stupid unfriendly practices, we'd all be better off.

 

[Jackbequickly]

you always have a choice. if people would actually realize this and stop letting companies dictate stupid unfriendly practices, we'd all be better off.

I agree with you but people, today, are allowing unfriendly practices now and little is being done about it. You got to understand that most, 95% have no idea what is happening to us right now

 

[smoking monkey]

I think the answer to this eSim situation is not to upgrade at the moment. Wait it out and see how the reports come in from people who have taken it on with the 14. Keep the 12/13 series. I would imagine within 3~5 years things will change a fair bit.

 

[pesos]

Esim is just fine for intl travel - maybe thread should be modified to specify intl data roaming. Worst case pick up a pocket wifi vs. a sim. Esim works great in Japan.

 

[orionquest]

I thought I read someplace they have 2 eSim slots for travel purposes? Could be wrong.

 

[Shirasaki]

The one I'm which (Telstra) really hasn't sorted out the downloading of eSIMs very well yet (despite them having support for the last 3 years). To avoid issues I went back to a physical sim.

I have been with Telstra for 5+ years. Back in 2018 when iPad Pro supported eSIM, I smh managed to get an eSIM on my iPad despite Telstra not "officially supporting it". They still don't today (hence they refuse to give my iPad Pro 2021 an eSIM), and for iPhone eSIM I'd need to mention before they go for one. Right now I rock with 2 SIM cards one for each device and just move on for now. When I upgrade to iPhone 14 Pro Max a few months later I might try to get eSIM again. Time will tell.

Most Americans don’t vacation outside of the USA much and when they do it’s to a nearby neighbouring country with well established links to the USA. Apple probably figured that the money saved through removing the sim card slot outweighed the small number of customers who will refuse to upgrade because they need a physical sim card when they visit south east asia or Africa or wherever for a vacation. This strategy wouldn’t work as well in Europe where international travelling is much more common.

This is probably the true reason behind Apple going all eSIM in USA, knowing most people don't even leave their own state, let alone USA for vacation and stuff.

 

[Nimrad]

I thought I read someplace they have 2 eSim slots for travel purposes? Could be wrong.

You can have 2 eSIM providers at the same time, yes. Similar to previously 1 eSIM + 1 physical SIM.

 

[mansplains]

it’d be pretty cool if I could land in a city pretty much anywhere and have my phone just pop up a notification that I was roaming. Would I like temporary access to these local networks instead. Click. Apple Pay it. Done before I’ve even left the plane.

I think some implementation of this will come sooner or later, it's a great opportunity for carriers. I imagine them using some clunky payment processing however, instead of some notification taking you to settings to install an esim and pay in one place. Apple could make it similar to app clips in this regard.

 

[alee]

I've been using Google Fi for international for a while now. I use it as my 2nd eSIM. Have been to a dozen countries outside the US without missing a beat. I have used Gigsky eSIMs on other phones without a hassle. About the only thing Google Fi won't let you do is be consecutively out of the country for more than 90 days.

If you're a global traveler, just setup Google Fi and run it in parallel with your primarily US carrier. Going out and buying a SIM is long past its expiration date.

 

[Nahmeanz]

I've been using Google Fi for international for a while now. I use it as my 2nd eSIM. Have been to a dozen countries outside the US without missing a beat. I have used Gigsky eSIMs on other phones without a hassle. About the only thing Google Fi won't let you do is be consecutively out of the country for more than 90 days.

If you're a global traveler, just setup Google Fi and run it in parallel with your primarily US carrier. Going out and buying a SIM is long past its expiration date.

But isn’t Google Fi $65 a month?
I want to use Google Fi as my primary US line but I read it still doesn’t get 5G on iPhones.

I go back and forth from Vietnam and the US. In Vietnam, I’m using T-Mobile Magenta on eSim (data turned off but phone line still active + Wifi calling) + a local Vietnamese sim. I turn on T-Mobile data twice a month when I travel outside of Vietnam or the US but it’s really slow (256kbs) so I have to buy T-Mobile’s International Passes or get a local sim wherever I am. It would be great if Google Fi did 5G on iPhones.