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Simple solution. Don't go to China
LOL, lots of people go for work. And it's not only China. I've been to about 140 countries and about 50 in the past 2 years and some I would have been left without phone service if I had an iPhone 14.

Lots of African and Asian countries have no esim capability. And Airlao is too expensive regardless what people say. Local SIMS with 50GB data often cost less than $5.
 
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Well, I disabled International Day Pass and Pay-per-use, and AT&T even told me over the phone that they blocked roaming, and even turned both of those things on and off after I got here, and, well:

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Will have to try calling AT&T again. It looks like I had someone who did not know what they were doing, just like that Reddit user.
Sorry for the very late reply. Two calls to AT&T later:

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The first representative was very new and he clearly could not figure out what I wanted to do. He just kept on ranting with me about how Wi-Fi Calling works, and even made me share my screen with him. After a while, he claimed he added the block but said it could take one to two hours and then I should reboot the phone. After that, the AT&T plan was still connecting to Greek towers. Later, I got another AT&T representative who made the change immediately. If the change was successfully made, you should see “International Roaming Block” on your list of add-ons on myAT&T.

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You can turn Wi-Fi Calling on, but it will not actually do anything with a prepaid plan, even if you link it to a COSMOTE id.

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COSMOTE has this programmed to display “4G” instead of “LTE” for some reason.

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It also for some reason allows access to these settings, unlike all of the American carriers.

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The last two options were only displayed the day I took this. After that, only the first two are displayed, though it does still say “GR-ALERT.”

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Even if you are picking up a 5G signal, it still connects to a 2G GSM signal simultaneously.

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I will not buy any iPhone which doesn’t have a sim tray. So for me, when my iPhone 12 breaks I will probably try to find an iPhone 13 or switch to Android
 
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Makes perfect sense. This will push the few providers who've been avoiding it to quickly catch up.
Why poke around with a nano-sim if you can just as easily scan a QR-code or go to a website and buy/activate an eSim?
When carriers do not offer esim for prepaid users (only for users with plans) then yeah you want the sim tray so you can choose what you want and not be forced to sign a plan.

UPDATE: it seems they just added support for prepaid now 😁 there is still hope
 
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When carriers do not offer esim for prepaid users (only for users with plans) then yeah you want the sim tray so you can choose what you want and not be forced to sign a plan.

UPDATE: it seems they just added support for prepaid now 😁 there is still hope
Pre-paid have always been able to, it is a restriction by the networks not Apple.
 
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LOL, I was going to say this. Esim is not always the best solution.
Yea

Singapore still have only one Pre-paid esim one year into this fiasco.

Still M1 only at main store in bugis. Nothing at airport. Zero
Pre-paid have always been able to, it is a restriction by the networks not Apple.

So why is Apple bowing to network and remove the sim tray?
 
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Pre-paid have always been able to, it is a restriction by the networks not Apple.
Yes, I know that is not a restriction by Apple. The networks are doing this to make people to sign a contract.. but now they added this option also for prepaid users.
 
I think the big movement at the carriers will start as soon the european iPhone will lose the sim tray. Yes in the US live a lot of people but how many of them a travelling outside their own country? If you include the european users who do a lot more international travel will boost the need for esim plan in the major travelling hot spots. Sooner or later the carries will notice they are not selling their product any more.
 
Don’t be in that.

We are one year into this with iPhone 14. Not a lot of movement by carriers.
 
I think the big movement at the carriers will start as soon the european iPhone will lose the sim tray. Yes in the US live a lot of people but how many of them a travelling outside their own country? If you include the european users who do a lot more international travel will boost the need for esim plan in the major travelling hot spots. Sooner or later the carries will notice they are not selling their product any more.
Possibly. But I can see UK carriers trying to tie you into long-term contracts, especially with the reported higher cost of iPhones. I’m sure it’s gravy time for the carriers as we have high inflation, so selling the latest on a contract is the likely route for many to be able to get the new iPhones.

I hate to think it, but if it is eSIM only then I’m moving away from Apple in the short/medium term.
 
Looks like Sky Mobile have now jumped on the eSIM bandwagon as the second MVNO in the UK to start offering it.

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If they do the 15 range eSIM only I will for sure move back to Android. I don't need the eSIM headache. I have two active phones (iPhone and Flip) and my carriers don't support moving between iPhone <-> Android without an in-person shop visit or physical letter with QR code.
 
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Wonder if GiffGaff are getting ready

This is a search that’s says article was updated 4th September.

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But when you visit it has been removed.

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And I just switched from Giffgaff to Smarty 🤦‍♂️
 
During the last year I've visited about 15 countries on vacation, and I bought about 12 new SIM cards. Only twice were the eSIMs the same price as the physical SIMs, and that was in the Caucuses. eSIMs seem to be aimed at tourists so far, in many countries, and are priced accordingly.
 
I like having the option of an eSIM, and the convenience of flicking a switch to make it work, but it's sadly often more complicated. Currently the move to remove the tray seems very strongly anti-consumer. If you like travelling, buying an iPhone without a SIM card tray simply isn't an option.
 
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with all the prepaid esims coming about, it would seem that the sim tray is being removed in more models in iPhone 15 this week.
 
Giffgaff wrote an article in August, so they had already declared they were bringing eSIM. 🕵️‍♂️

What are the eSIM benefits?


"giffgaff is developing its own eSIM, which you can get your hands on this year. Stay tuned on this channel for updates."
 
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