Yes, I understand that.
I meant which countries do they travel to that have carriers that don’t offer local prepaid eSIMs.
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iPhone 15 Rumored to Lack SIM Card Tray in France and Likely Other Countries
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I meant which countries do they travel to that have carriers that don’t offer local prepaid eSIMs.
It depends on your carrier. Some issue "one time" QR-codes, so you have to ask for a new one for every swap. Some require a personal visit to one of their shops to get a new QR-code. Some do not allow to do the swap, if you are not in your home-network. Some charge you for a "new" eSIM (printed code on a paper). Some make it depend on whether you do use prepaid or postpaid. Good luck with a trayless phone...
Welcome hassle free plastic-sim: out the tray - in the SIM - in the tray - on the phone.😊
That precious space is now being occupied by the chunk of plastic 🤣
iPhone 14 Pro Max Teardown Provides Closer Look at Unused SIM Tray Area on U.S. Model and More
Repair website iFixit today shared an in-depth teardown of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, providing a closer look at the device's internals. Notably, the...
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Not the way I see it. Online travel eSIM stores are popping up every other day. There's Airalo, Ubigi, Holafly....the list goes on, Google is your friend. I'm flying to the Caribbean this weekend for a 7 day cruise and will not have time to get a local sim that works on all the islands. I'm also not in the mood to pay those prices for onboard WiFi. Airalo to the rescue. $15 for 1GB valid 7 days, got my wife and I each one. Done.
But even for long term travel I can see the benefits in places like Asia or even Africa, except in the EU where you'll be better served getting a local plan and roaming freely with that.
My carrier O2 Germany charges around 29,99 or 39,99€ (can’t remember exactly) to replace a common plastic SIM card. They don’t make it easier to swap phones with eSIM either, you must have two phones - the new phone and the old one (having the SIM card you want to move, so that you can receive their security code), otherwise you’d need to find a store.
For starters, all of Africa, although I'm too lazy to Google that to confirm it, need to get off the couch, take a step outside, smell the roses.....
Eliminating the SIM card slot is yet more of Tim Cook’s cluelessness. Yes, most Americans don’t travel abroad (the vast majority of Americans don’t even have passports). But America is not the world. In numerous other countries, people travel to other countries. Getting a physical SIM card is a fast and easy way to get short-term or long-term voice, SMS, and data service.
I liked having the option...
Wow, that's some highway (or should I say Autobahn 😛) robbery. Here in Finland I was charged 10 or 15€ the last time I needed to swap a SIM card. For eSIMs my carrier allows me to transfer the eSIM without having two phones as long as I deactivate the eSIM on the original phone first, but a different carrier charges a fee for every activation.
For me, the whole thing comes down to price.
Where I live, plenty of carriers offer e-SIM plans.
However, it's consistently the most expensive carriers with the most expensive plans that offer eSIM.
eSIM only might offer benefits for water resistance or dust, or whatever. But I'd much rather lose that over keeping my current physical SIM plan.
The plan I have right now would cost 4-5 times more through an eSIM carrier.
Moving to new tech like this is always an excuse for carriers to increase costs even if the new tech is increasingly all digital.
To be honest we just look dumb when we need to pull the SIM card tray out in the middle of an airport, especially for those who are clumsy and tend to drop everything 😌
So there is at least one advantage if eSIM becomes the norm
So there is at least one advantage if eSIM becomes the norm
The technology has been there for years, iPhones included. No one is forced to use physical sims, but some carriers don't take advantage of esim, especially for prepaid plans — hence why I miss the tray...
Roaming is expensive and locals can’t call or text you. Every time you make a call the locals receive a text alert reminding them that the call is international and is probably a scam call.
I am currently in Africa for business and I can confirm nobody have an idea of what esim is. It will take time for carriers to upgrade to esim.
We will look more dumb when the esim transfer fee is CAD$50 and it takes 14 business days with two pieces of government issued photo ID and 2 hours on the phone with an outsourced Indian call centre in Canada.
I believe if I upgrade from my iPhone 12 to any iPhone 14 model, the transfer should be seamless at least for me here with T-Mobile USA.
Canadian telecom monopolies like to nickel and dime their captive customers and lobby the government to pass laws to ensure their monopolistic powers.
I've had an eSIM plan in the past and it was just fine.
I mean, there's no difference when using the phone. But the activation went faster than getting the SIM card sent by (snail) mail.
Right now I'm using a (nanoSIM) 5GB data + 5 hours talk + unlimited SMS/MMS for just €2.55/month ($2.69?) including all fees and taxes.
I was grandfathered into this plan and got one for all the members of my family.
Obviously, there's no way I'm upgrading to a phone without a SIM tray if I can't keep this plan.
eSIM? Not in this economy!
I mean, there's no difference when using the phone. But the activation went faster than getting the SIM card sent by (snail) mail.
Right now I'm using a (nanoSIM) 5GB data + 5 hours talk + unlimited SMS/MMS for just €2.55/month ($2.69?) including all fees and taxes.
I was grandfathered into this plan and got one for all the members of my family.
Obviously, there's no way I'm upgrading to a phone without a SIM tray if I can't keep this plan.
eSIM? Not in this economy!
I’d say Autobahn 😂. Crazy stuff, really. Hopefully one day everything gets standardised in an easier way for the average consumer.
I’m originally from South Africa but have been living in Belgium for the last 14 years, and to this day I still have a physical MTN pre-paid sim from South Africa because I travel there at least once a year. As it is right now, MTN, and Vodacom offer eSIM, but only for contracts. I asked them (MTN) and they implied pre-paid eSIMs are coming, but it’s anyones guess when that might be. This would help me, a whole lot when I go to neighbouring countries who don’t know what an eSIM is. In other words, I can keep my MTN and Belgian eSIM and use a Namibian, Zimbabwe, Botswana physical for data.
On a side note, Vodacom South Africa invented the pre-paid sim as we know it today, the ability to debit a users account in real time on an Inteligent Network Platform, a classic case of neccessity being the mother of invention. This because a vast majority of Africans are still to this day not eligible for contracts, but they can oddly enough afford smart phones. This would suggest if they can do something like that, implementing pre-paid eSIM shouldn’t be too much effort, at least it shouldn’t be…
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