I agree but still, it seems that apple is taking money for that, whereas other manufacturers don't.
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iPhone 15 Rumored to Lack SIM Card Tray in France and Likely Other Countries
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The thing is, with physical SIMs no one can prevent you from swapping SIMs at any time. With eSIM, you're at the mercy of whatever processes and constraints the involved carriers are imposing. It's a fundamental reduction of autonomy and independence.
What's iMessage? Seriously, my wife and I are the only 2 people here (in Belgium) that I know who use it.
Yes and no. I'm currently with a carrier in Belgium who makes it even easier to get and replace a pre-paid eSIM at will compared with their physical sim. That would suggest many carriers are just being stubborn when it comes to implementing modern tech.
eSIM is actually as portable as SIM, and you can store a bunch of eSIMs and keep them inactive. You do have options to swap eSIMs at any time if you store the inactive ones, you just have problems with getting the eSIM in the first place if a carrier doesn't support it (fair complaint, as many carriers worldwide currently don't support eSIMs at all, and many more don't support it for prepaid). Obviously more carriers are going to support it as they won't want to lock out some iPhones from working on their networks. It's a work in progress.
But swapping different SIMs in one phone is one thing, swapping one single SIM in between several phones is an issue, for those who do such a thing. You can download eSIMs from apps and I can do that in AT&T's app. Some carriers however don't support this, so if you move between Android and iPhone it's a huge trouble (iPhones can transfer in settings to other iPhones, for many carriers).
So it's very reasonable to say that that sucks today, but hopefully carriers do the work needed to make it seamless and easy. For me, the only issue is that I need to sign into AT&T with text message authentication so I need to have my old phone to move to a different phone if it's Android (iPhone to iPhone I can transfer it without signing into AT&T).
Yea, you should move to South Africa. In the cities you can get 5G that does 1Gbps, no jokes.
That's exactly my point. With eSIM you depend on what the carrier does, with physical SIMs you don't. With eSIM it might be easier with carrier X today, but you may suddenly run into issues tomorrow. You are at their mercy.
Find happiness and send Apple a strong message by never purchasing their products.
Will you do it?
Pay a pretty penny to who? Now if that's the lamest excuse I've ever heard of...if anything, it should cost them less, because they don't have to pay someone to provision a physical sim which has to subsequently be mailed to you, for a price.
Yes, good point. I consider swapping SIMs between devices an important use case.
Not in the UK. giffgaff use O2‘s network and have adequate customer service. Vodafone is a major service provider and are legendary for their bad customer service.
And the few MVNO's that do, only support CONTRACT ONLY eSIM. In otherwords, you are forced into a contract just so you can get an eSIM. Well done Apple!
I hear you. But what exactly is the problem that needs to be addressed? I will admit, I don't care if future iPhones only support eSIM, just as long as all carriers around the world do the same, and make it just as easy to get an eSIM as it currently is to get a physical sim.
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I was hoping UK move on to e-SIM before next iPhone since iPhone 14 but they pretty much done nothing at all whatsoever! If this continue same then I have to stay on my current iPhone. I am using EE Pay As You Go Data bundle. Right now no UK network (carrier) support e-SIM on Pay As You Go or any non-contract. Only way get e-SIM is contract and that paying lot more money and I do not want do this.
You're crazy. I think... It's hard to steal and sell on an iPhone because they are secure and a brick without the passcode but your telephone number can be stolen from the iPhone just by popping out your SIM card.
With 2FA for banking etc using text messages that makes SIM theft a security issue.
Nah, more like sim cards are a revenue source for providers whereas charging for a QR code is harder.
That's what a SIM PIN is for. Set a PIN and you need the same PIN to use the SIM in another phone.
Hello my African fellow. You are right, implementing pre-paid eSim shouldn't be too much effort. I know SA is way ahead in technology compared to other African countries. I am in Burundi and I don't think we will get eSim any time soon. It might take 3-4 years. Apple should leave both options, physical and eSim for few more years. Let's hope those rumours are not true.
Physical SIM support is a funny thing. You won't need it for months or even years. But then one day you will be very happy that it's still there, because it will make your life so much easier.
Some customers will want a physical SIM some will want a virtual one. Why would virtual networks not want to support both if it saves them money?
Here’s the thing though, you get off the airplane in countries like Cambodia or Vietnam and before you go through immigration even there are people selling SIM cards that work perfectly for two months with unlimited calling and data for $10!
With my US-based iPhone, I have to pay $100 or more per month for the same services! Much more if using lots of data. Will the day come that they just hand people a slip of paper with QR code to use for eSIM, sure but we aren’t even close to there yet.
Like I said, try going with no service when your US plan fails you if you’re not in the highly developed world. Those cheap SIM deals at the airport are convenient and take less than a minute. Still have US-based eSIM installed and get calls when needed but turn on the cellular data and select the local phone when calling locally. It’s so much easier.
I'm going to be using my iPhone 13 mini for a LONG time it looks like