iPhone 14/Plus POLL: How was your eSIM transfer process?

[Cory Bauer]

Got it resolved but I wouldn’t say “smoothly” and I wouldn’t say in less than an hour. Before the phone arrived I watched all of the eSIM tutorial videos and read all of the support docs from Apple, and updated my old iphone X to ios16 ahead of time as that was supposed to make the process easier. Then when the time came, I immediately hit a roadblock Apple did not address in their documentation:

This phone number can't be transferred because this feature is not supported by your carrier.

Not supported by Verizon? Really? So tried a half-dozen different methods to make the transfer happen, all of which failed in errors or hurdles. Finally caved and waited twenty minutes for a chat support rep from Verizon who was able to get me sorted out by me providing the new phone’s IMEI number. Really maddening spending ninety minutes troubleshooting something that would have taken two seconds with a physical SIM tray.

 

[NYCValkyrie]

eSIM to eSIM, I had major issues. The Apple Store employee wiped my phone for the trade in before I set up the new one. It kept trying to send the code to my old phone, which I no longer had. I had to drive to a T-Mobile location to get it set up.

Oof! That was definitely a human error vs an eSIM problem in itself (Other on the poll) but the Apple employee should have known better. Sorry you had to go through that but glad it got resolved.

 

[Ntombi]

I use both a pSIM and an eSIM simultaneously, and transferring both to eSIM was quick and painless.

 

[NYCValkyrie]

I use both a pSIM and an eSIM simultaneously, and transferring both to eSIM was quick and painless.

For clarity, you transferred both to eSIM one by one or simultaneously as well?

 

[rumz]

Switched my 13 Pro from pSIM to eSIM the day before launch quickly and without a hitch; esim to esim the next day worked fine as well. (T-Mobile user in the U.S.)

 

[OmahaGTP]

ATT Prepaid, quick phone call and relatively painless - the only hiccup was me giving them the IMEI2 without them asking, thinking I was being helpful/clever, then when I gave them the IMEI(1) it activated with no issue.

 

[adamgbiggs]

It was simple with Virgin UK, remove eSim from 13Pro, log into my Virgin account via web, select download eSim and scan code with 14Pro, done 👌🏼

Took about a minute to sort.

 

[NYCValkyrie]

ATT Prepaid, quick phone call and relatively painless - the only hiccup was me giving them the IMEI2 without them asking, thinking I was being helpful/clever, then when I gave them the IMEI(1) it activated with no issue.

It was simple with Virgin UK, remove eSim from 13Pro, log into my Virgin account via web, select download eSim and scan code with 14Pro, done 👌🏼

Took about a minute to sort.

So both of these would be "carrier doesn't offer Quick Transfer" in the poll, I feel. But glad both were easy & pain free!

 

[adamgbiggs]

So both of these would be "carrier doesn't offer Quick Transfer" in the poll, I feel. But glad both were easy & pain free!

But didn’t require any CS assistance, I think all of the carriers should jump into the quick transfer option, it would make it seamless

 

[slpslee1]

It would have worked just great—my granddaughter’s iPhone 11 transferred over in maybe 5 minutes. My iPhone 13 Pro to 14 Pro is still not complete and will require a trip to the AT&T Store, which was closed by the time we figured out it just wasn’t going to happen as a result of an AT&T screwup last year, actually. So at this point in time, the phone is an expensive iPod Touch. I must have chatted with a half dozen reps tonight. Each one of them told me, ”it’s an easy fix. Just call this AT&T support number…” Seriously? This after I told each one of them I didn’t have a phone. After I visit the AT&T Store tomorrow, I’m switching all four of the phones on my family plan to another… any other… carrier.

 

[NYCValkyrie]

But didn’t require any CS assistance, I think all of the carriers should jump into the quick transfer option, it would make it seamless

Yes but it still required a different process than what we're looking for. I can't edit the poll anymore but I'll know that it would include manual updating via website or app. I know it's Apple's goal to have everyone fall in line w/ this process and how it works here is likely what will push carriers outside of the US to update their systems.

 

[NYCValkyrie]

It would have worked just great—my granddaughter’s iPhone 11 transferred over in maybe 5 minutes. My iPhone 13 Pro to 14 Pro is still not complete and will require a trip to the AT&T Store, which was closed by the time we figured out it just wasn’t going to happen as a result of an AT&T screwup last year, actually. So at this point in time, the phone is an expensive iPod Touch. I must have chatted with a half dozen reps tonight. Each one of them told me, ”it’s an easy fix. Just call this AT&T support number…” Seriously? This after I told each one of them I didn’t have a phone. After I visit the AT&T Store tomorrow, I’m switching all four of the phones on my family plan to another… any other… carrier.

Oof. I left AT&T many many years ago and never looked back. They are just the worst. But I def I recommend T-Mobile and they are currently offering a 3 mo trial! They have great CS and support eSIM quick transfer, and lots of great perks. Their service has improved by leaps & bounds every year. But if you're not in a good TMO area, that means Verizon.

 

[cnagy65]

My iPhone X to 14 pro on AT&T went smoothly as did the data transfer.

 

[Ntombi]

For clarity, you transferred both to eSIM one by one or simultaneously as well?

One after the other.

 

[minik]

No issue from 13 Pro (iOS 15.7, T-mobile) to 14 Pro (iOS 16, T-mobile).

However I skipped step 1 on how to pair a Watch on a new iPhone, which I had to erased my iPhone 14 Pro (after updated to iOS 16.0.1). It let me to keep the number on the eSIM during the erase process.

 

[OmahaGTP]

So both of these would be "carrier doesn't offer Quick Transfer" in the poll, I feel. But glad both were easy & pain free!

Fifteen minutes or less is a quick transfer for prepaid, lmao.

 

[Placehold5894]

Xfinity Mobile had major issues Yesterday and earlier today. The activation site was being overwhelmed that it wasn't working at all. If you tried to call into support the line would say to call back during business hours (even though it was) and the live chat wouldn't allow you to join the queue because there were too many people in queue. I heard mixed reports about the in store experience but it seems it wasn't much better. Eventually users on Reddit found a work around loop which worked for a lot of us.

 

[Brad7]

Xfinity Mobile had major issues Yesterday and earlier today. The activation site was being overwhelmed that it wasn't working at all. If you tried to call into support the line would say to call back during business hours (even though it was) and the live chat wouldn't allow you to join the queue because there were too many people in queue. I heard mixed reports about the in store experience but it seems it wasn't much better. Eventually users on Reddit found a work around loop which worked for a lot of us.

Can you please share the reddit link?

 

[Deacon-Blues]

I moved from an iPhone 11 Pro Max to the 14 Pro Max. Carrier is AT&T. The phone prompted me to accept the transfer from physical sim on my 11 to an esim on the 14. It took about one minute. So painless.

 

[h1r0ll3r]

Wasn't able to transfer my pSIM to eSIM properly. Initially tried using the prompts in the iPhone however that didn't work. Contacted Verizon CS (Useless as usual) and they said they'd process the activation over the phone. Apparently Verizon CS messed up and I got stalled in my activation. Due to high number of people trying to activate new iPhones, their system stalled out and they said I would have to wait 24 HOURS before my phone could be activated. Essentially my phone was bricked from the get go.

Contacted Verizon through Twitter, FB Messenger, Live Chat and email. None of them were helpful except the FB Messenger. They were somewhat quick to respond. Due to all the iPhone activations, the VZ website/Live chat pretty much halted to a crawl and even started getting timeout and "we're experiencing technical difficulties at the moment" messages.

Saw online that using their app to process the activation might work. Tried that but even their app was super slow. I was (thankfully) able to get my device updated in my account so that was nice. When I heard back from FB Messenger, they were able to process the activation so my eSIM was, technically activated. This occurred around 4am ET.

To top this whole ratchet ass process off, apparently Verizon is having an outage in my area so I'm unable to receive/make any calls/texts at the moment. Since my old SIM was deactivated, I don't have a working phone at the moment. Been this way since 3PM on Friday.

If it makes any difference, I'm on a prepaid plan but I don't see how that might impact my situation.

TL;DR eSIM activation process a huge PITA. Currently have a $1,700 iPod Touch

 

[MrAperture]

This eSim only US iPhone saga has really shown the lack of customer service for prepaid cellular plans.

There’s many reasons why those plans might be slightly cheaper, and it’s really showing this weekend.

 

[Mikeske]

I actually bought my iPhone 14 Pro at a T-mobile store and the staff member that helped me did the transfer from my physical SIM in my iPhone 12 Pro to the eSIM right in the store. I do know it only took a few minutes and several steps. As far as I was concerned it took longer to get to transfer the data and erase the old phone then it was to do the eSIM setup.

 

[Placehold5894]

Can you please share the reddit link?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Comcast_Xfinity/comments/xg6hc0

 

[Cory Bauer]

This eSim only US iPhone saga has really shown the lack of customer service for prepaid cellular plans.

There’s many reasons why those plans might be slightly cheaper, and it’s really showing this weekend.

For sure. Although it’s not just “slightly” cheaper. My prepaid Verizon plan is now $25/mo when their regular plans start at $55/mo. It’s a great option for people who don’t need a ton of data.

Hopefully once we all get from physical SIM to eSIM, the transfer will always be quick and painless for future phones.

 

[Radeon962]

8+ to 14 PM on AT&T would not activate. Heading to a store this week to see if CS can activate.