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Because they were trying to figure out how to monetize it... Or were trying to squeeze out as many sim card fees as possible before caving.

Must be in your country only? In the UK it’s dead easy to get a free SIM card, you can’t use it without joining a contract or putting money on a pay as you go account of course. Or was this what you meant?
 
Must be in your country only? In the UK it’s dead easy to get a free SIM card, you can’t use it without joining a contract or putting money on a pay as you go account of course. Or was this what you meant?

In the US there is a charge for a replacement SIM. When you buy a prepaid plan, you buy a kit with a starter number of minutes or dollars, and the SIM is included at no additional charge, they aren't free by themselves.

SIMs of course aren't free to the carrier and they want to make sure they're used sensibly.
 
I just completed the process over T-Mobile via Apple Business Chat.

They will ask:
  1. EID from iPhone (Settings | General | About | EID)
  2. One-time PIN sent over SMS
  3. Shortly after that, my physical SIM became inactive
  4. I restarted the phone
  5. Settings | Cellular | Add Cellular Plan
  6. Scan the QR code from T-Mobile eSIM page
You might want to print the QR code if you don't have access to another device.
 
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I just completed the process over T-Mobile via Apple Business Chat.

They will ask:
  1. EID from iPhone (Settings | General | About | EID)
  2. One-time PIN sent over SMS
  3. Shortly after that, my physical SIM became inactive
  4. I restarted the phone
  5. Settings | Cellular | Add Cellular Plan
  6. Scan the QR code from T-Mobile eSIM page
You might want to print the QR code if you don't have access to another device.
Hey


I did this too, but then I went into setting and made esim my primary and it asked if I wanted to upload my contacts to be used with the esim and if FaceTime and iMessage also wanted to be updated to it.

Is this normal? what is the reason for this?
 
I just completed the process over T-Mobile via Apple Business Chat.

They will ask:
  1. EID from iPhone (Settings | General | About | EID)
  2. One-time PIN sent over SMS
  3. Shortly after that, my physical SIM became inactive
  4. I restarted the phone
  5. Settings | Cellular | Add Cellular Plan
  6. Scan the QR code from T-Mobile eSIM page
You might want to print the QR code if you don't have access to another device.

From step 3, when the SIM becomes inactive or when the rep told you to go ahead to activate it, you should just remove it. You don't need to restart but you will need to connect via WiFi to proceed to step 5. If you don't, the eSIM will become secondary and you will need to manually adjust it and then update it to primary so contacts, iMessage and FaceTime will use it like the post below.

Hey


I did this too, but then I went into setting and made esim my primary and it asked if I wanted to upload my contacts to be used with the esim and if FaceTime and iMessage also wanted to be updated to it.

Is this normal? what is the reason for this?
 
From step 3, when the SIM becomes inactive or when the rep told you to go ahead to activate it, you should just remove it. You don't need to restart but you will need to connect via WiFi to proceed to step 5. If you don't, the eSIM will become secondary and you will need to manually adjust it and then update it to primary so contacts, iMessage and FaceTime will use it like the post below.
yea I removed the SIM card before I added the e sim. I don't think it matters as long as mobile tells you they added the eid to the account.

when I changed my primary to the e sim it said if I wanted to have my contacts use esim number since my other old "primary" sim no longer was available.


I guess that's normal.

Also the first call I made said if I wanted to use my new primary number. I think I'm the only one that sees this change and anyone I call will see no difference.
 
Was begging for this for 6+ months. Don’t care anymore as I already went a different direction.
Yeah same. I wanted this when I went to italy in April so i could keep my phone number online but use a local SIM for my data connection. instead i had to use t-mobiles terrible dialup speed 2g connection garbage.
 
Finally. I can ditch the stupid sounds like crap Comcast Android I’m stuck carrying.

But, I’ve had to do recorded support calls on it - and that won’t work on my Max. Ugh. Sim swap...
 
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