JPack
macrumors P6
You can scan a QR code to reprogram the eSIM.
eSIM is intended to be easily re-programmable by any carrier.
It's not going to help prevent theft or fraud in any way.
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U.S. Department of Justice Investigating Claims AT&T, Verizon and GSMA Colluded to Prevent Customers From Easily Switching Carriers [Updated]
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You can scan a QR code to reprogram the eSIM.
eSIM is intended to be easily re-programmable by any carrier.
It's not going to help prevent theft or fraud in any way.
JustinRP37
macrumors regular
As long as you did not buy your iPad Pro at AT&T they will not lock the eSim. I have been switching from AT&T to T-Mobile and international carriers since I got my iPad Pro 9.7 during its release month. But regardless they are all shady with this technology.
dogslobber
macrumors 601
JustinRP37
macrumors regular
You actually do not need to worry about that either. The eSim is only ever locked to AT&T if you bought the iPad at AT&T. I have been using the eSIM exclusively since day one and switch from AT&T to T-Mobile quite frequently.
zorinlynx
macrumors G3
eSIMs as a whole are a bad idea. It makes it a lot easier for carriers to tie your device to them. Look at CDMA phones before they started using SIM cards; the phone was permanently locked to the carrier that sold it. There was no way to move the phone to another carrier.
SIM cards are probably the best invention ever; the carrier can retain control over the part of the phone that talks to their network through the SIM, whereas the rest of the phone is kept independent of that. When the GSM standard was first created, companies knew that this would be the best way to give the carriers some control while at the same time making the phone universal to all carriers. Now they're trying to reverse that? BAD idea.
SIM cards are probably the best invention ever; the carrier can retain control over the part of the phone that talks to their network through the SIM, whereas the rest of the phone is kept independent of that. When the GSM standard was first created, companies knew that this would be the best way to give the carriers some control while at the same time making the phone universal to all carriers. Now they're trying to reverse that? BAD idea.
groovyd
Suspended
Why do they need to investigate this? Some things are just common sense. I'd have a better chance winning the lotto to them having not 'colluded' on something like this. The sad thing is there was probably no 'collusion' involved whatsoever. They just came right out and were like 'eSIMs that can't be locked to us?! ummmm, not a chance. Either allow us to lock them or they aren't allowed on our network'
dontwalkhand
macrumors 604
lostngone
macrumors 65816
Not disagreeing but phones(most) are still not universal. There are still different bands/frequencies and modulation types a phone has to support for it to be truly "universal"(worldwide). I will say it is much better than is was 25 years ago.
Who is to blame the carriers or the handset makers for allowing it to happen(device locking)?
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Again, the handset manufactures could put an end to that if they wanted.
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How does this scenario work with an eSIM?
Hypothetically speaking, someone travels regularly to Europe and has the need for a Vodafone account while there, but wants to keep the AT&T account in the US. And that person would hypothetically have unlocked the iPhone (even while in contract) in order to do so. That person has no intention of eliminating the AT&T contract, but would rather spend 10 Euros for a 30 day CallYa (1.5gB and 200 min) prepaid instead of $10 a day or $60 per month AT&T International plan. Change the SIM on the plane and have service when that person lands in Europe. As long as the person activates the CallYa account once every six months and carries a balance, however small, the Vodafone account stays active. Pop the AT&T Sim back in the iPhone on the way back, works again on AT&T.
Could you do that with an eSIM?
Hypothetically speaking, someone travels regularly to Europe and has the need for a Vodafone account while there, but wants to keep the AT&T account in the US. And that person would hypothetically have unlocked the iPhone (even while in contract) in order to do so. That person has no intention of eliminating the AT&T contract, but would rather spend 10 Euros for a 30 day CallYa (1.5gB and 200 min) prepaid instead of $10 a day or $60 per month AT&T International plan. Change the SIM on the plane and have service when that person lands in Europe. As long as the person activates the CallYa account once every six months and carries a balance, however small, the Vodafone account stays active. Pop the AT&T Sim back in the iPhone on the way back, works again on AT&T.
Could you do that with an eSIM?
Apple_Robert
Contributor
lostngone
macrumors 65816
I am assuming you would have an app or maybe it would just be under settings you would just pick your carrier. You can sort of do that now with an unlocked phone.
You would just have to setup a plan with whatever carrier by giving them the IMEI/ICCID(or whatever that would turn into with an esim)
fairuz
macrumors 68020
The same government that made it illegal to unlock phones. Haha. Not that I care, it's just funny.
JustinRP37
macrumors regular
That isn't true and not how cell phones work. A carrier can SIM lock a phone now. Go buy a phone from a carrier on a lease program and pop the sim out and put it in for another carrier. It will be locked until you pay it off and the carrier unlocks the SIM slot. Verizon was the only carrier not to do this, but now they have gone back to this practice because of 'fraud'. CDMA phones could not be activated on GSM not because of the SIM slot, but because phones were only built for certain frequencies and technologies. Still to this day many phones cannot be activated on other networks. For instance the AT&T and T-Mobile iPhone 8 and X will not work with Sprint because Sprint still runs voice over CDMA and that model iPhone lacks CDMA support. It would work somewhat with Verizon because Verizon has voLTE over most of their coverage area.
Michael Goff
Suspended
I'm pretty sure you mean tablets. I don't think the Apple SIM is in their phone.
lederermc
macrumors 6502a
Just the opposite: All carriers would have to be able to use an eSim; therefore, it can't be locked to a specific carrier.
But what if someone needs triple SIM or quad SIM? 😀
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I wonder if putting this option all the way at the bottom, under dozens of apps (possibly over a hundred), was also a result of collusion with carriers.
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Apache1
macrumors member
yeah never ever had any trouble with law but AT&T store called the police on me because I was sharing with potential customers that I couldn't unlock my Apple phone that I fully owned.
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Glideslope
macrumors G3
When I first received my unlocked 8+ it was an unlocked Verizon phone. They activated it at the Apple store on my at&t network. All was fine until the end of each billing cycle. The IME number would then go on a blacklist. After 3m Apple took it back and gave be an unlocked Intel Modem phone. No issues since. The Apple Genius would only say, "Verizon does stuff like this?" What ever the heck that meant. 
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You can look under settings -> cellular and see which apps are using the data.
Wow, it looks like the tide is finally turning...
Yesterday on the news in Japan, they said the government want our big carriers to stop locking people into 2 year contracts with a penalty if you leave early. They also automatically roll over if you don't cancel within a very specific window. They want to make it easier for people to switch carriers too.
I got a sim free unlocked 7 plus and have been using a cheap sim only provider and it's about 1/3 the price of the big providers. Most people here don't feel comfortable doing that so it's good that something is being done to give people more options and freedom.
The deals in the UK seem incredibly good compared to here with hundreds of minutes of calls included for a cheap price. Here you can pay a lot for unlimited calls/quite a lot for unlimited 5 or 10 minute calls, or a lot per call. I just use an app like Viber or Line to make cheap pre-paid calls. It would be brilliant if as a result of government intervention in the US and Japan, the main providers started really offering competitive deals which benefited the customers like the UK.
Yesterday on the news in Japan, they said the government want our big carriers to stop locking people into 2 year contracts with a penalty if you leave early. They also automatically roll over if you don't cancel within a very specific window. They want to make it easier for people to switch carriers too.
I got a sim free unlocked 7 plus and have been using a cheap sim only provider and it's about 1/3 the price of the big providers. Most people here don't feel comfortable doing that so it's good that something is being done to give people more options and freedom.
The deals in the UK seem incredibly good compared to here with hundreds of minutes of calls included for a cheap price. Here you can pay a lot for unlimited calls/quite a lot for unlimited 5 or 10 minute calls, or a lot per call. I just use an app like Viber or Line to make cheap pre-paid calls. It would be brilliant if as a result of government intervention in the US and Japan, the main providers started really offering competitive deals which benefited the customers like the UK.
dontwalkhand
macrumors 604
If it’s like the built in Apple SIM on the iPad Pro, you just select the carrier. I had T-Mobile and AT&T active at the same time and they just both said active. You just choose them and it’ll check off.
Sounds weird but I won't contradict you.
My preferred solution is to buy directly at an Apple store. No "lock" problems there ever.