Wow. That Verizon app is slick and super easy to use for eSIM setup. Now I just have to port my number over. If TMobile gets their act together, perhaps I'll come back.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Verizon Expected to Implement eSIM Support for iPhone XR and XS on December 7
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Wow. That Verizon app is slick and super easy to use for eSIM setup. Now I just have to port my number over. If TMobile gets their act together, perhaps I'll come back.
This is exactly why I haven't upgraded from my iPhone 7. The only feature that I personally "need" in order to justify upgrading to a newer phone, is Dual SIM. Unfortunately with both eSIM and the 'physical' Dual SIM iPhone (with two physical cards) not available from either of my carriers in Australia or Italy, I haven't given Apple my money
If you buy your iPhone from China or HK it will come with dual physical sim. As I did, from ebay. Otherwise Europe, USA and Australia comes with esim feature ands 1 sim card.
As expected.....what a s#$t show, Verizon......
I have called 3 times and chatted 3 times.
The calls ended with not supported, telesales call was disconnected, and totally clueless as to what an esim even was...
The chats were, one disconnect, one telesales transfer where I was told it couldn't be done, and a disconnect when the person said they were creating the QR code for me.......
Sigh........I guess I'll give it a few days and hopefully they will get their act together.....
I have called 3 times and chatted 3 times.
The calls ended with not supported, telesales call was disconnected, and totally clueless as to what an esim even was...
The chats were, one disconnect, one telesales transfer where I was told it couldn't be done, and a disconnect when the person said they were creating the QR code for me.......
Sigh........I guess I'll give it a few days and hopefully they will get their act together.....
Are you trying to open a new account with Verizon? Just use the app to port over and get the eSIM set up. It's easy and you don't have to talk to the CS people.
It only took me 4 hours on the phone with Verizon. I too was transferred to telesales (twice) and eventually they disconnected and I got a text stating they'd call me back, and they never did. So I went to the store. This is what worked for me. And I asked the rep what he did on his end. This is it.
- Call Tech Support 1-866-221-4096 and be clear that you're NOT looking to start a new line of service, but transfer your existing service from a physical SIM to the eSIM.
- They should delete your physical SIM card information
- They will input the IMEI number under the Digital SIM info in Settings.
- This will begin activation and generate a QR code they will email you.
- Scan it, and it should work.
- Activation and connection to LTE takes about 5 minutes.
Nope, moving my existing physical sim line to esim, so I can put my work phone sim in the physical slot and only carry one phone.
[doublepost=1544210823][/doublepost]
Thanks much. I will give this a go later.
I detailed these steps to the person I was chatting with and was so close. They said they were emailing me the QR code, but then we disconnected....Ugh....
I'll call in and give it a go....such a simple process......
Tell them to use the Apple Watch setup that’s how they figured mine out after a similar adventure!
Yes, that's just about it. But note that you might get to the situation where the line is active and can send/receive phone calls/SMS, but has no data logo. For me, that situation happened when I had removed the physical SIM before starting the procedure. To resolve it, I had to pop in a physical SIM after the eSIM was active, then I could designate the eSIM line as the data line, and all was well.
I used a european SIM I had lying around. Might also work if you use the VZW physical SIM?
If I have my Apple Watch paired to the eSIM, will that be a problem? I wouldn't think so, since you can have more than 1 eSIM line.
[doublepost=1544220493][/doublepost]Verizon emailed the QR code but it keeps saying it is invalid.
[doublepost=1544220493][/doublepost]Verizon emailed the QR code but it keeps saying it is invalid.
I got mine transferred earlier also. Took about 30 minutes on chat. The agent knew something about eSIM, but was a little confused. She was under the belief that I was having them "activate my eSIM" so that I could then use it for another carrier, such as AT&T. She totally thought that my existing Verizon SIM would remain in the phone hereafter, and she was simply allowing the eSIM to be made active.
She kept telling me to keep the WiFi on my phone off, and leave the Verizon SIM card in the phone. I eventually just ignored her instructions, took the SIM card out, turned on WiFi, then scanned the QR code she emailed me. All went fine after that.
Just beware that some folks seem to know about eSIM, but aren't quite sure about how it is used. I was very clear that I wanted my existing line moved from physical SIM to eSIM.
Mark
She kept telling me to keep the WiFi on my phone off, and leave the Verizon SIM card in the phone. I eventually just ignored her instructions, took the SIM card out, turned on WiFi, then scanned the QR code she emailed me. All went fine after that.
Just beware that some folks seem to know about eSIM, but aren't quite sure about how it is used. I was very clear that I wanted my existing line moved from physical SIM to eSIM.
Mark
No problems with my Verizon eSIM and the Apple Watch account.
I think I finally got it set up. Verizon moved to eSIM (Primary) and T-Mobile to physical.
What happens if the iOS is reinstalled? Will we have to contact Verizon again for another QR Code?
The QR code used by Verizon is not unique, it’s the same for everyone, so just save it. (It just tells the phone to talk to Verizon’s provisioning service, which checks the digital IMEI in their account database and then does whatever it does to configure/activate the eSIM.)
As to what happens during reinstall, I’ve read some answers but can’t vouch for them so I won’t repeat.
No luck at Verizon store. They insisted we need to add new lines. Then they insisted my phones were locked.
I just went through round one of this and the first question they had was “what was my SIM card number going to be?” She got mad that I kept insisting that I didn’t need one and hung up on me.
Do I have to have a number for the other line? I don’t think so.
Sigh... this is going to take up the rest of my afternoon.
Do I have to have a number for the other line? I don’t think so.
Sigh... this is going to take up the rest of my afternoon.
Thanks for the help and the info provided here. Third time was the charm.
Second rep didn’t think I could do what I was asking. She kept researching and when she finally started the process, she kept asking for my eSIM ICCID number and wouldn’t take the IMEI number, which was the only number showing in the settings. She was going to do it, but I had to call back because I was on my iPhone.
Third rep knew what was going on. He was more concerned that the process would take some time and that I would get impatient. I told him I was fine with that, Bears got the late game tonight, lol. I just wanted it done correctly.
Seems like everything works so far. He verified how I was set up in the system on his side. I am able to make calls without the physical SIM. Without wait time to get to a rep, it took about 20-30 minutes.
The only weird part is that all of my information is now under Secondary. The physical SIM IMEI is still showing on the Primary, but nothing else. He said the old IMEI isn’t associated to anything on his side. It can be updated at a later date with any carrier SIM since my phone is device unlocked. I made is clear that I only expect to have one line on Verizon.
EDIT: I figured out the labeling myself with a little help from Google. I should be good now.
Second rep didn’t think I could do what I was asking. She kept researching and when she finally started the process, she kept asking for my eSIM ICCID number and wouldn’t take the IMEI number, which was the only number showing in the settings. She was going to do it, but I had to call back because I was on my iPhone.
Third rep knew what was going on. He was more concerned that the process would take some time and that I would get impatient. I told him I was fine with that, Bears got the late game tonight, lol. I just wanted it done correctly.
Seems like everything works so far. He verified how I was set up in the system on his side. I am able to make calls without the physical SIM. Without wait time to get to a rep, it took about 20-30 minutes.
The only weird part is that all of my information is now under Secondary. The physical SIM IMEI is still showing on the Primary, but nothing else. He said the old IMEI isn’t associated to anything on his side. It can be updated at a later date with any carrier SIM since my phone is device unlocked. I made is clear that I only expect to have one line on Verizon.
EDIT: I figured out the labeling myself with a little help from Google. I should be good now.
Last edited:
No, they have stated in the tech specs of the device that if your on a CDMA network like Verizon the 2nd service cannot also be on CDMA. So you can't use 2 Verizon accounts.
[doublepost=1544749591][/doublepost]
[doublepost=1544749626][/doublepost]Mine went pretty quick ... I did this:
- called support from a different line
- stated "I would like to move my service from the physical sim to e-sim"
- Gave him the Digital Sim number
- Powered off my phone, removed the Physical sim
- Powered on when he told me
- Scanned the qr code in the email
- then waited about 3-5 min for the activation and it was all good
Last edited:
I'm using 2 x Verizon accounts on my Iphone XS Max with my ESIM and haven't had issues or speed delays etc FYI Not sure im reading your post right but yeah I have 2 Verizon accounts and have been flipping back and forth on the data usage etc and had zero issues or non 4G issues