What’s an e-SIM?
My iPhone tells me it can convert my inserted plastic SIM card into an e-SIM.
Does anyone know what this means and whether it’s worth doing?
@elverdiblanco BTW, my family O2 Sim cards seem to be about to automatically renew themselves for another year at the same price as last year, which seems like a jolly good deal given inflation…
An eSIM is a programmable SIM built into the phone. It replaces the old way of having a physical separate SIM.
If you have only one SIM for the phone then it’s largely neutral whether it’s worth doing… though I would as the eSIM is useless if the phone is locked down if stolen.
eSIMs are great for corporate users or when you have multiple numbers/networks assigned to a phone.
eSIMs are also a lot quicker to setup… kind of nearly instant… they are activated by internet wifi or sometimes via the mobile data connection. You don’t need to wait for a physical SIM to arrive in the post.
No increase? That’s good, mine went up from £8 to £8.70 but looking at switching the good lady you can get an O2 deal with 30GB data for £7.99
Hi Jimdog,
It’s an electronic sim, you get a code from your mobile supplier that set up on your phone instead of the SIM card. I have had an E-sim for some years now and prefer it. Only thing is if you change your phone or break it and need to change the phone you will have to get a new code, normally they send them quickly. Hope that helps.
I was looking at eSims for use when travelling abroad, specifically the USA. It seems to make the whole issue of getting a new SIM in the USA redundant
I am also interested in how an eSim works when travelling to the UK from the US. I currently have an iphone with a physical sim card. What I usually do is swap out my US sim card for one bought in the UK. Could I do effectively the same thing with an eSim, presumably by buying an eSim “code” from the UK carrier? Thanks so much!
From what I recall your phone has to be sSIM compatible but yes if phone compatible you could use an eSIM to do same things.
When I travelled to Turkey last year, I added an e-Sim as my normal Sim would have been too expensive.
Set up was all electronic. I found it a bit confusing but I got there in the end.
It is easy to switch between which of Sim and e-Sim to use at any time. Whilst abroad I just put the normal Sim into aeroplane mode and for phone calls just used the temporary number given.
I let the e-Sim lapse at the end of the month.
One of the many benefits of still working is my company iphone. The only real benefit is hotspotting to the dam thing and able to use a proper Samsung.
My iphone can have one physical simcard, and several e-sims but only one of the e-sims active at any one time. It can use physical and e simultaneiusly.
As of last year I have bought e-sims for travelling, and use physical sim for local (home) service. E-sims are very easy to buy in online. Last time I was travelling in EU bought an e-sim that was valid for all EU countries, best deal had a month validity, so as I was travelling for 2 months I bought two, activated on first use. On a far East trip last year I bought separate ones for Cambodia, Vietnam and Hong Kong, which suited me better than a multi-country one that was available.
There are numerous internet sites selling e-sims. One that displayed competitive prices and that I have used twice is Airalo. Whilst sometimes there are good deals to be had this way, I understand that buying sims (not sure if e-sim or only physical) in country of travel can often be cheaper, sometimes considerably, though finding the right thing in a country with whose language you are not fluent can be tricky.
Actually, you’re right - my text from O2 says I will remain on £8.70.
Are you saying that if I call O2 and tell them I’m leaving they will knock my 5 mobiles down to £7.99 for 30GB each?
Are Samsung better than iPhone?
Which Samsung do you have?
Can you use Duck Duck Go browser on a Samsung without it being ‘hobbled’ in compatibility and performance?
Is that because e-sims are a cheaper way of connecting abroad?
Or because they allow your phone to connect better as you travel abroad?
Or both?
An esim for travel is essentially a virtual local sim so no roaming charges are incurred. O2 include EU roaming as standard so there’s no real need for a travel esim if visiting the EU, but for non EU use they make a lot of sense. Or if your UK network doesn’t include EU roaming.
I’d doubt it as that is an online only tariff offer. You could ask them, worst that happens is they say no and you’re still on a super cheap deal
S23 ultra. Great phone. No need to use duckduck go. My iphone 15? for work is great to use as a hotspot though.
Airalo is a popular site for esims.
Primarily because I can keep my home phone connected. It didn’t actually occur to me to put my home service on an e-sim, though I don’t think (though haven’t confirmed) that my home phone service provider doesn’t offer e-sims. Having at last a phone that could take e-sims and very easy online access to e-sims for any country I just did that. I’ve no idea how easy or difficult it is to get physical sims for other countries other than going into stores.
Incidentally I forgot to say that for abroad I was getting data-only sims.
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