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Jackbequickly

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Aug 6, 2022
2,658
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Went to the AT&T store and talked with two employees and they said that when the your new iPhone 14 arrives it will move your service from you physical SIM card in your iPhone 13 to the eSIM in your new iPhone 14 automatically when you do the “transfer data” thjng. They have witnessed this happening as some of the newest made iPhone 13 units already have no SIM card tray and are eSIM. It is the new standard for all phones in America.

So basically nothing needs to be done before you new eSim phone arrives.
 

jmc111

macrumors member
Oct 31, 2021
99
61
Just a hassle when you need to switch phones that you need to contact the carrier. Depending on the carrier, they will charge for the e-sim card.
 
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Jackbequickly

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Aug 6, 2022
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From what I understand the process is going to be streamlined in the future. People traveling will just have to scan a QR code to use a eSIM in that country.
 

Harthag

macrumors 68000
Jun 20, 2009
1,800
2,193
U.S.
Just a hassle when you need to switch phones that you need to contact the carrier. Depending on the carrier, they will charge for the e-sim card.
Not necessarily. Last year I had both the 13 Mini and 13 Pro Max on Verizon. There was an option to "transfer" the e-sim to the other phone (both ways) freely when I wanted to use the other one. I hope this is the case for the 14 series going forward. I HATE dealing with carriers and avoid all stores like the plague.

If the procedures get revised and they make you pay an "activation fee" for switching phones / swapping e-sims, now that is some major BS. I'd seriously consider switching to an Android at that point full time (currently use Pixel 6 as secondary / wi-fi only device), as long as physical sims are an option / no swapping charges.
 

jmc111

macrumors member
Oct 31, 2021
99
61
Not necessarily. Last year I had both the 13 Mini and 13 Pro Max on Verizon. There was an option to "transfer" the e-sim to the other phone (both ways) freely when I wanted to use the other one. I hope this is the case for the 14 series going forward. I HATE dealing with carriers and avoid all stores like the plague.

If the procedures get revised and they make you pay an "activation fee" for switching phones / swapping e-sims, now that is some major BS. I'd seriously consider switching to an Android at that point full time (currently use Pixel 6 as secondary / wi-fi only device), as long as physical sims are an option / no swapping charges.
The Canadian carriers will charge just to make money. Robbers (aka Rogers) is a perfect example. In their eyes, nothing is free.
 
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Jackbequickly

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Aug 6, 2022
2,658
2,709
Not necessarily. Last year I had both the 13 Mini and 13 Pro Max on Verizon. There was an option to "transfer" the e-sim to the other phone (both ways) freely when I wanted to use the other one. I hope this is the case for the 14 series going forward. I HATE dealing with carriers and avoid all stores like the plague.

If the procedures get revised and they make you pay an "activation fee" for switching phones / swapping e-sims, now that is some major BS. I'd seriously consider switching to an Android at that point full time (currently use Pixel 6 as secondary / wi-fi only device), as long as physical sims are an option / no swapping charges.
From what I understand, physical SIM phones will all be phased out and it will be eSIM only in America for new phones. I think it is all about The FCC requiring us to register our phone just to get on the internet one day. Tighter controls are coming one day, just a matter of when.
 
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Harthag

macrumors 68000
Jun 20, 2009
1,800
2,193
U.S.
From what I understand, physical SIM phones will all be phased out and it will be eSIM only in America for new phones. I think it is all about The FCC requiring us to register our phone just to get on the internet one day. Tighter controls are coming one day, just a matter of when.
If that's the case, I really hope the carriers won't impose activation fees. They will surely try to do it in some way, whether it backfires and causes them to reverse, will remain to be seen.
 

AndrewR23

Contributor
Jun 24, 2010
4,551
1,725
What about my case? Im ordering a 14 Pro replace my current ATT 13 Pro.

Also ordering 14 Plus bc I cant decide. That one is connect to any carrier. So when I get both phones, the 14 Pro will be active on my ATT account but the Plus wont. If I decide to keep the plus, how do I get the ESIM transferred?
 

noekozz

macrumors 6502a
Jun 29, 2010
620
1,038
212/201
Well if it helps anyone, I currently have an 12 Pro Max and converted my phone from sim to e-sim through the settings in anticipation of the release. Literally took 2 minutes. Once I upgrade, the transition should be seamless.
 

MTShipp

macrumors 6502a
Mar 25, 2009
863
229
Raleigh, North Carolina
Moving my unlocked account to 14 Pro Max so being “forced” to eSIM. In preparation I converted last night using the built in convert to eSIM function on my current iPhone. It was simple and took less than 5 minutes to activate. I hope when the 14 arrives I can easily switch over to the 14 without a lot of hassle.
 
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sjperformance

macrumors 68000
Oct 7, 2013
1,994
2,147
Miami 305
I started using esim last year with a launch day 13PM. AT&T here. Didn't even notice it. Wasn't a big deal like they making it now.
 

Jackbequickly

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Aug 6, 2022
2,658
2,709
Moving my unlocked account to 14 Pro Max so being “forced” to eSIM. In preparation I converted last night using the built in convert to eSIM function on my current iPhone. It was simple and took less than 5 minutes to activate. I hope when the 14 arrives I can easily switch over to the 14 without a lot of hassle.
Update to Q7 and you should be fine. From what I understand you did not need to convert as in the data transfer from your 13 to the 14 would move you from the physical sim to the eSIM.
 

tivoboy

macrumors 68040
May 15, 2005
3,999
804
I know this is an old thread, but can anyone give any insight into the best time in the data transfer process to migrate from an older physical SIM to eSIM on a newer iphone 14? I’m moving from a physical ATT SIM in an iPhone 8 Plus, that card probably started in an iphone 6s.. everything works fine, but I’m just a tad concerned when trying to migrate to a newer iphone 14 with it.

Does the migrate number SIM come up at the beginning of the data transfer process, or after all the data is migrated? I know I can select (don’t transfer number now) and then do it after all data is migrated to the new device, is this possibly better for SIM migration?

Thx for the response

UPDATE: Belay my last.

What I did was migrate all settings from the ‘old’ iPhone 8 plus to the new 14 plus device… NOT transferring the SIM just yet.

Once everything was fully converted over, any and all ios updates completed, I did the SIM to eSIM transfer between devices. Even though this SIM is probably from an original iPhone 6s (most likely the last time I bought an ATT phone, with sim, etc) the built in conversion process SEEMS to at least have gone just fine, took about TWO minutes and calls and data seem to work just fine. So, no crisis necessary.
 
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