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ImAnAgent

Suspended
Oct 11, 2018
273
213
My mind
Wow, such convoluted mess. Why do we want this instead of simply putting a physical SIM inside a phone?

I fail to see the logic of eSIM. Unless Apple becomes the provider hosting all the carrier options so user can directly choose carriers via Apple, I don’t see the point of eSIM.
I've had a lot of bad luck getting prepaid eSims to work on T-Mobile. Last week, I lost a prepaid account when I restored my XS Max. Upon restoring my backup, the prepaid account was nowhere to be found. T-Mobile prepaid support could not get the account added back onto my iPhone so I gave up on that account. I was never given the option to keep the eSim account before I restored.

Today, I signed up for another account to replace the one above and the XS Max never got provisioned for the account and I could never setup the account online either since the eSim was not activated. T-Mobile support over the phone was worthless and T-Force on Twitter could not get the system to accept the EID. Gave up on that account and they credited the funds I was charged to my postpaid account immediately.

The prepaid phone support lady kept asking me to open the phone and remove the eSim so I could give her the number on it. I just hung up on her.

Setup a third account shortly after and this one was successful.
 

ImAnAgent

Suspended
Oct 11, 2018
273
213
My mind
Hahaha! You must not get out much...
I've pretty much done the same thing as the person you quoted. T-Mobile has gotten so congested here in Denver that I barely get 1.5Mbps at my job now. I've gotten an AT&T account to use while I am at my job as well as an Xfinity Mobile account.

Xfinity Mobile (Verizon) has much better coverage and speeds then T-Mobile and AT&T in my area. I don't seem to have any congestion on AT&T and Xfinity Mobile and my speeds have topped out at 211Mbps on XfInity Mobile.

Once I pay off my iPhones on AT&T, I may very well just switch to Xfinity, it's that good.
 

George Knighton

macrumors 65816
Oct 13, 2010
1,391
346
Hahaha! You must not get out much...
LOL.... Are you talking about coverage or data speed, or both?

For practical purposes, for me, where I normally live, travel and work, there's little difference between T-Mobile and Verizon coverage, although in many parts of this same area Verizon's data speeds can be much faster no matter the time of day.

I've pretty much done the same thing as the person you quoted.
I think he was making fun of me for not believing that there was a huge difference between T-Mobile and Verizon.

:)
 

DeanL

macrumors 65816
May 29, 2014
1,297
1,237
London
I've had a lot of bad luck getting prepaid eSims to work on T-Mobile. Last week, I lost a prepaid account when I restored my XS Max. Upon restoring my backup, the prepaid account was nowhere to be found. T-Mobile prepaid support could not get the account added back onto my iPhone so I gave up on that account. I was never given the option to keep the eSim account before I restored.

Today, I signed up for another account to replace the one above and the XS Max never got provisioned for the account and I could never setup the account online either since the eSim was not activated. T-Mobile support over the phone was worthless and T-Force on Twitter could not get the system to accept the EID. Gave up on that account and they credited the funds I was charged to my postpaid account immediately.

The prepaid phone support lady kept asking me to open the phone and remove the eSim so I could give her the number on it. I just hung up on her.

Setup a third account shortly after and this one was successful.

That is extremely weird.
Restores with iTunes never erase eSIMs, and via the iPhone settings it explicitly asks whether or not you want to keep the eSIM...
[doublepost=1552109840][/doublepost]
USA:

AT&T Postpaid

- Keep blue eSIM card - can be reinstalled after phone wipe or phone swap

That’s incorrect. After 1-2 days, the QR code can’t be used to reprovision the phone. It will give an error message.
Also it can’t be used for phone swap. Once you activate it on a phone, it can only be reinstalled on that same phone for 1-2 days after which it expires but once never on another phone.
Source: I tested it multiple times .
 
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catean

Suspended
Jun 16, 2013
531
555
London, UK
Orange has launched eSIM in Romania, this Wednesday, 27 March 2019. At the moment only for iPhones, we are still waiting for Apple Watch cellular support.
 
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coldwaves

macrumors 6502
May 30, 2011
414
203
When I was looking for a data plan for international travel, I came across a data service provider called RedteaGO. Its website is esim.plus. For most destinations it offers 1GB data for 30 days in eSim. The price is slightly cheaper than GigSky and Truephone. Has anyone had any experience with them?
 

catean

Suspended
Jun 16, 2013
531
555
London, UK
Guys, do you have any idea why apple does not allow us to have 2 eSIM profile active? This seems like a software limitation not a hardware one.
 

RvXtm

macrumors regular
Jul 11, 2011
137
81
Timisoara, Romania
Orange has launched eSIM in Romania, this Wednesday, 27 March 2019. At the moment only for iPhones, we are still waiting for Apple Watch cellular support.

We also need the cellular apple watch models. The ones sold in Romania are all non-cellular. Unless you get it from the black market.
 

catean

Suspended
Jun 16, 2013
531
555
London, UK
We also need the cellular apple watch models. The ones sold in Romania are all non-cellular. Unless you get it from the black market.
Orange are bringing the cellular AW from 12th of April in Poland, so probably we are next. Summer time, at the same time as Apple Pay would be great.
 

TheMadBrewer

macrumors regular
Feb 11, 2008
206
44
Marina del Rey, CA
Yes

Yea, it works as advertised. I tested Truphone, Gigsky and Ubigi, and they all connected to 4G network and delivered reasonable download/upload speeds.

Thanks. I'm going to give one a try on next month's trip to Berlin and Prague. Gigsky is probably out as their plans are shorter than my trip, down to Truphone or Ubigi.
 

tabilo

macrumors member
Mar 15, 2012
37
80
Thanks. I'm going to give one a try on next month's trip to Berlin and Prague. Gigsky is probably out as their plans are shorter than my trip, down to Truphone or Ubigi.

If you are not bound to an eSIM, get yourself a local physical SIM card (e.g. AldiTalk) or if you really need an eSIM Deutsche Telekom (be aware, as of writing this, you won't get 3G/4G in the Berlin subway with this card)
Ubigi is only supporting 3G in Germany, which both supported providers are actively replacing with 4G (especially in Berlin, you will not be happy with a 3G only SIM). All local SIM cards are without roaming charges in the EU.

More infos:
https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/Germany
 
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TheMadBrewer

macrumors regular
Feb 11, 2008
206
44
Marina del Rey, CA
If you are not bound to an eSIM, get yourself a local physical SIM card (e.g. AldiTalk) or if you really need an eSIM Deutsche Telekom (be aware, as of writing this, you won't get 3G/4G in the Berlin subway with this card)
Ubigi is only supporting 3G in Germany, which both supported providers are actively replacing with 4G (especially in Berlin, you will not be happy with a 3G only SIM). All local SIM cards are without roaming charges in the EU.

More infos:
https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/Germany

I actually have a couple of prepaid EU SIM cards (Vodafone NL, Fonic DE) but I need to also have my US number. Originally I hoped to move my T-Mobile postpaid to the eSIM and a put local SIM in the physical slot but it looks like T-Mobile has bailed on postpaid eSIM (yes, I know you can call and sometimes they will do it but "unsupported.") So rather than carry an extra phone I will try one of these data only eSIM plans. Since there is no commitment I can drop them if TMO ever comes around.
 

cere

macrumors 6502
Jun 3, 2008
465
52
Looks like they are back (at least for a while) -- I was able to sign up with Ubigi...
Did you notice if they let you pick the start date for the service? Ubigi has a 30% off data plans for the next couple days and they are much cheaper than GigSky or Truphone. But I’m not travelling to Europe for another month so I’m wondering if I can signup for a plan now but have it start mid June.
 

TheMadBrewer

macrumors regular
Feb 11, 2008
206
44
Marina del Rey, CA
Did you notice if they let you pick the start date for the service? Ubigi has a 30% off data plans for the next couple days and they are much cheaper than GigSky or Truphone. But I’m not travelling to Europe for another month so I’m wondering if I can signup for a plan now but have it start mid June.

I don't think they let you pick a start date. I bought a 30 day plan a week before my trip starts but I'm only over there for 16 days so it will work for me. But I have to admit I wasn't looking for that so I may have missed a link -- don't think I did but I could have.
 
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