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Android now lets you transfer eSIMs between your phones
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this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2024
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Android
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How do these eSIMs work from a user's perspective? I've only ever had phones with physical sim slots
Exactly the same as a normal one. It just works and you don't really need to do anything with it. Everything seems the same just no little card in the side of your device.
Until this article I thought you could swap eSIMs between phones, exactly like normal ones
Tbh I think you effectively could, but it would technically be your provider issuing a new one.
For me I just log into my provider's online account screen and I'm able to scan a new QR code
Eh that's not really the same. And reading this thread it seems many providers (including mine) don't support online QR codes.
That's unfortunate, at least in the UK all the (eSIM supporting) providers seem to offer the same capability.
As I've said elsewhere a physical SIM is slightly better in the situation where you smash your phone and buy a new one as you don't need to connect your new phone to the phone shop's WiFi for 5 mins (scanning the QR code is the quick way, you can just type an alphanumeric code in too, some carriers let you download it via an app). On the flip side though, if your phone is stolen, I still just need the WiFi for 5 mins. With a physical SIM, it would be sent to my home address and arrive a couple of days later.
Yah and mine charges for a phone transfer. No thanks I'll keep physical sim as long as in can.
Well frankly, that's pretty shitty of your carrier, IMO. I didn't realise anyone was actually out there charging for what's basically essential functionality.
There's basically nothing technically different about transfering a physical SIM or an eSIM from the network's perspective. The same registration takes place, they have to send all the same carrier service configuration messages.
I don't blame you at all for holding onto a physical SIM in that scenario, but I'd be looking to move to a less customer-hostile carrier once my contract was up.
I just wanted to say how valuable this lesson is for everyone who hasnt learned it yet to learn
This is an equally important lesson to learn for both capitalism and enshitification.
Find or create a need and exploit it
I thought you could too but I use Google Fi and I just log into my Google account on a new device and it lets me deactivate the old phone and download the sim to the new phone.
What if I need to change the SIM?
You get a QR code for the new sim, go into the eSIM manager on the phone, and scan it
I don't want a "new sim", I want my old one, which doesn't exist anymore since it was virtual and only existed in my now broken previous phone. How does it work in that situation?
Call your carrier or go into a store and they move it over. If your phone is broken you’ll kinda be SOL since there’s no way to authenticate the move.
Exactly. What a shitty anti-feature. Your answer proves that the people saying that "eSIMs are functionally the same as normal SIM" are full of absolute shit.
Genuinely asking, what do you gain by transferring the physical Sim?
Not the person you asked but I have a couple of sims by different providers that I swap between phones/sim routers when I need to make calls or use data from that carrier. Popping the sim into an old device and configuring whatever I need is super convenient.
The newest few generations of phones support multiple SIMs.
But I don't necessarily want to use my main phone as a hotspot.
That doesn't have anything to do with what we're talking about.
Keeping my number. Are you saying that I can immediately, online, get my existing number connected to a different handset? If I can't, then that's why I want to transfer the physical SIM.
Now I can't answer for other regions, but with my carrier here in Norway I can sign in to their website and authenticate with the government ID system (bankid) and generate a new esim and get the QR code. Takes about a minute total.
I'm personally more for physical sim cards as swapping it into a new phone or swapping in a traveler datasim etc is just something I prefer to have physically.
That being said, I use esim for my phone number, and then swap in travel sims for data with my physical sim slot, works really well when you travel a lot.
You won't be able to use the bankid when your previous phone is broken, though. That's my point.
I've got a physical code generator as backup like any person worried about their phone breaking should have.
Yes.
Yes, that's exactly how it works
What prevents someone else from doing that at any point, taking over my number? Is the only authentication a simple login to the mobile provider's website?
If SIM swapping is your concern, know that it is just as simple to do with physical SIMs. It's not like your phone number is hardcoded to that one card alone. The phone company can easily move your number around. Literally anything you'd want to do with a physical SIM you can do with an eSIM. Some very niche situations may be easier with a physical one but over all it's a much nicer experience with eSims
No. There is no reason for you to blatantly LIE. It is NOT possible for the consumer to switch to using a borrowed or backup handset, when there is no physical token. How on earth do you think that contradicting actual reality is an argument?
Lol did you even read the article, or title of the article XD you absolutely can switch them between phones. Am I being trolled?
Yes. This whole sub-thread is about when your old phone is broken. You're not being trolled, you didn't read properly.
Yes, it is possible. You use whatever the provider's method is to download an eSIM to that device. Usually it's logging into their app or calling their support to register the IMEI or whatever.
You trust your carrier to not give your number away today, right? Many providers allow a number migration code to be generated from their website, protected by just their authentication.
The fact that carriers have poor security today isn't an argument for discontinuing the part of the system that still allows the consumer to be in control. It's an argument against it.
I'm not actually saying they have poor security, authentication is authentication, you need to be able to trust your carrier regardless of if your SIM is physical or an eSIM. I'm saying the two approaches are essentially equivalent.
You're aware your provider can turn your current SIM into a piece of inert plastic via a migration access code. That's what I just described.
Whether it's physical or software, your carrier has 100% control. You cannot do anything your carrier doesn't want you to with it.
Yes.
Without a SIM?