Nice to see another feature getting removed to make phones slimmer which is necessary because of uhh… 'Cuz the uh… You know that thing that uh…
Article: I switched to eSIM in 2025, and I am full of regret
Submitted 2 weeks ago by OldQWERTYbastard@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/i-switched-to-esim-in-2025-and-i-am-full-of-regret/
Comments
ArfArfWoof@europe.pub 2 weeks ago
PostaL@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
ArfArfWoof@europe.pub 2 weeks ago
Yeah but how do make money? Is the few cents saved per unit worth it? Like I know that saving 1€ over a million units is 1M€ saved but still.
iopq@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
eSIM just makes more sense. Why do you need a card just to store some random bits of data when your phone can store hundreds of gigabytes of data?
sunbeam60@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
In a world of corporate control over everything, I’ll take my globally defined, physical interface standard thank you.
Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Phone companies lost touch with what we actually want over a decade ago.
Seriously, does anyone know a single person that’s excited about getting a new phone when they just bought one a year or two earlier (assuming it’s not broken or cracked)?
jaybone@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Because we have to force “features” that no one asked for.
ArfArfWoof@europe.pub 2 weeks ago
Right but you gotta make money somehow. The 3,5mm jack was removed to sell wireless headphones. The SD card slot is gone to force you to buy a phone with more soldered storage. Why this? Can’t be data collection, they have it all already.
Strider@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It’s consumer demand!
ArfArfWoof@europe.pub 2 weeks ago
Shareholder demand
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
make phones slimmer which is necessary because of uhh
to lower manufacturing costs
Bleys@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
For me the main benefit of eSIMs is they allow multiple numbers on a single phone which is super handy.
Reading the article though, and I think the described problem is entirely the fault of the carrier and not the design of eSIMs. The carrier should have allowed alternative verification methods (email, online account, in-person at store) other than just sending a text to the disabled number.
mirshafie@europe.pub 2 weeks ago
There’s also a thing called dual sim. Which is standard in the Asian market and used to be common in Europe.
ranzispa@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
Still using dual SIM in Europe. While EU policies made it so that you can use a European number throughout Europe with basically no real added costs, country specific numbers are still required for a bunch of bureaucracy
ICastFist@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
Was also quite common in Brazil, dunno how new phones are handling it
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
what if i want triple SIM?
fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Wanted one of those so bad, but couldn’t find ones with US bands support at the time
AbidanYre@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It’s like everyone forgot what a pain in the ass it used to be when Verizon was cdma and didn’t use sim cards.
mjr@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
Or much of the world never had a similar malfunctioning telco.
BootLoop@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
I don’t have Verizon in my country. Not sure who this ‘everyone’ is and what they’re forgetting.
Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club 2 weeks ago
When a mobile carrier needs to verify your identity for an account change, they all do the same thing: send a text message. And what happens if you don’t have a working SIM? That’s right—nothing. Without access to my account or phone number, I was stuck with no way to download a new eSIM. The only course of action was to go to a physical store to download an electronic SIM card. What should have been 30 seconds of fiddling with a piece of plastic turned into an hour standing around a retail storefront.
73QjabParc34Vebq@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
And for people that don’t want proprietary carrier apps on there phone? Don’t have WiFi, so you can’t download the virtual sim? On a OS that isn’t Google or Apple?
frongt@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
You don’t need a carrier app. The phone OS asks the carrier network for activation and pulls the esim. I’ve done this several times in lineageos and grapheneos.
kalleboo@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The screen died on my wife’s iPhone, fine I have other spare iPhones aplenty she can switch to. But she had switched to eSIM so we couldn’t just move a physical SIM over, you had to go through the “transfer eSIM” menus, which we couldn’t do because the screen was dead. The only option the carrier gave us was going to a physical store.
I’m never switching to eSIM, what a PITA for absolutely no upside.
3abas@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Your carrier is the problem. I just login to my carrier’s app on the new phone and boom new esim.
wondrous_strange@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
What a sane person would want to install a shitty carrier app just for that? There should be a way to do it via their web ui in the least
kalleboo@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
That’s not a solution. There is no other carrier that has the coverage I need.
The problem with eSIM as a concept is that it puts too much responsibility on the carrier, and there are way too many shitty carriers out there, and with the cost of building a network and the limited amount of spectrum, mobile carriers are not a functioning free market.
innermachine@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
So I have Xfinity and your supposed to be able to do this via web. I was riding my dual sport deep in the woods and lost my phone. Tried my damn way to activate an s21+ I had in a drawer and it kept kicking it back. I go to store and they cannot activate it as it’s “but supported by their network”. They try to sell me a new phone. I’m frustrated and on like day 3 no phone so I said fuck it I’ll buy the cheapest Motorola on the shelf, but inder one condition. I refused to buy the phone or continue my contract unless they would give me a physical sim (they tried pushing the esim HARD). I got home, took the sim out of my Motorola, popped it into my “unsupported phone” and JT worked fucking fine. Esims are just another complication and way to get tech illiterate into the store. As long as I can I will never let go of my physical sim ever again.
exu@feditown.com 2 weeks ago
The worst thing is how a normal SIM now costs 60$ with most providers here
Kirp123@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Really? In Europe you can get one for free from some providers. And the vast majority offer one for under 15 dollars. And if you pay for it, it already comes with some preloaded data and calls so you can start using it right away.
sauerkrautsaul@lemmus.org 2 weeks ago
cell (mobile) service is just way, way more expensive in the states. no justifiable reason, just cause they can and all do.
I pay €8 monthly for unlimited everything except international calls (its my work phone) and I think €20 for the other one.
I was just in the US for christmas and wanted data etc but my phone doesnt support eSim and the cheapest sim only plan was at&t and it was $40, it had a data cap of some kind and required a $15 activation fee. I used a lot of wifi during this trip.
my wife’s phone can do eSim so she had unlimited everything for €25 or something for the ten days I believe, with Holafly.
In a past life I worked at the biggest telecoms company in the states and we’d be encouraged to sell people $89.99 a month and that still had a limit to “minutes”. We also learned that the towers emit radiation 24 hours a day, and modulating said radiation costs the company essentially nothing at all, so the “minutes” thing is just pure profit
Pika@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
In the US the sim itself is usually dirt cheap (like less than a 1$) but it’s difficult to just buy the sim unless you buy it directly through the carrier.
I’m assuming the 60$ price is including their monthly plan, I know a few carriers offer BYOD kits for 50-60$ which include the sim, but those same carriers usually will offer a 3-5$ multi sim kit (a kit with a bunch of different sim card sizes) that is usually only obtainable via shipping so most go for the BYOD kit instead of waiting.
exu@feditown.com 2 weeks ago
My provider (Wingo, Switzerland) wants 40 CHF (~50 USD, I remembered wrong) for a replacement SIM. Not sure about new signups
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Every SIM I have seen is free or close to it, unless you are buying it as part of a bundle where the SIM is usually free and its the stuff bundled with it, like data, that costs money.
jaxxed@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
In the EU, SIMs are often free or less than €5
frongt@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Where is “here” T-Mobile just gave me one for free a few weeks ago. And that was with me bringing an unlocked phone for activation on their network too.
PerhapsSomethingElse@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
gomo.ie 12.99 for life, everything unlimited. Physical or eSIM.
mjr@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
It says €14.99/month for life. And why is eircom now an Irish branch of a Jersey company? Tax dodging?
BilboBargains@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I don’t think a physical SIM is a guarantee that the phone number remains intact. The SIM is a token in the system that links a piece of hardware to a phone number and that link is maintained by the carrier. My phone spontaneously stopped being able to make calls and receive SMS. I went through the usual steps to rectify it but no dice. The carrier had to manually reconnect my number because it had become a victim of their periodic cull of disused numbers. Took quite a few calls over a period days to achieve this. ‘yes I have turned it off and on…’ ad nauseum.
rizlah@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
what’s worse: none of my trusty backup phones support eSIM. so when my eSIM phone dies, i’m pretty much fucked until i buy a new one. :/
Meron35@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
You can buy an eSim adapter online for ~$15 off sites such as AliExpress.
Such adapters are open source, and can support up to holding and swapping between 20 eSim cards, which makes phones with physical sim cards strictly dominate those without them.
mjr@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
You can buy an eSim adapter online for ~$15 off sites such as AliExpress.
And does it share with Chinese intelligence only, or the NSA too? 😉
rizlah@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
i see, TIL.
on the other hand, this doesn’t solve the hassle when my primary phone dies and I’m unable to log in to my carrier’s self care to generate the new eSIM QR code.
unless… it’s somehow possible to do that beforehand – “preload” the new eSIM in the backup phone and activate it only when the main phone dies.
Wigglesworth@retrolemmy.com 2 weeks ago
…why’d you buy it, then?
rizlah@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
i didn’t realize it was eSIM only until i had it at home. and i didn’t think much of it until a few days later.
flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
All of the bad parts of esim are the fault of the carriers in my experience. I’m on a MVNO that created their own method of generating a new esim and moving the number via their website and app and it is painless for the most part.
They only let you do it 4 times a billing cycle though without talking to customer service. Which I suspect is the fault of the upstream carrier somehow.
LiveLM@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Fucking duh.
Carriers fucking suck in every metric possible, you have to be insane to want to give them _even more _ controlwarm@kbin.earth 2 weeks ago
eSIM sounds good on paper, but the implementation is horrible. You should be able to easily back them up. Also I expected to be able to have many many eSIMs rather than be limited to one or two.
DiagonalHorse@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
I’ve actually just had my eSIM decision backfire on me.
I switched months ago and hadn’t had an issue until I got ready to go to an airport last week. I figured I’d be able to switch off the eSIM and switch on Airplane Mode so my phone could essentially be an offline iPod, but when I landed and tried turning it back on it didn’t work. I then found people discussing the same issue on their phones (GrapheneOS + Pixel 7) and really regretted messing with it.
My carrier’s account login hilariously requires an SMS 2FA to the phone number that’s been yeeted from existence and since I’ve been staying with in-laws this Christmas I’m not willing to sit on hold for however many hours to recover my account till I get home.
xthexder@l.sw0.com 2 weeks ago
What prompted you to disable your eSIM? Airplane mode works just fine on its own to temporarily disable the cellular connection, and you can turn Wifi and Bluetooth back on while in airplane mode. There’s also several settings to turn off data roaming if you were worried about accidental extra charges on your phone plan.
DiagonalHorse@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Yeah I just wasn’t thinking clearly be it early morning or lack of coffee or both. I definitely won’t repeat this mistake so its a learning moment now
Flames5123@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
I love eSIM because one day on the bus I was tired of AT&T speeds being shit in my commute, so I decided to switch carriers. By the time I walked home from the bus, I was done releasing my number and setting up my new eSIM to my new carrier and immediately got faster speeds. It just worked.
I completely understand if you’re changing numbers all the time it could be annoying, but it was just a simple activation for me.
horse@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
I think I’d be fine if I had to use eSIM (when I get a new phone every few years, I touch the SIM exactly once to move it to the new phone and then forget it even exists until the next phone).
I still like having a physical SIM though and haven’t converted it, even though I could. I like the idea that, if my phone dies, I can easily switch it into a new phone (even someone else’s). I don’t think I’ve ever done that, at least not since the days of dumb phones with limited/expensive plans, but I like to know I could. The only downside is that I have to enter the SIM PIN if I restart my phone.
aceshigh@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
[deleted]sparky@lemmy.federate.cc 2 weeks ago
Care to share?
COASTER1921@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
This is almost certainly US Mobile. They have some really interesting plans at surprisingly reasonable prices. But ultimately if you just want the cheapest cell service then they’re not the carrier for you.
AA5B@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I don’t blame the technology here but the implementation or the scenario
- the article makes it clear they understand it’s an uncommon scenario to have to switch number so many times
- wtf is the amcarrier doing requiring text 2fa to get a newborn eSIM? Thats just dumb
- Apparently android needs some work?
I have the opposite anecdote: eSIM has been more reliable than physical SIM. It just works on my iPhone. I like never having to goto a physical store. When i got my new phone this fall it transferred the eSIM so smoothly I barely noticed. It just worked.
Meanwhile from previous phones it always seemed about half the time I got a bad SIM and had to goto my providers physical store to get a new one. What a pain!
Deceptichum@quokk.au 2 weeks ago
I’ve had an eSIM for years. Zero issues, quite happy with it.
utopiah@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I don’t use eSIM most of the time but when I travel and I don’t want roaming, damn it’s nice. I just go on Airalo or Saily, pick a destination, pay something like 20 bucks and get the data. I load it up on my phone, travel, land and voila, works right away while I’m still on my way through customs. No WiFi needed, no “quick” trip to a random shop or a large provider that’ll try to upsell whatever. I just land, connect, use my VPN and voila.
Also if your phone doesn’t support eSIM you can use jmp.chat/esim-adapter
Nfamwap@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Absolutely love Airalo. Simple, painless and really good prices for their data plans (in Europe at least)
aloofPenguin@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Used Saily while on vacation. Loved it. Switched on thee same day (where I was going there is a 3 day wait on SIM activation I believe), and the connection was pretty good.
Munkisquisher@lemmy.nz 2 weeks ago
My phone (Xperia 1mk6) doesn’t support esims in the international version. But I have a physical sim I can load esims onto. Best of both worlds.
Kannushi_Link@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
eSIM is really hard to change device in Taiwan due to government rules:
- Can not transfer by yourself, you need to go to carrier to transfer.
- And now (actually start few days ago), you need to show proof of purchase (or gift) of the target device. Carrier can deny if you fail to do so, and they’ll say they’re following government instructions.
- (Not to mention about the cost and other limits)
So physical SIM is more flexible here, just don’t lose it, or you need to go to police station before you can apply a new one.
humanspiral@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
is it possible to back up an esim to a computer file (USB) and then restore it on a new phone?
Natanael@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
Depends on the provider. Many only allow a single use of the provisioning code.
Some providers does however let you create a new one whenever (meant to be used when you replace devices)
AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
This is a problem for somebody reviewing phones, but how much of a problem is it actually for the average user who will change phones once every few years? And will probably be doing so at a phone store where they can support it.
Zoldyck@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I haven’t been to a phone store in 15 years
Wigglesworth@retrolemmy.com 2 weeks ago
points at Lineage boot logo
not you
Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I go to a phone store every time I get a new phone!
checks when my last phone was bought… 2018
I go to a phone store every six or seven years!
djdarren@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Last time I went into a store was 3 years ago, specifically looking for an iPhone 13 mini as an upgrade to my iPhone XR. They didn’t have any in stock, attempted to sell me a few different, more expensive devices, then just told me to try online.
Ended up going with a different provider.
BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
I’m fairness the only time I remember being in a phone store in the last decade was because I got an esim when I got my new phone, phone company didn’t send me a qr code to get the esim and I lost access to my account because I couldn’t receive an SMS because my old physical SIM was disabled.
73QjabParc34Vebq@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
I think it’s just highlighted by someone doing it regularly, it’ll happen the same % of times when someone else does it, maybe more since they don’t know the process.
I also don’t know how many people change phones in a store, I never have, but I’m not average. And even then, maybe a carrier store can help you, but I doubt the generic shop or branded supermarket can offer much support for an issue with a carrier.
stoy@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
It is also a problem for us IT guys, when we need to migrate users from one phone to another it is super annoying to deal with eSIMs
dogdeanafternoon@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
That’s odd, I just swapped phones. Old phone was eSIM, it literally couldn’t have been easier.
CallMeAnAI@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
phutatorius@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Those of us who swap SIMs when travelling are also affected. I travel outside my country several times a year and must say that eSIMs sound like a good idea until you actually deal with them. Spending vacation time debugging an eSIM is an annoying distraction.
AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Can’t your phone store multiple esims? I thought that was actually one of the selling points of the stuff.
iopq@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I buy eSIMs every two months when I travel. I only had issues when I fucked it up by deleting one myself. I’m on eSIM like 20
jellygoose@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
This never happens
BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com 2 weeks ago
I wonder how much of a problem it is when you lost the phone that had your eSIM. If the registration flow requires SMS authentication, how are your supposed to register your eSIM on your brand new phone?
AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
The carrier can bypass that authentication, so basically the same process as if you had lost your physical sim. Show up at the shop in person with id.
shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
My carrier supports TOTP for this.