Gregory's ServerI learned about eSIM cards recently and it's life-changing. I can just... download a SIM card ahead of my trip and activate it when I get to whatever country?? Amazing
[all "you wouldn't download a SIM card" references will get you defenestrated]
 22 comments
 @darius Yeah, it’s pretty magical. Would love it to be more integrated in the OS and not an app for every provide but well @plaetzchen I am lucky that on my google pixel device it is just an OS-level interaction  @darius yes! I changes mobile operators last week and it just involved… scanning a QR code. And throwing the old physical SIM away. And my Apple Watch will get its eSIM soon too, so I can go on jogs lightly packed and still be reachable in case of emergencies !  What do you mean ahead? Yes, eSIMs are convenient, but both times I used one I had to buy it at a carrier store in my destination country. @grishka I purchased one completely online, and added it to my phone OS here in the United States. It activated on arrival when I connected it to a network Darius, I understood that part, but in those two countries where I did use local eSIMs (UAE and Armenia) there was no option to buy an eSIM online. Or maybe I didn't know where to look. There are those "traveler" SIM cards that abuse data roaming (example), these can be bought online, but real local carriers are always cheaper. @grishka I mean if a thing is not available then it will not be useful. I am not sure what we are talking about now. @darius I spent five years as a young journalist in a newsroom of colleagues passionately committed to the task of trying to get the word "defenestrate" into the newspaper. We never succeeded. This was before social media changed our lives. @darius traveling overseas with the family in a bit, and i'll admit to a case of "ooh, that sounds way easier. wait, it can't actually be that much easier, can it?" glad to hear about success stories. Another useful thing about eSIM is that it's the only way many modern phones (especially iPhones and Pixels) can have two SIMs active at the same time. Useful when traveling so you don't have to bring a second phone to put your home SIM into. @grishka @darius i got to be there when my teammates launched this "instant network switching" feature: https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/22/20925802/google-fi-pixel-4-dual-sim-standby-networks-t-mobile-sprint-us-cellular-dynamic-switch   @darius I know someone who used an eSIM for their visit to a country but their home country’s provider still went on roaming, and they had every reason to believe that they could just keep their home country prover’s SIM card in. This is a comment about their home country’s provider, not eSIMs, so YMMV, but watch out for that when visiting the eSIM provider’s country. @darius They are great, but be aware of silly restrictions. For example, Samsung Galaxy devices allow either 1 SIM and 1 eSIM, or 2 SIMs, or 1 eSIM - you can't have two active eSIMs! Problem I have now is that my watch often rings and my phone (on same eSIM, shared number), doesn't...and if I answer on watch it overheats about 5 mins into a call! |
@darius I just wish they'd call it a SIM file. There's no card there anymore!