this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2024
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(page 3) 19 comments
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[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Okay, now do it when the phone is broken.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (13 children)

How do these eSIMs work from a user's perspective? I've only ever had phones with physical sim slots

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

@AdmiralShat @FragmentedChicken phones that support esims have actual sim chips inside, and esims basically flash the carrier data onto that chip.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (12 children)

Yeah same, I want to know how you move phones if one breaks, or any number of similar situations where you can't run an app or access another device

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They're functionally the same as normal SIM, instead it is stored in a secure location of the storage (which can survive factory reset). In a way, it makes it a bit more secure as a thief can't just yank out the SIM card to avoid being tracked (although it doesn't defeat a faraday bag) or take it out to use it in another phone.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The major function of a normal SIM is the ability to take it out of one device and put it into another one, effectively disconnecting my identity towards the network provider, from the handset. With eSIM, that doesn't exist, and if my phone breaks, it's unclear what happens.

To me, that's not secure, that's unsafe and insecure.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Effectively, imagine there's a SIM card soldered to the motherboard of the phone, you can then download an eSIM to it and the phone behaves as if it's a physical SIM.

In reality it's generally built into the modem and I believe they can typically hold multiple eSIMs. What I'm not clear on is if inactive eSIMs actually live in the hardware eSIM or if they get swapped in by the OS

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The same way Verizon phones used to work: less well.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Until this article I thought you could swap eSIMs between phones, exactly like normal ones

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (5 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What if I need to change the SIM?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You get a QR code for the new sim, go into the eSIM manager on the phone, and scan it

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (23 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 115 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I don't understand how this wasn't more of a priority to begin with. If you're going to offer a digital solution for something it should at least be as convenient as the existing physical solution.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Hah. To swap eSIM on O2 in the UK, you have to order a physical pack that gets posted to you with the QR code in. There is no way to get the code to appear on a screen you can scan with your camera, or in an app on the phone you can transfer to the phone's eSIM manager. It's so dumb.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

but some carriers don't

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Nice. That is always the most tedious and annoying part of switching phones every single time for me.

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