alternatively, what I’ve done is move my US carrier to an eSIM and then get a super cheap physical SIM in whatever country I’m going to. You can also do dual eSIM these days, so really leaving your primary carrier as an eSIM is the way to go for maximum flexibility
I personally found it easier to grab a travel eSIM via Airalo while out of the country. No need to visit a location to pick one up. Just setup via wifi!
when I went to Japan, I did physical SIM while my gf at the time did eSIM. I had much better latency and it was noticeable. With lots of the eSIMs they actually give all the traffic an extra jump back to wherever their HQ is, so you’ll see 500-800ms latency vs 30-100.
If you’re from the US, you’re probably burnt by your mobile providers. I don’t believe I’ve heard any horror stories about esim in my country and our neighbors (except for the fact that you still have to pay $3-5 to switch to “esim”, as if you are getting something besides a string of numbers)
Here is my use case:
0. I have a device with 1 sim slot
I have my main physical SIM-card with a known number (relatives, work partners etc). I have some data there as well. This is my “daily driver”
I have a separate e-sim with an “unknown” number that I use for sms-verification things for web services. It also has some dirt cheap data (but the coverage is not great).
At least on Pixel phones you can have a physical and e-sim card both active at the same time, and you can choose, for example, “sms and calls default to 1, mobile data default to 2”. There is an option to "switch to another sim for data, if the signal is bad. (There are talks about simultaneously active several e-sims, but it’s not here yet)
Even if you discard a security angle (sms verification should not be a known number - “restore sim” attack is quite common for a targeted action), a lot of people can benefit from “1st physical sim has great calls plan/ coverage, 2nd sim has cheap internet”
The vast majority, probably like 95% plus of phones in the United States are single sim only. You have to specifically look for a dual sin phone here, and it’s still not all that common.
Uhm… Not sure 🤔… If it isn’t I guess it will be similar to Sims you have to login in account or in the worst case go to a shop of your providers and request a new one I guess.
I mean when I requested my e-Sim last time it was by email and just providing the national id number (not from USA), so it was pretty trivial maybe too much 😅. And for travel you just register and pay and you get it, not much validation although usually what I got was data only, no calls.
@skullgiver@ijeff people like eSIM because it allows multiple networks on phones that only have one physical slot; which nowadays, in my experience, is all except some cheap Xiaomis that have a microSD slot that doubles as dual SIM.
On modern phones you don’t even have to switch carriers. You can have multiple lines on a single phone and use them at the same time. Ie I can use one phone to text from my work number and my personal number at the same time. Or if you live/work near a country border you can text/call/data from either line at the same time.
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It’s actually great for traveling. You can buy a travel eSIM from wherever and have it activated right away.
That’s my use case as well.
Just find a carrier you like for the country you’re traveling to, download the eSIM, and you’re ready to go.
All while keeping the physical SIM card of my regular, domestic carrier in the SIM card slot.
This simple issue was a major hassle before eSIM cards existed, and now it’s the easiest, most convenient thing in the world.
alternatively, what I’ve done is move my US carrier to an eSIM and then get a super cheap physical SIM in whatever country I’m going to. You can also do dual eSIM these days, so really leaving your primary carrier as an eSIM is the way to go for maximum flexibility
I personally found it easier to grab a travel eSIM via Airalo while out of the country. No need to visit a location to pick one up. Just setup via wifi!
when I went to Japan, I did physical SIM while my gf at the time did eSIM. I had much better latency and it was noticeable. With lots of the eSIMs they actually give all the traffic an extra jump back to wherever their HQ is, so you’ll see 500-800ms latency vs 30-100.
If you’re from the US, you’re probably burnt by your mobile providers. I don’t believe I’ve heard any horror stories about esim in my country and our neighbors (except for the fact that you still have to pay $3-5 to switch to “esim”, as if you are getting something besides a string of numbers)
Here is my use case: 0. I have a device with 1 sim slot
At least on Pixel phones you can have a physical and e-sim card both active at the same time, and you can choose, for example, “sms and calls default to 1, mobile data default to 2”. There is an option to "switch to another sim for data, if the signal is bad. (There are talks about simultaneously active several e-sims, but it’s not here yet)
Even if you discard a security angle (sms verification should not be a known number - “restore sim” attack is quite common for a targeted action), a lot of people can benefit from “1st physical sim has great calls plan/ coverage, 2nd sim has cheap internet”
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Even the Galaxy S series is single-sim in the US.
The vast majority, probably like 95% plus of phones in the United States are single sim only. You have to specifically look for a dual sin phone here, and it’s still not all that common.
Sims die from time to time and if you travel is nice to be able to switch to country specific sims without having to exchange something physical.
That said not sure what app thing you talk about, mine is a qr you can scan and gets added to the phone and that’s it.
But is the QR reusable? If not, you’ll have to somehow prove your identity or existing number ownership to get a new one.
Uhm… Not sure 🤔… If it isn’t I guess it will be similar to Sims you have to login in account or in the worst case go to a shop of your providers and request a new one I guess. I mean when I requested my e-Sim last time it was by email and just providing the national id number (not from USA), so it was pretty trivial maybe too much 😅. And for travel you just register and pay and you get it, not much validation although usually what I got was data only, no calls.
In my experience, yes. I’ve used the qr to transfer a sim to a new phone as well.
I would love two separate numbers for work vs personal and not have to deal with two separate phones.
@skullgiver @ijeff people like eSIM because it allows multiple networks on phones that only have one physical slot; which nowadays, in my experience, is all except some cheap Xiaomis that have a microSD slot that doubles as dual SIM.
On modern phones you don’t even have to switch carriers. You can have multiple lines on a single phone and use them at the same time. Ie I can use one phone to text from my work number and my personal number at the same time. Or if you live/work near a country border you can text/call/data from either line at the same time.
For me, just one word. Plastic.
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I always have two sim cards (one typically eSIM) active.