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eSIMs are fantastic! Except that they just make me even more irate with various service providers that don't work with them, or don't work with the VOIP number that I use when using data-only SIMs. Seriously, my Airbnb account has been broken for TWO MONTHS because Airbnb: 1. Uses SMS (only) for 2FA. For a fucking international travel company. 2. They don't support VOIP numbers for SMS 2FA. An issue I reported to the…
In an age where phone authentication is still absolutely critical (banking and all sorts of online services still rely on texting you six-digit codes instead of relying on TOTP air stronger non-phone-number-dependent methods), being without my phone number for a day or more when I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere is completely untenable.
Also, eSIM implementations range from ultra-smooth to hilariously bad. There are still providers (I’m looking at you, Vodafone Portugal) that absolutely require you to buy, unwrap and scan a physical piece of paper with a QR code printed on it, like an animal, _because they actually keep inventory_ of those printed pieces of paper.
Yes, it’s as if the Industrial Revolution was still getting started at telcos.
Anyway, the above is why I will always get devices with physical SIM slots for as long as I possibly can—-and when I can’t, I will likely incur the expense of getting a secondary phone where I can reactivate my critical numbers myself without visiting a store.
They’re great for IoT devices and Internet access, but a liability if you still require receiving texts at a given number for anything important as if your phone dies, you’re SOL—-and nobody in the industry cares about that, or about ensuring travelers can re-activate eSIMs in foreign countries where their provider simply doesn’t exist.
Found it to be a really unpleasant experience using Airalo in Europe on an iPhone. Maybe user error, but everyone in our group had confusing issues. Lots of problems with the phone forgetting the home number meant it was hard to get messages with iMessage, and no SMS caused a big mess with local businesses and with 2 factor/fraud detection. No phone number was also an issue a few times. I don’t know what we did wrong…
This is on you for relying on SMS. Switch to a proper 2FA app or at least to Google Voice.
The only hindrance I’ve seen is that to get an eSIM in the first place, an SMS has to be sent from the phone even though the eSIM activation QR code is sent over email (and the registration of an email address is also possible online). In some cases, like switching from one type of plan to another (postpaid to prepaid), this would require getting a physical SIM card (that’s the default for any connection), using it from a phone that has a physical SIM slot and then using that for the SMS.
eSIM is amazing for purchasing roaming internet while traveling. There is a eSIM aggregator that I can recommend: https://esimdb.com/
As someone who has worked in the telco industry for over 30 years now, I like eSIMs as a _secondary_ method of using services but avoid them as much as possible for any of my critical numbers — simply because I want to be able to move my SIM to another phone in an emergency without needing to visit a store. In an age where phone authentication is still absolutely critical (banking and all sorts of online services sti…