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Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

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Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#521
post #520
post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s down to your network. I was able to buy an e-sim over the internet in a few minutes from Vodafone UK, while not even being in the UK, and set it up by scanning a QR code that got emailed to me. Your problem isn’t the e-sim, it’s a shitty network.

> buy an e-sim I wasn't trying to buy a new number, I was trying to transfer an existing one. It doesn't surprise me that they make it as easy as possible to get a new one.

Either way, it's the behaviour of a crappy network rather than an issue with e-sims as a technology.

Not that that's unusual, most of the networks are crappy - vodafone was the only UK network I could find that didn't require you to go to one of their stores to get the QR code. Artificial barriers are erected at every turn.

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#522
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this battle is long over and done with, but the Ethernet jack is not that big. A Thinkpad T470s/T480s has it and it is plenty thin. There are even some laptops with a collapsible RJ-45 port which allows it to be even thinner. A USB port is also not that thick yet it has been dropped on many recent laptops, although a Thinkpad X1 Carbon shows it is possible to have USB, HDMI etc on a 2lb / 1kg machine.

The T480 is 30% thicker than the new Macbook pros. I just got the 14" macbook pro and personally I think it's already a bit beefy.

I mentioned the T480s. The T480 is much more user-serviceable than a Macbook Pro, with upgradeable RAM, SSD, Battery etc, and much cheaper, so not a valid comparison.

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The T480 is 30% thicker than the new Macbook pros. I just got the 14" macbook pro and personally I think it's already a bit beefy.

A serious question: what is the advantage of thinness for you, personally? I have several laptops and I'm on the move all the time. The only disadvantage of thicker ones for me is weight - but it's negligible, even when I'm cycling and my laptop is in my backpack (or, sometimes, laptop bag). Weight aside, the thinness itself has zero advantage for me. I'd much rather have all the functionality removed at the cost of…

Some fans value what their preferred brand tells them to value.

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#524
post #66

I am very worried about this. While I love (and sometimes use) eSIMs, the physical SIM has a huge advantage in that it gives me freedom. It's the revolution that GSM brought: just take your SIM and move it to a different phone. No permission required. Arguably we've become slaves to ecosystems of either Apple or Google at this point, as pretty much nobody uses a phone as "just a phone", you need to have an account wi…

> It's the revolution that GSM brought: just take your SIM and move it to a different phone. No permission required. This is not really true: 1. SIM-lock is a thing, where providers prevent you from using the phone with another SIM (because they sold you the phone below cost and you're paying it back through your subscription cost) 2. IMEI lock is a thing too, unfortunately. The situation might be different now but i…

Is that the fault of GSM the standard, though, or the anti-consumer carriers?

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point was that the payment was contactless. You don't have to give any paper or anything to another person. It's handled by Apple Pay using whatever payment method you want and the vendor/provider never gets your info.

My point was that paper letter was wireless too. Wireless, same as contactless, is a name we use for particular technology. I totally agree that it could have been Apple Pay, Paypal Pay or whatever else Bingus Pay, but it definitely was not contactless, because there was no NFC radio communication involved.

And my point was that "contactless" has more than one definition depending on context. I'm not going to respond anymore as I've been warned about arguing semantics on here.

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is the price. Any international eSim plan is many times more expensive per GB than a local sim card. Especially if you need a lot of GBs.

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the country/region. And as I said, sometimes you can't even buy SIMs as a foreigner anyway due to legal restrictions. Plus, in reality who needs "lots of GBs" these days when travelling ? You need "enough" GBs to tide you over between WiFi hotspots which, let's face it, in 2021 are everywhere and free in many places (hotels, conference venues, offices, shopping centres, coffee shops etc.)…

I've been to many many countries, not once I was not able to buy a prepaid sim card as a tourist. Wish you luck in your marketing campaign.

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point was that paper letter was wireless too. Wireless, same as contactless, is a name we use for particular technology. I totally agree that it could have been Apple Pay, Paypal Pay or whatever else Bingus Pay, but it definitely was not contactless, because there was no NFC radio communication involved.

And my point was that "contactless" has more than one definition depending on context. I'm not going to respond anymore as I've been warned about arguing semantics on here.

You've completely ignored my argument that it was wireless too.

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#528
post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Instead, you have to repeat the whole process and get a new QR code from the carrier Utter nonsense. There's no technical requirement to get a new QR code, this is up to the carrier. Why are there so many people spreading straight up lies in this thread?

Exactly. I did not wanted to respond anymore, as the downvotes discouraged me to continue the discussion. I believe the “they are taking our freedoms!” do gather more attention. When I wanted to move to a new phone, I simply deleted the data profile from my old phone and scanned the QR code on the new one, as the provider suggested. It just worked.

This assumes the provider wants to be nice and make it that way - yours does in this case. eSIM however gives them the option to make the QR codes single-use and require payment or additional verification before giving out another one.

Some commenters here are correctly saying that the carrier could technically prevent physical SIMs from being moved between phones by restricting which IMEIs are connecting to the network, but that's not usually done and there's an established convention that SIM cards can be moved around. eSIM gives them a blank slate to start over and break that convention without much backlash.

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the country/region. And as I said, sometimes you can't even buy SIMs as a foreigner anyway due to legal restrictions. Plus, in reality who needs "lots of GBs" these days when travelling ? You need "enough" GBs to tide you over between WiFi hotspots which, let's face it, in 2021 are everywhere and free in many places (hotels, conference venues, offices, shopping centres, coffee shops etc.)…

I've been to many many countries, not once I was not able to buy a prepaid sim card as a tourist. Wish you luck in your marketing campaign.

What marketing campaign ?

You cannot accuse me of being a shill because I named multiple eSIM providers (alongside an "etc." suffix at the end of the list) so you have no right whatsoever to accuse me of marketing for any specific eSIM provider.

(I do not work for an eSIM provider either).

So please stop your trolling.

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#530
post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Traveling is one of them Plenty of countries don't allow no-locals to buy a sim or don't allow them to by a "good" sim so you get a local to buy a sim and then they give you the sim. Not going to work for eSim. I also used to keep an extra sim for friends visiting. Can't do that with an eSim

airalo sells eSIMs for most countries in the world, no locals needed. It also sells one for my country, so my friends visiting can buy it from them, so I don't need to keep an extra SIM.

Just checked and exactly as I specified above, those prices are shit. 10x local prices. $30 for 3meg vis a local sim, $15 for unlimited.

So, no, airalo is not an example of why eSims are good

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