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Using eSIMs with devices that only have a physical SIM slot via a 9eSIM SIM car

neilzone.co.uk

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Re: Using eSIMs with devices that only have a physical SIM slot via a 9eSIM SIM car

#81

Post by prmoustache »

gruez wrote: post #26
nico wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The service is called Holafly, it was advertised on the plane, and my travel mate bought it without hesitating (because of the convenience of an eSIM, even though they didn’t get a local number)

>it was advertised on the plane That's basically guaranteed to be overpriced. Anything prominently advertised means you're going to be paying for the advertising budget. Also, it's "unlimited data", which probably makes it more expensive than it needs to be due to adverse selection. For instance it charges $50 for 15 days in europe, but on esimdb[1] you can easily find esims for just over $1/gb. It might still be wor…

I don't know about europe but 40 to 80usd for 15GB for 30 days in Mexico is completely crazy when you can get a physical telcel sim card with 25GB and unlimited data for whatsapp and all major social medias, which means you can easily go for the smaller 10GB (15usd) or 7GB (10usd) choice if the most you will transfer is on social medias and whatsapp.

https://esimdb.com/mexico

Re: Using eSIMs with devices that only have a physical SIM slot via a 9eSIM SIM car

#82

Post by 05 »

lxgr wrote: post #66
hintymad wrote: post #61

I wonder if there's a reversed solution: using physical SIM card on devices that have only eSIMs. The use case: recent fewer versions of iPhone support only eSIMs, yet we will need a physical sim when traveling in China (yes yes, one could use roaming. It's just that with a China phone number, one can do more).

It apparently can be done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twFC0A_m0KI Supposedly the people doing this at scale (for grey imports?) even de-solder the eSIM module and resell it, but I have my doubts about that part of the story.

Sure you can do it if there’s a module to desolder, but many phones will just use TrustZone/Secure Enclave and you’re not desoldering that…

Re: Using eSIMs with devices that only have a physical SIM slot via a 9eSIM SIM car

#83

Post by rendaw »

hintymad wrote: post #61

I wonder if there's a reversed solution: using physical SIM card on devices that have only eSIMs. The use case: recent fewer versions of iPhone support only eSIMs, yet we will need a physical sim when traveling in China (yes yes, one could use roaming. It's just that with a China phone number, one can do more).

Why do you need a physical sim in China? Are there just no esim providers? Or is it something deeper?

Re: Using eSIMs with devices that only have a physical SIM slot via a 9eSIM SIM car

#84

Post by lxgr »

aimazon wrote: post #53
ewuhic wrote: post #30

I always wondered - can you have no roaming if you use eSIM with wifi calling and an exit node in country where eSIM is issued? So, basically: - you bought eSIM in Germany - you are currently in US - you use tailscale with exit node at your apartment in Germany - voila, no roaming when you call German mobile lines Right? [EDIT FOR ADDITIONAL QUESTION] If I have troubles receiving SMSs from Germany to German number wh…

> If I have troubles receiving SMSs from Germany to German number while in US, would wifi calling icrease the chances of receiving the said SMSs? I'm not up to date on the state of messaging infrastructure but it used to be the case that some providers would offer non-standard methods for sending messages over their network to intermediary providers. Rather than sending an SMS to a number, a business would ask the in…

The non-standard method is to get the SMS to a delivering SMSC (which is the same network component that's used for mobile originated SMS delivery, which is standardized).

Once it's enqueued in an SMSC, there is no more distinction between how it got there, as far as I understand (at least downstream from there; delivery reports to the sender might again be proprietary for non-mobile senders).

> The non-standard methods work fine if you're connected to the network directly but if you're overseas that will not be the case and so you can't receive these non-standard messages.

This is actually not particular to the way in which SMS have been enqueued, but rather to how they're delivered: The sending SMSC has to "dial" pretty deep into both the recipient's home and visited network in the original implementation. This means that they need a commercial agreement and technical integration with both of them.

Usually, problems/inconsistencies occur when they do know how to deliver to the recipient number's home network (because if they can't, they'd probably have rejected the message at SMSC submission time), but are then redirected to a given visited network with which they don't have interconnectivity.

This problem (and some others, including serious privacy concerns) is solved by a newer technology called "SMS home routing". In that model, there's something like a proxy in the recipient's home network that essentially poses as the receiving phone to the sending SMSC, and then uses the home network's resources to do actual delivery. This usually leads to more consistent experiences, and allows things like a "received message log". (Without a home router, the recipient's home network never sees the message content when the recipient is roaming!)

Re: Using eSIMs with devices that only have a physical SIM slot via a 9eSIM SIM car

#86

Post by jtokoph »

rendaw wrote: post #83
hintymad wrote: post #61

I wonder if there's a reversed solution: using physical SIM card on devices that have only eSIMs. The use case: recent fewer versions of iPhone support only eSIMs, yet we will need a physical sim when traveling in China (yes yes, one could use roaming. It's just that with a China phone number, one can do more).

Why do you need a physical sim in China? Are there just no esim providers? Or is it something deeper?

Apparently there aren't any eSIMs in China that include a phone number. I'm not sure why.

I think this is why Apple releases the latest iPhones with physical SIM trays in China while the latest iPhones in North America are eSIM only

Re: Using eSIMs with devices that only have a physical SIM slot via a 9eSIM SIM car

#87

Post by lxgr »

wkat4242 wrote: post #45

Hmm that's kinda nice. I don't like eSIMs because the provider often imposes arbitrary constraints. Either needing their data-stealing app, only allowing so many changes per month, only allowing 'certified' handsets, having 2FA bullshit etc. I just want to swap my number into different phones like I can with a physical card, without anyone else's involvement or approval. If I could just grab an esim and download it o…

What country is this, if you mind sharing? I've never encountered any of these problems. I've received almost all my eSIMs as a QR code, and the ones that did offer app-based installation (which is convenient if it works, but ultimately not more than that) have a QR code for fallback.

> only allowing so many changes per month

That I have actually encountered. I've seen one (fortunately only when traveling) that actually charges a "SIM fee" for each new eSIM profile installed, and they don't allow reinstalls of my initial one...

Charging for a new eSIM is dubious even if a profile is reinstallable, but it's less of an issue for me, as I'd only have to do that if I lose a phone, or it fails to a point where I can no longer remove the installed eSIMs so that I can redownload them on another one.

Re: Using eSIMs with devices that only have a physical SIM slot via a 9eSIM SIM car

#88

Post by fullspectrumdev »

sunaookami wrote: post #33

Haha what a coincidence, I bought a 9eSIM adapter a few weeks ago! There is a new eSIM-only card in Germany where you get 3 GB of data plus unlimited SMS and calls per month for free. To order it I had to use Frida and the Android emulator to fool the app into thinking the device had an eSIM. After that you have to do some JavaScript shenanigans on the website to get the QR code. But after that, everything works flaw…

How much registration is required? I can see this being useful for some things :)

Re: Using eSIMs with devices that only have a physical SIM slot via a 9eSIM SIM car

#89

Post by __m »

rendaw wrote: post #83
hintymad wrote: post #61

I wonder if there's a reversed solution: using physical SIM card on devices that have only eSIMs. The use case: recent fewer versions of iPhone support only eSIMs, yet we will need a physical sim when traveling in China (yes yes, one could use roaming. It's just that with a China phone number, one can do more).

Why do you need a physical sim in China? Are there just no esim providers? Or is it something deeper?

I only know eSIM providers for data

Re: Using eSIMs with devices that only have a physical SIM slot via a 9eSIM SIM car

#90

Post by lxgr »

gruez wrote: post #40
TheJoeMan wrote: post #37

Is there any effort towards enabling increased privacy against tracking by "rotating" eSIMs amongst a group of individuals? The article mentions capacity for 50 profiles, what would be the legal and/or implementation effects of such a Local-Profile-Agent?

You can't transfer eSIMs between devices. iPhones support "transfers" but in reality it involves the carrier reissuing it. You'd have to transfer the physical device, which is going to be a pain.

That's not quite true: Some eSIM profiles can be reinstalled, sometimes only on the same device, sometimes only on a limited number of devices or a limited number of times, but sometimes they're really as versatile as the physical SIMs they're replacing.

It's ultimately up to the provider which model they choose, but I really like the ones that allow both reuse of an existing profile and make it easy and free to provision a new one if required (e.g. due to a lost or broken device).

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