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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

#191

Post by ValentineC »

Scoundreller wrote: post #187
laurencerowe wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least if you’re travelling to Europe there are far cheaper offers with local carriers for about €/£ 5 for 20GB/30days valid across the EU and often UK. Lycamobile and Simyo usually have good deals though ended up needing to get a physical SIM in Spain as they require showing ID.

I forget if it was with Lyca or a similar brand, but they would deduct 5 cents for each sms before you setup a plan. I was incredibly careful to not do anything and disabled almost everything but apparently iPhone phones home in a way that’s totally hidden from the user and most providers hide and zero the charge but not these rando brands. Another 5 EUR down to tube because I only had 4,95 for my 5 EUR plan. Dunno w…

> I was incredibly careful to not do anything and disabled almost everything but apparently iPhone phones home in a way that’s totally hidden from the user and most providers hide and zero the charge but not these rando brands.

It's not "totally hidden". You need to be extra careful to cancel the request to add the new SIM number to FaceTime/iMessage when prompted.

The prompt appears every time the phone is restarted though, and whenever the SIM is switched to.

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

#192

Post by jogu »

Reason077 wrote: post #180
polishdude20 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the reason for the mudi device? Why not just use the esim in the iphone and have the iphone in hotspot mode? Just battery life?

A 4G/5G router creates a "real" WiFi network rather than a personal network. Hotspotting is great for 1 or 2 devices, but devices are reluctant to connect to a personal hotspot automatically (Apple devices, at least). You have to manually select/tap the hotspot every time, which gets to be a pain when you have multiple devices and you're using it as your daily, primary internet connection. I might also want to leave…

At least for me personally when I use my iPhone as a hotspot it tends to be one of two cases:

1) Tethering to my laptop when I need to check something for work in a pinch

2) Letting friends use my data if they don't have any or have a limited plan

In both cases, I think it makes sense to not automatically connect every time my phone is near.

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

#193

Post by msh »

doix wrote: post #28
orisho wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may find yourself in that situation if you have a device that only supports SIMs, and you can't use any of the cheap travel esim providers with it. For travel, you would replace your local SIM with the 9eSIM, and be able to switch providers depending on destination. The difference can be huge in some countries, where a local provider's travel plan can be 30 to 50 USD, while a equivalent on an ESIM provider is jus…

In which countries are eSIMs cheaper? I have never encountered this in Africa or in Asia. I was just in Vietnam, a local SIM was probably 50% cheaper than anything I could find on esimdb. Currently I'm in Georgia, unlimited internet for a week is 9 GEL, or around 3ish USD per week. The cheapest on esdimdb is 19 USD for unlimited internet for a week. What we usually do when we travel is buy the cheapest eSIM, usually…

you can buy travel esim packages like arialo, that gives you easy data in a lot of countris.

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

#194

Post by [deleted] »

mbesto wrote: post #140

Tangentially related - I recently got the holy grail of eSIM travel router setup: - GLiNet Mudi v2: https://store.gl-inet.com/products/mudi-v2-portable-4g-lte-r... - EIOT Physical eSim https://store.gl-inet.com/products/esim-experience-seamless-... - 20GB Worldwide Airalo for 365 days ($69): https://www.airalo.com/global-esim/discover-365days-20gb Buy the airalo esim on my iphone. Download the QR code. Upload it to t…

[deleted]

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

#195

Post by neil_neilzone »

Fischgericht wrote: post #94

In case the original author reads this: Depending on what 4G/LTE modem/chip your laptop it is using (it must be based on a Qualcomm SoC which 99% are), there are and I can share documents on how you can do the provisioning directly on the Laptop the SIM card is in. The feature is present in the stock Qualcomm firmware bundle, but vendors like Quectel, Sierra etc may decide if they include the feature or not. I know t…

> In case the original author reads this

He has :)

> there are and I can share documents on how you can do the provisioning directly on the Laptop the SIM card is in.

Yes, please!

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

#196

Post by wkat4242 »

akvadrako wrote: post #139
wkat4242 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was in Holland, one of the MVNOs. They had a crappy app and it would generate a different QR code every time (so they were not reusable). And a lot of operators have restrictions on phones. Imported phones are often blocked (and also not given access to VoLTE). For me it is a big deal if it charges "sim fees". I do swap my sims very regularly. For testing, or to put one in my tablet when I travel. I just want to…

Most eSIMs are not reusable; that's just standard, not a weird restriction.

Ok but then they just aren't usable like a normal SIM. And not a suitable replacement.

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

#197

Post by makingstuffs »

Scoundreller wrote: post #187
laurencerowe wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least if you’re travelling to Europe there are far cheaper offers with local carriers for about €/£ 5 for 20GB/30days valid across the EU and often UK. Lycamobile and Simyo usually have good deals though ended up needing to get a physical SIM in Spain as they require showing ID.

I forget if it was with Lyca or a similar brand, but they would deduct 5 cents for each sms before you setup a plan. I was incredibly careful to not do anything and disabled almost everything but apparently iPhone phones home in a way that’s totally hidden from the user and most providers hide and zero the charge but not these rando brands. Another 5 EUR down to tube because I only had 4,95 for my 5 EUR plan. Dunno w…

I have Lyca as my main line but haven’t noticed this before. They do the whole ‘charge £0.01 to validate the card’ thing but that is instantly reversed and a separate transaction.

Overall their customer service is quite possibly the worst I’ve experienced but the network is good and their prices are fair - £10 a month for 25GB I can use in the EU and India.

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

#198

Post by LaF0rge »

phh wrote: post #126
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…

I'm implementing a fully libre open-source vowifi/volte client for Android that runs in JVM sandbox, rather than untrustable modem. During my development I went through a protocol detail that I was too lazy to implement: you're supposed to announce which is the last 4g cell you saw even when doing Vowifi. I just hardcoded a value and forgot about it. And then, I get a user who tells me that their carrier is saying th…

In case it's of interest, please see https://osmocom.org/projects/foss-ims-client/wiki/VoWiFi_wit... for an existing way how to talk to VoWiFi carriers from entirely free/libre/open-source software. It's basically a hacked-up version of Asterisk that has IMS client support, plus a modified strongswan IPsec client.

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

#199

Post by Mogzol »

stavros wrote: post #154
mfkp wrote: post #124

These have been around for a while. Alternatives: https://esim.5ber.com/ https://esim.me/ https://jmp.chat/esim-adapter

Which one is the best of these? Do they work in every country? I can't tell if the do some internet-connected magic or if they just program the SIM so that it appears like a bog-standard SIM to the phone.

I use an esim.me card in my phone and once you program the card with the esim.me app, it shows up as a normal physical sim card on the phone with whatever plan the esim was for. I believe you can even move it to another device and it will still show up with the same plan, though I haven't tried that.

The only issue I've had with it is that some esim provider apps refuse to work on a phone that doesn't have esim capabilities, and since the phone sees the card as a normal sim card, the apps don't work. I assume that will be an issue for any of these cards. Not a huge issue though, most esim apps/websites will still let you get the QR code or download the profile even if your phone doesn't natively support esim, and you just enter that into the esim.me app to program the card.

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

#200

Post by stavros »

Mogzol wrote: post #199
stavros wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which one is the best of these? Do they work in every country? I can't tell if the do some internet-connected magic or if they just program the SIM so that it appears like a bog-standard SIM to the phone.

I use an esim.me card in my phone and once you program the card with the esim.me app, it shows up as a normal physical sim card on the phone with whatever plan the esim was for. I believe you can even move it to another device and it will still show up with the same plan, though I haven't tried that. The only issue I've had with it is that some esim provider apps refuse to work on a phone that doesn't have esim capab…

That's great to know, thanks!
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