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Swapping SIM cards used to be easy, and then came eSIM

arstechnica.com

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Re: Swapping SIM cards used to be easy, and then came eSIM

#31

Post by Imustaskforhelp »

pxx wrote: post #28
worldsavior wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why? What's wrong with Bluetooth?

latency is absolute killer. then there's also the fact that splitting the output is difficult, pairing (especially multi-pairing) is finicky but the real response is "what's wrong with a usb-c to 3.5mm adapter"

> what's wrong with a usb-c to 3.5mm adapter

I think it just adds friction (for measure, I feel audio jacks are pretty good)

So the real response is, "what's wrong with most companies to not provide the 3.5mm itself?"

It's good that xperia's doing this though. I think I still have phones which have 3.5mm itself so there isn't much to worry about. I think there are a lot of new phones which do offer it, I think both of my parents phones have support for 3.5mm by itself.

Re: Swapping SIM cards used to be easy, and then came eSIM

#32

Post by walidthedream »

I am quite annoyed by the people who don't see the issue with eSim because "they never had an issue" with it. It's like having one murder down your block and stating that you don't see the issue because nobody attempted to murder you so far. ESim are backed up as part of iCloud backups, had one dodgy carrier in Europe (Lyca) who never activated my eSim so I switched back to a new carrier but I had to get a transfer authorization from Lyca. Guess what , since I was no longer a customer I was sent to hell by their customer support. Best joke that it was impossible to remove on my iPhone. It was part of the backup, a reset attempt did not solve it so I had to drive 200km to an Apple store to get a hard reset and the Apple genius advising me against restoring my data "otherwise it would retrieve the faulty ESIM back in your phone" !!!

Re: Swapping SIM cards used to be easy, and then came eSIM

#33

Post by anonymars »

delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #24
worldsavior wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why? What's wrong with Bluetooth?

Worse quality, latency, potential to lose one (or both) earbuds, having to faff with batteries and charging and cases (and charging the charging case) when I can just... plug it in, bam, music in my ears. The knotting is a small price to pay for the improved quality and convenience in every other way. What's wrong with analogue audio?

Something I read recently which I think is interesting food for thought:

Did ditching the headphone jack increase the number of people in public who just play their music / talk on speakerphone, because now the alternative is much more complex and expensive compared to simple 3.5mm wired headset?

Before proclaiming that Bluetooth is in fact simple and cheap, consider how your situation may differ from that of the perpetrators

Re: Swapping SIM cards used to be easy, and then came eSIM

#34

Post by raffael_de »

delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #9

> We gave up the headphone jack. We gave up the microSD card. Some people might have given it up. I personally own a Sony Xperia phone, and intend to buy another Xperia next year, which will almost certainly still have both. In fact Sony is the one manufacturer that returned to a headphone jack after having removed it for a while. It might be more expensive than the competition, but this is my voting with my wallet.

what is it that keeps you loyal to xperia?

Re: Swapping SIM cards used to be easy, and then came eSIM

#35

Post by mikepurvis »

abigail95 wrote: post #17

Totally different experience. Especially when traveling for work, being able to just show up in a country, download an app, and have a working local number within minutes is fantastic. I have 6 eSIMs on my iPhone, two are active. No stuffing about with swapping physical hardware just because I've temporarily relocated myself.

I've found this as well; totally painless to add a destination data plan just before jumping on the plane. And even switching my local plan was pretty straightforward when a promo offer came in from a competitor.

That said, I'm sympathetic to the stance of the article's author. I recently had a scare with my iPhone 13's battery not being able to charge (it recovered itself eventually) and I realized it was going to be a hassle to switch to another phone if I couldn't get the old one powered on enough to run the esim transfer, much less the whole OS migration.

Re: Swapping SIM cards used to be easy, and then came eSIM

#36

Post by tomashubelbauer »

I tried using a work eSIM as a secondary SIM to my personal physical SIM on my iPhone in 2022 or 2023. I was taken aback by how poor the experience was, both on the iOS level and the eSIM technology level. At that time I reckoned it's probably like 10 years too early and I don't think I will be giving an eSIM (primary or secondary) a shot sooner than in the 2030s.

Re: Swapping SIM cards used to be easy, and then came eSIM

#38

Post by Yizahi »

My colleague had a very hard time moving her European esim (Play) from one iphone to another, because by then she moved from the city where she registered it initially. She had to come back in person and even then it only worked after a second visit, because she had to bring basically all her documents to verify her identity to the operator.

Meanwhile I just swapped boring old plastic card in a minute, while staying at home. I will stay away from esim for a while, maybe processes will mature in a few more years. At least until dual-sim phones are available.

Re: Swapping SIM cards used to be easy, and then came eSIM

#39

Post by coderatlarge »

LeafItAlone wrote: post #7

I recently bought a device through my carrier (secondary device, secondary carrier; luckily not my primary device) to replace my existing one. Old device was still physical SIM new device only eSIM. I paid for it in a store, but it had to be shipped because they don’t have it in stock, even though it was in stock on their website (including after I left). It arrived late, the day before I was set to travel. The rep s…

in some countries (ex china) local carriers won’t provision esim for nonlocally made phones. including iPhone not specifically made for their market.

Re: Swapping SIM cards used to be easy, and then came eSIM

#40

Post by delta_p_delta_x »

pxx wrote: post #28
worldsavior wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why? What's wrong with Bluetooth?

latency is absolute killer. then there's also the fact that splitting the output is difficult, pairing (especially multi-pairing) is finicky but the real response is "what's wrong with a usb-c to 3.5mm adapter"

> "what's wrong with a usb-c to 3.5mm adapter"

I want to charge and listen to music at the same time.

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