Dual eSIMs Confusion....

[blairh]

Hello everyone.

I'm off to Italy this week. Normally I purchase a local SIM and data plan when I get there and it's all pretty simple after that. This year is the first time I'm using an eSIM-only device with the iPhone 14 Pro.

While certainly not necessary, it would be nice to still receive texts to my American number while I'm away and otherwise use my Italian eSIM for data and local calls.

That was going to be my original question. If I could do that. I'd like to avoid using data on my AT&T eSIM as they charge $10 a day for such a service.

However it appears Italian eSIMs are data only unless you use wi-fi calling? So you can't make local calls if you don't have access to wi-fi unless you use WhatsApp and the like?

Would appreciate some clarification. I have a friend who works at a mobile store in Italy so I was just planning on going to him and having him set up the new Italian eSIM. But I'm a little confused how this would all work, etc. Thanks!

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Best bet is just to speak with your carrier in the States so there’s no confusion about overseas capabilities/fees.

If your friend works at an Italian carrier store it seems a little odd they use esim only for data and not cellular. If that is true then welcome to the world of Apple removing the psim port for only US iPhones as one of the dumbest decisions ever.

Maybe just get a burner phone in Italy for local calls and use your iPhone for other stuff???

 

[Kottu]

Most European operstors do support e-sim for calls and data. Get an esim from Vodafone and deactivate (turn off; don't delete)your US carrier in iPhone. To handle easy, you can name your esims.