Other eSIM + Dual SIM Q&A

[cwosigns]

1. I should not have to delete my entire conversation to text someone from a different number.

I just set that contact to the personal line (instead of business) and instead of replying to the SMS they sent to my business phone, I started a new iMessage to them and it went from my personal line. It kept our conversation history, but changed it to my personal line.

 

[DeanL]

Updated the Q&A to reflect the different activation methods used by various carriers.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I just set that contact to the personal line (instead of business) and instead of replying to the SMS they sent to my business phone, I started a new iMessage to them and it went from my personal line. It kept our conversation history, but changed it to my personal line.

Thank you. That is a good work around. A cumbersome one, but will work till they fix it.

 

[solodogg]

Anyone else experiencing slightly lower signal with a physical SIM installed after activating the eSIM?

https://imgur.com/a/7f3muOM

Video shows both T-Mobile eSIM and physical VZW SIM to start off, then the physical SIM is removed while the phone remains in the exact same location. I even took care to leave my hands in the exact spot on the phone for the duration of the video recording to ensure no outside interference. You can see that rsrp0 increases by a couple dB after removing the physical SIM from the phone.

 

[PhilippLA]

T-Mobile eSIM working, here’s how to set it up.

1.) Go to settings/general/about and get the EID for your phone. It’s a long number, make sure to validate this number is correct if you write it down.

2.) Call 611 and request a SIM swap for your line. Advise them that you only have the EID number available.

3.) T-Mobile rep will swap the SIM using the EID, and will send a confirmation PIN number to you to validate the SIM swap.

4.) Sit back and wait for the confirmation text that the SIM swap has completed (took about 5 minutes for me). Do not proceed to step 5 until you receive this text, as it will not work.

5.) Go to settings/cellular/add cellular plan, and click “enter details manually”.

6.) Enter the following address under SM-DP+ Address: cust-005-v4-prod-atl2.gdsb.net

7.) Follow the prompts on the screen to setup your eSIM how you would like it to work (primary/secondary/data only) .

Hopefully this helps others get this activated. I am using it currently with no issues, and have my work line in the physical SIM slot as well.

Wait. I’m confused. Won’t the T-Mobile rep try to send me a new physical SIM card if I ask for a swap? I would really like to try this out but it feels like maybe there are some steps missing or I just don’t quite grasp the concept yet. Any way someone can explain in some more detail?


EDIT: I took a trust fall and just followed the instructions above and it actually worked. I got my T-Mobile account working without a SIM card now.

 

[DeanL]

Anyone else experiencing slightly lower signal with a physical SIM installed after activating the eSIM?

https://imgur.com/a/7f3muOM

Video shows both T-Mobile eSIM and physical VZW SIM to start off, then the physical SIM is removed while the phone remains in the exact same location. I even took care to leave my hands in the exact spot on the phone for the duration of the video recording to ensure no outside interference. You can see that rsrp0 increases by a couple dB after removing the physical SIM from the phone.

It's not lower signal, it's time division.
Instead of looking at the signal of A 100% of the time, it needs to dedicate some time at watching B too. So the result is that there's a slight delay acknowledging the actual signal.

 

[solodogg]

It's not lower signal, it's time division.
Instead of looking at the signal of A 100% of the time, it needs to dedicate some time at watching B too. So the result is that there's a slight delay acknowledging the actual signal.

Agreed that it has something to do with your thoughts, but when thinking about modems and received signals I would expect a cellular modem to respond the same way a DOCSIS modem does. Going from a D2.0 modem to a D3.0 modem does not result in a loss of signal, even though the D2.0 will only connect to a single DS/US carrier while the 3.0 will connect to up to 32DS/8US carriers. Time division allows that both of those signals can be received without perceivable loss as long as everything is configured properly.

Now...with that thought, I have thought about the possibility that my TMo eSIM and VZW SIM are both picking up B4 signals, albeit on a different block with slightly differing frequencies. If anything, I would expect this to be an issue with the Intel modem firmware not properly separating frequencies and possibly causing some low level interference.

On the other hand...there is someone on Reddit claiming that using dual SIM causes the phone to drop 4x4 MIMO support. I happen to think that's BS, but I don't have any supporting evidence at this point to back up those thoughts.

 

[DeanL]

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204039

Here you go...

What makes your page any more official than his official page for
“Wireless carrier support and features for iPhone”

His page says “Published Date: December 5, 2018”, whilst yours is “Published Date: November 28, 2018” so is more likely to be out of date.

Apple took down Rogers but Fido is still there... Wonder if it was a mistake. https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204039

 

[Gamer-Dad]

Has anyone gotten this to work on a regular T-Mobile One rate plan, or only prepaid? Tired of talking to morons in customer care.

 

[acgmph]

Has anyone gotten this to work on a regular T-Mobile One rate plan, or only prepaid? Tired of talking to morons in customer care.

Yes. I have TMo One and I managed to move mine over to eSIM. Here's what I did:
- Yesterday I went to a local TMo store to get the EID thing done. Thought that by actually going and talking to a person I would circumvent the most certain refusal from phone/chat customer service. Dude at the store tried and it gave him an error. He was all condescending and "I told you it won't work" on me. Whatever...
- This morning I decided to try it myself so while I was connected to WiFi I went to Settings -> Cellular -> Add a Cellular Plan -> Enter Details Manually
- Here is where I entered that server address everyone knows about (cust-005-v4-prod-atl2.gdsb.net) and nothing else
- Hit Next and to my surprise I was prompted for a confirmation code. Well, I didn't have one, but I tried the last four digits of my phone number (carriers seem to like defaulting to last 4 of number when a PIN is required) and that worked. It activated my eSIM with no number
- I took out my TMo physical SIM and I tried to place a call. Any call. Because there was no plan on this eSIM, I was automatically routed to TMo's customer service where I asked the person to swap my SIM to the new ICCID that showed up in Settings -> General -> About under the eSIM portion

I don't know why the EID thing didn't work. Nor why just entering the server address did. All I know is that now I finally have the full iPhone XS functionality I paid Apple for. eSIM with TMo personal and SIM with AT&T business.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Edit: Grammar & rephrasing. Still jet-lagged from a trip.

 

[Gamer-Dad]

Well I am officially throwing in the towel with these idiots! The so called Baltimore team that I keep getting connected to are morons and are of no use....

 

[dmccombs]

Has anyone gotten this to work on a regular T-Mobile One rate plan, or only prepaid? Tired of talking to morons in customer care.

Yes. I have a T-Mobile one plan. I used online chat today to get my eid registered. It took about 15 minutes total and now I am on esim.

 

[ajayjp]

T-mobile one here too

 

[Gamer-Dad]

Tried chat but they keep telling my my EID isn't recognized. My phone was bought direct from Apple and paid in full? Weird...

 

[ajayjp]

Tried chat but they keep telling my my EID isn't recognized. My phone was bought direct from Apple and paid in full? Weird...

Should not be an issue with phone or EID. Just that the agent trying is not doing it right. Disconnect and try a different agent.

 

[mookgiants]

Has anyone on verizon been able to put their business line onto an esim? My work phone is on a corporate work plan, but i hate carrying around two phones so I want to add that number onto my personal XS Max. I went to a corporate store but they were absolutely zero help and basically told me I couldnt do it because the work phone is on a separate corporate account. That doesnt make sense to me considering one of the things they marketed dual sim as is being able to combine a work phone and a personal phone. Most people that have a work phone have it on a corporate plan.

 

[ajayjp]

As far as you are authorized on that line to make sim swap or account access you should be able to. Nothing else stops it from a technical perspective.

 

[Gamer-Dad]

Will try again in the AM. Its been a frustrating day dealing with T-Mobile, lol

 

[AxelFoley]

Has anyone gotten this to work on a regular T-Mobile One rate plan, or only prepaid? Tired of talking to morons in customer care.

It took me a total of 17 minutes. My final step was scanning the QR Code that I already had from the several Reddit posts on this topic. Here is my entire discussion from T-Mobile App's Messages section. This is for those folks who are wondering what exactly to say to the T-Mobile rep on the App's chat. First try worked and went extremely smooth.

ME - Hello, I would like to complete a SIM swap. I have the EID for my new device.

Rep - Hi Axel! Happy holidays! My name is Rhaymart, and I just got your message. We really appreciate your time reaching T-Mobile and staying online. I can definitely activate your new SIM number or EID. May I please have it?

ME - The phone number to transfer is XXX-XXX-XXXX and the EID is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rep - Cool! Thank you so much for clarifying. May I please have 3-5 minute to review the account first and so we can update the EID.

ME - Yes

Rep - Cool! I've sent you a verification PIN so we could update the EID to your line ending in XXXX. May I please have it?

ME - XXXXXX

Rep - Thank you so much. Thanks for the PIN. Please do back up the contacts because it might be remove once we update the EID. Shall we proceed and save the new EID?

ME - Yes

Rep - Perfect! The new EID has been set up here. Please restart the device and allow 2-4 hours for you to use the service again on this line ending in XXXX.

Rep - So, do you have any other concern that I can assist you?

ME - Thank You. You have been so helpful!!!Thank You and Good Night

END

That was it. Once I scanned the QR Code the line was instantly active. There was no wait. Hope this helps.

Axel Foley

 

[George Knighton]

Has anyone gotten this to work on a regular T-Mobile One rate plan, or only prepaid? Tired of talking to morons in customer care.

I was a little worried about this because they allowed me to move my “One Plus Promo” plan onto a very cheap two-line plan for older people.

I didn’t want that to disappear!

But it worked, with the great plan still in place.

 

[cwosigns]

Has anyone on verizon been able to put their business line onto an esim? My work phone is on a corporate work plan, but i hate carrying around two phones so I want to add that number onto my personal XS Max. I went to a corporate store but they were absolutely zero help and basically told me I couldnt do it because the work phone is on a separate corporate account. That doesnt make sense to me considering one of the things they marketed dual sim as is being able to combine a work phone and a personal phone. Most people that have a work phone have it on a corporate plan.

Yes. Put your personal account on the eSIM and your work phone’s SIM card into the slot.

 

[AxelFoley]

Has anyone on verizon been able to put their business line onto an esim? My work phone is on a corporate work plan, but i hate carrying around two phones so I want to add that number onto my personal XS Max. I went to a corporate store but they were absolutely zero help and basically told me I couldnt do it because the work phone is on a separate corporate account. That doesnt make sense to me considering one of the things they marketed dual sim as is being able to combine a work phone and a personal phone. Most people that have a work phone have it on a corporate plan.

My work number is provided by Verizon as well. I was concerned about the corporate account and therefore not having the ability to control moving from SIM to an eSIM. When I first called Verizon's customer service then the rep told me that she couldn't do anything in her team and instead asked me to call Corporate customer service at 800-922-0204 . I called that number and asked about the eSIM and they were able to.

 

[jessebkr87]

I was just successful at switching from physical to eSIM. This was my second time trying. On Saturday we couldn’t get it to work all the way, but that was partially the iPhone’s fault. Today we had a few hiccups and the rep had to reactivate me twice, but it finally worked. I follow the directions from this Reddit page. For about ten minutes my test calls were failing. The rep was looking into it and finally I tried again and it worked. Maybe it just took some time to work through the network.

https://www.reddit.com/r/verizon/co...physical_sim_to_esim/?st=JPHXKUW8&sh=42ccb445

 

[Nacket]

Anyone have success getting the eSIM on an iPad Pro activated on Verizon? I tried getting it activated on the same call for the eSIM in my iPhone but the rep said that it was only supported on iPhone lines.

 

[Gamer-Dad]

Well, no luck again this morning. They keep telling me my EID says unrecognized. My phone was purchased directly from Apple as a T-Mobile phone paid in full. Would this matter?