Very good to know. Apologies for my misdirection! Ta.
Do you also have to START with a physical sim before loading in an esim?
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Very good to know. Apologies for my misdirection! Ta.
Do you also have to START with a physical sim before loading in an esim?
I do not know the answer to that, I’m sorry.
When I contacted T-Mobile, I already had their SIM in my XS Max.
It went dead as soon as I gave the support person the confirmation number, and the eSIM went live as soon as I entered the URL.
Despite all of T-Mobile’s fears about how this could screw up, the procedure was easy and the performance has been flawless.
It seems to me that the only caveat would be that you must have connectivity when you use the URL, so you will want to be active on WiFi if you are activating an eSIM.
Globe (Philippines) rolled out eSIM cards today. https://www.globe.com.ph/help/eSIM.html
@DeanLubaki
@DeanLubaki
There is a current bug in iOS which make you unable to select which SIM to use for data when the physical SIM is removed. This means if you set data to physical SIM instead of eSIM then removed the physical one, you can't change it back to eSIM without putting a physical SIM. That is an iOS bug. If you set data to eSIM before removing the physical one, you never need to have the physical inside again.
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You do NOT need a physical sim for your phone to work with eSim. Your sim tray MUST be installed however.
Does anyone experience weaker cellular on eSIM for T-Mobile on today's iOS 12.1.2?
Primary using eSIM and Secondary using physical SIM in some areas.
I have the same issue with T-mobile. Primary is physical sim and Business is eSIM
iOS 12.1.3 fixes this.
As long as Cellular Data =ON, the data switches automatically to the eSIM even if the physical SIM is removed while the iPhone is powered.
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I have the same issue with T-mobile. Primary is physical sim and Business is eSIM
Whether you view this as a "trouble" with T-Mobile is a matter of personal opinion, but with T-Mobile your physical SIM and your eSIM might end up on different bands with different signal strengths.
The signal strength is not necessarily indicative of your ability to get a faster data speed or HD Voice (VOLTE) on what appears to be the weaker signal.
With my T-Mobile cellular plans, while I am at my home in the country, I am switching often between Band 2 and Band 12.
Band 12 will show a stronger signal, but it will not have the stronger data because T-Mobile does not have as much total spectrum in Band 12 as they have in Band 2.
So if I show two bars, I don't worry about it because my data will still be very good and I will still be able to make or receive an HD Voice call.
iOS 12.1.3 fixes this.
As long as Cellular Data =ON, the data switches automatically to the eSIM even if the physical SIM is removed while the iPhone is powered.
Glad to know this.
I also have a weird issue but not sure if related to the eSIM or just iOS in general.
I have my main carrier as eSIM and currently abroad so roaming and using a local physical SIM. I am not able to manually select carriers. Doing manual lists all carriers but selecting them end in No Service regardless of how long I wait. Switching back to auto picks any of the same exact carriers in less than a few seconds.
Luckily this is not a big deal where I am located now as all 3 carriers are included in my plan but this could be a major issue if I go somewhere else because my plan includes only T-Mobile in the US for example and not AT&T so manual search is essential for me.
I have not been overseas since I started using eSIM and dual plan functionality on my XS Max.
However, my personal experience managing a T-Mobile cellular plan on eSIM together with an Xfinity Mobile cellular plan on physical SIM is that the Xfinity Mobile plan limits your ability to manually select a carrier. The switch is greyed out and you can't move it. With the T-Mobile plans, both physical SIM and eSIM, this is not greyed out and you can manually select another carrier even though it clearly won't work after resolution.
So this is just a guess, but based on that personal experience I would suppose that it is a limitation imposed by your carrier.
I am afraid this could be it. I remember being able to manually select carriers when I was here a year ago but maybe they changed it recently.
You only need an eSIM + Physical SIM. Carriers have no say in you having Dual SIM or not (unless your phone is locked to then of course)
That’s a misunderstanding. I currently have only an eSIM and AT&T service. It works fine minus a bug with Instant Hotspot. There is already a thread discussing it so I won’t rehash that here.
The other question you had earlier about the eSIM on the models that can physically use two SIM cards, that I believe is a no. The eSIM is more than just software, there is an actual hardware chip on the logic board that is the eSIM. Those models are missing that chip, it it’s place is a differently designed SIM tray and the ability to read two SIMs at once. Also, even if it were to have the eSIM and the ability to use it, the phone is dual standby so you would need to deactivate something, the eSIM or one of the two physical SIMs.
Once again just to be clear: (A) China/HK version of iPhone XS only support one physical SIM, no eSIM. (B) China/HK version of XS Max and XR have two physical SIMs (using one slot with two SIMs back to back) and NO eSIM. (C) There is no such iPhone anywhere in the world that have eSIM and two physical SIMs support! (D) China/HK/Marco shares one version of iPhone, there is no difference between where you bought them.
Cool. Looks like it is only available to postpay customers so me being a tourist there frequently doesn't help right now...but a good step forward.
Should I infer that in standby mode, the two lines need to be tuning to different frequency bands? Or can they both communicate with cellular stations on the same band? I haven’t found any conclusive documentation (yet...?) about this behavior.
Hummm, right.
I wonder if there's anyone here with a HK iPhone XS Max?
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That is absolutely not true. iPhones can function 100% eSIM only.
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No that's incorrect. China version of the iPhone XS only support one physical SIM, no eSIM. HK version supports physical SIM + eSIM.
https://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/#iphone-xs
China and Hong Kong/Macau have two different models (A2100 versus A1920)
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Thanks! Added to the wiki
Clearly even the AT&T Corporate stores are still learning. When I went into my local store this week, the first person I spoke with said they did not do esim yet. Luckily the manager overheard him and intervened. There had clearly been no training. So I was their first customer requesting this. They brought the whole team over and trained them on my phone. Their system initially crashed the first time, but with some perseverance it was activated.
They were ultimately super fun and they all learned. Overall a good experience.
They were ultimately super fun and they all learned. Overall a good experience.
I'll tell you that I was really, sorely tempted to spring for an A2104 even thought everybody charges a premium for it.
Ultimately, however, I think that if we can just hang in there a bit longer, the USDM A1921 provides more flexibility and will end up being the model to own.
With the A1921, you have a total of 5 eSIM, plus one physical SIM available. That sounds a lot better, much more flexible, than just having the two physical SIM on the A2104.
It's a lot easier and less chance of dropping something if all you have to do is manipulate iOS instead of having to remove SIM trays and keep track of where all your SIM have gone.
The two cellular plans *can* lock onto the same band on the same array if that's what they do, but it isn't necessarily what they *have* to do.
That's IMHO, but I believe it's with reasonable facts to back it up.
I haven't seen this documented anywhere, either.
What I say about this is based on my experience with Google Android applications that I will have running at the same time, and I am supposing (I believe with a reasonable degree of certainty) that what I observe with the Google Android applications verifies what I believe is happening with the XS Max when set up for two cellular plans to be active at the same time.
I will be watching an Android application while it switches from a full signal on Band 12, to a supposedly much weaker signal on Band 2 or Band 4, but data speeds are better on Band 2 and Band 4 than they are on Band 12 even though Band 12 is at full strength.
Although I don't move my physical location, I can see an H932 physically moving back and forth between the three bands, and for no reason other than perhaps capacity and momentary activity. Another identical device sitting on the same desk has remained on the old band or gone to a third one.
I was curious about this, and the answer from T-Mobile is that they own more spectrum on Band 2 and Band 4 in my part of the world, and data speeds on Band 12 will very often test slower even though the signal strength is better.
It's an unfortunate fact of life that if you are interested in things like this, there are Google Android applications that will help you, while nothing in iOS that does exactly the same thing.
AT&T are still telling me that my primary number has to be the physical SIM (tried a different day to ask another person but they said the same thing). Trying to explain that people ARE putting their primary AT&T line on eSIM and it works gets me nowhere. Really frustrating as I want to get my Irish and US numbers on a single phone.
George, you sure that the limit is 5 eSIM? I am not sure that there is a limit of how many eSIMS one can save.
