Other eSIM + Dual SIM Q&A

[idgsd]

I've have an iPhone XS and have been out of the USA since before eSIMs were allowed to be activated, so I still have an AT&T physical SIM and have been using various roaming eSIMs (GigSky, Ubigi, "3" Hong Kong Roaming), and recently got an AIS Thailand eSIM. I also pay for the AT&T monthly international roaming package with 3GB data.

I keep AT&T as primary, and use the various eSIMs for data most of the time. However: any time an eSIM is active (whether roaming, or local with the AIS eSIM when I was in Bangkok), my Visual Voicemail is disabled and the voicemails disappear completely until I switch my data back to primary (AT&T) and turn off eSIMs. Sometimes I even have to reboot the phone after that and wait a while before it comes back. Sometimes have to call into Voicemail manually old-school by pressing/holding "1" on the dial pad before the VVM re-appears. In the meantime I'm stuck with a "visual voicemail is unavailable" and/or "call voicemail" on the screen.

Voicemail notifications are sporadic no matter what I do. With AT&T set as primary for Calls, SMS, and Data and all eSIMs turned OFF, I called myself from a VoIP line and left a message on AT&T voicemail. I didn't get the notification or visual voicemail for that until about 45 minutes later. IDGSD- I think you're going to have to turn roaming "on" to get it to work, but also try to turn on the AT&T line and reboot your phone and/or call voicemail with "1" to see if that kickstarts any of your AT&T notifications?


Still don't understand why Visual Voicemail breaks every time I turn "on" an eSIM... even with AT&T set as the Primary for all Calls, SMS, and Data. My only guess is because all my eSIMs are either data-only or do not support voicemail boxes even if they have calling/SMS, and it somehow messes with AT&T's VVM when they are on? Currently on iOS 12.1.2, but will update to 12.1.3 to see if anything changes. Is there anybody here that is seeing this same issue?

Before

I've have an iPhone XS and have been out of the USA since before eSIMs were allowed to be activated, so I still have an AT&T physical SIM and have been using various roaming eSIMs (GigSky, Ubigi, "3" Hong Kong Roaming), and recently got an AIS Thailand eSIM. I also pay for the AT&T monthly international roaming package with 3GB data.

I keep AT&T as primary, and use the various eSIMs for data most of the time. However: any time an eSIM is active (whether roaming, or local with the AIS eSIM when I was in Bangkok), my Visual Voicemail is disabled and the voicemails disappear completely until I switch my data back to primary (AT&T) and turn off eSIMs. Sometimes I even have to reboot the phone after that and wait a while before it comes back. Sometimes have to call into Voicemail manually old-school by pressing/holding "1" on the dial pad before the VVM re-appears. In the meantime I'm stuck with a "visual voicemail is unavailable" and/or "call voicemail" on the screen.

Voicemail notifications are sporadic no matter what I do. With AT&T set as primary for Calls, SMS, and Data and all eSIMs turned OFF, I called myself from a VoIP line and left a message on AT&T voicemail. I didn't get the notification or visual voicemail for that until about 45 minutes later. IDGSD- I think you're going to have to turn roaming "on" to get it to work, but also try to turn on the AT&T line and reboot your phone and/or call voicemail with "1" to see if that kickstarts any of your AT&T notifications?


Still don't understand why Visual Voicemail breaks every time I turn "on" an eSIM... even with AT&T set as the Primary for all Calls, SMS, and Data. My only guess is because all my eSIMs are either data-only or do not support voicemail boxes even if they have calling/SMS, and it somehow messes with AT&T's VVM when they are on? Currently on iOS 12.1.2, but will update to 12.1.3 to see if anything changes. Is there anybody here that is seeing this same issue?

In the past, at the same location, I used two iPhones. One with the AT&T sim and one with the local sim. The one with the AT&T sim used to be off and in the drawer most of the time. I would turn it on every so often to check on missed calls, voicemails, texts, etc. Data roaming was always off (so no roaming charges, and if I needed to reply or access my voicemail I would use Skype). This mode of operation worked well for me and I am trying to emulate it with the dual sim.

 

[PLin]

Juggling Visual Voicemail in a dual SIM setup is just too tricky, especially if you plan to turn off one of your SIMs but still want access to voicemails. I just keep conditional call forwarding to Google Voice activated all the time, so I always have access to new voicemails even if the SIM is turned off or not even in the phone. I haven’t used Visual Voicemail in years.

 

[idgsd]

Juggling Visual Voicemail in a dual SIM setup is just too tricky, especially if you plan to turn off one of your SIMs but still want access to voicemails. I just keep conditional call forwarding to Google Voice activated all the time, so I always have access to new voicemails even if the SIM is turned off or not even in the phone. I haven’t used Visual Voicemail in years.

I use Google Voice forwarding for my landline. Works really well, as I receive all my voicemails as email attachments. May start doing it for my mobile when abroad.

 

[George Knighton]

Juggling Visual Voicemail in a dual SIM setup is just too tricky....

I use Google Voice forwarding for my landline. Works really well, as I receive all my voicemails as email attachments. May start doing it for my mobile when abroad.

I'm using YouMail with my setup. Works fine.

 

[jpiszcz]

Instant Hotspot is now working with the latest release for me now with ATT.

 

[ManuCH]

Instant Hotspot is now working with the latest release for me now with ATT.

12.1.3 or 12.2 Beta 1?

 

[jessebkr87]

12.1.3 or 12.2 Beta 1?

Wondering the same.

 

[Banglazed]

12.1.3 or 12.2 Beta 1?

Wondering the same.

Both. it is working better on 12.2 beta 1

 

[jpiszcz]

Wondering the same.

12.1.3

Settings on the phone:

 

[ManuCH]

12.1.3

Settings on the phone:

Is the physical SIM on your iPhone on or off? Do you see 1 or 2 sets of signal bars on the top right?

 

[jpiszcz]

Is the physical SIM on your iPhone on or off? Do you see 1 or 2 sets of signal bars on the top right?

I am using an eSIM only, no physical SIM card is in the slot. I had 1 bar on the phone at the time of the test— so just one set of bars.

 

[pacpac2017]

On my iPhone XS I have an eSIM from EE in the UK and a physical SIM from SKY in the UK. E-mails (three mail-accounts on Exchange 2016) are not pushed immediately when I have mobile data active through the eSIM, the phone is locked and on battery. When using mobile data on the physical SIM and Wi-Fi, e-mails are pushed through just fine. Any ideas for why not pushed when only using the eSIM?

 

[hhzhao]

Instant Hot Spot works fine with my XS (12.1.3).

 

[arforbes]

Anyone else having this bug? My primary data/phone line is on eSIM TMobile and I have a secondary physical SIM Xfinity Mobile. I keep having an issue when I disable the Xfinity line (I never actually need it enabled unless I go to the mountains) I get a bug that tells me to enable iMessage when quick replying. The fix to the bug is either
1) removing the physical Sim tray and reinserting
2) enabling the second line and selecting the TMobile as the primary iMessage and FaceTime number and leaving the second line on

If I leave the second line (Xfinity mobile physical Sim) on for voice/and sms only and keep LTE disabled, will it waste more battery than if I kept it switched off?

Is there a way to prevent the bug telling me to enable iMessage on the TMobile primary eSIM? It happens at random times after I implement the fixes listed above. Going through the steps just kind of sucks.

 

[George Knighton]

Anyone else having this bug? My primary data/phone line is on eSIM TMobile and I have a secondary physical SIM Xfinity Mobile. I keep having an issue when I disable the Xfinity line (I never actually need it enabled unless I go to the mountains) I get a bug that tells me to enable iMessage when quick replying. The fix to the bug is either
1) removing the physical Sim tray and reinserting
2) enabling the second line and selecting the TMobile as the primary iMessage and FaceTime number and leaving the second line on

If I leave the second line (Xfinity mobile physical Sim) on for voice/and sms only and keep LTE disabled, will it waste more battery than if I kept it switched off?

Is there a way to prevent the bug telling me to enable iMessage on the TMobile primary eSIM? It happens at random times after I implement the fixes listed above. Going through the steps just kind of sucks.

I have the same T-Mobile eSIM / XFinity Mobil SIM setup.

I experience no deleterious effects leaving the SIM turned on while it is assigned as Secondary for both voice and data.

Don’t go through all that trouble. It should be fine leaving it on.

 

[batman75]

When I travel I use my TMobile business line for all calls and data because it has unlimited global roaming included.

However I like to have my AT&T line active because that way I can receive texts, etc.

The problem is if I have it active I get charged for roaming on the AT&T line. If I turn the line off then I can use it over WiFi so I lose the line completely.

Is there a way to have the line on but for it to not use the radio (e.g like in airplane mode). Basically I want to airplane mode the AT&T line (active but only via WIFI) while having the TMObile line fully on with roaming.

 

[br403]

Hi batman, you can only have one data line active, when your T-Mobile line is active for data, you can’t use the AT&T line for data, so no roaming const should apply for data.

 

[George Knighton]

When I travel I use my TMobile business line for all calls and data because it has unlimited global roaming included.

However I like to have my AT&T line active because that way I can receive texts, etc.

The problem is if I have it active I get charged for roaming on the AT&T line. If I turn the line off then I can use it over WiFi so I lose the line completely.

Is there a way to have the line on but for it to not use the radio (e.g like in airplane mode). Basically I want to airplane mode the AT&T line (active but only via WIFI) while having the TMObile line fully on with roaming.

Hi batman, you can only have one data line active, when your T-Mobile line is active for data, you can’t use the AT&T line for data, so no roaming const should apply for data.

To what the poster above said, I will add to just make sure that the AT&T line does not have data set to voice+data so that you do not cause a VOLTE/HD Voice call on accident.

As long as you have a signal on both cellular plans, you will not use data on AT&T so long as you do not have data turned on for voice in that plan.

Of course your “texts” on AT&T will be SMS, not iMessages.

Perhaps in a future version of iOS we will have the option completely to turn off data for one plan.

 

[PLin]

Is there a way to have the line on but for it to not use the radio (e.g like in airplane mode). Basically I want to airplane mode the AT&T line (active but only via WIFI) while having the TMObile line fully on with roaming.

There’s no way to do this from the iPhone settings, but before my last trip out of the country, I called the AT&T International Dept. and had them disable international roaming on my line. That way, you can leave the line turned on, but it just shows No Service as soon as you leave the US, and Wi-Fi Calling still works! And since the SIM is still on, iMessages to your AT&T number still work. You would have to be on a Wi-Fi network and be on Wi-Fi calling for SMS to your AT&T number to arrive though.

 

[batman75]

There’s no way to do this from the iPhone settings, but before my last trip out of the country, I called the AT&T International Dept. and had them disable international roaming on my line. That way, you can leave the line turned on, but it just shows No Service as soon as you leave the US, and Wi-Fi Calling still works! And since the SIM is still on, iMessages to your AT&T number still work. You would have to be on a Wi-Fi network and be on Wi-Fi calling for SMS to your AT&T number to arrive though.

That’s brilliant. Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks a lot.

Update - took an hour on the phone with AT&T. They don’t get it. They thought I want to remove daypass. Spoke to 5 agents before I found one who understood it.

 

[michael31986]

So is t mobile ever officially. Releasing this?

 

[racostaf]

There’s no way to do this from the iPhone settings, but before my last trip out of the country, I called the AT&T International Dept. and had them disable international roaming on my line. That way, you can leave the line turned on, but it just shows No Service as soon as you leave the US, and Wi-Fi Calling still works! And since the SIM is still on, iMessages to your AT&T number still work. You would have to be on a Wi-Fi network and be on Wi-Fi calling for SMS to your AT&T number to arrive though.

I do that when I go to USA, but I don't need call to my carrier, because I check in the app than the roaming is disabled ... in the USA I receive SMS from my country for free and, when I connect to WiFi, I get calls and I can do it without cost either.

 

[Boardiesboi]

I have a XS Max from Australia and I’m heading to HK in June.

Has anyone successfully activated the 3HK eSIM overseas (ie. not in HK) and used it whilst in HK?

 

[CommanderData]

I have a XS Max from Australia and I’m heading to HK in June.

Has anyone successfully activated the 3HK eSIM overseas (ie. not in HK) and used it whilst in HK?

Are you referring to the 3HK "Roaming" eSIM you can get online here?
https://www.three.com.hk/eSIMMall/chi/eSIMMall/index.jsp?lang=eng

I have this 3HK Roaming eSIM on my phone, and if you look carefully you'll note they do NOT mention Hong Kong itself for data availability. When I tested it within Hong Kong I was not getting any data, but I could load it up with extra money for phone calls (it gives you a real/valid HK phone number). When outside of HK, in several of the supported countries it lists I was able to get data.

My impression is this 3HK Roaming eSIM was meant for travelers outside of HK, and not for use inside HK. Similar to the SIM2FLY that AIS Thailand provides is for outside Thailand only. If anyone else had luck getting this 3HK eSIM to provide data within Hong Kong I'd like to know more too

Speaking of AIS I'll be grabbing their new eSIM-2-FLY variant when in Bangkok next weekend. I already have a 1-2-CALL eSIM with AIS for use within Thailand, and the SIM-2-FLY physical and eSIMs appear to have the best deals for roaming in Asia and beyond ( http://www.ais.co.th/roaming/sim2fly/en/index.html ). Only gotcha is there is no web/app based way to get this as an eSIM yet.

 

[batman75]

I do that when I go to USA, but I don't need call to my carrier, because I check in the app than the roaming is disabled ... in the USA I receive SMS from my country for free and, when I connect to WiFi, I get calls and I can do it without cost either.

Yes but that method won't work if you want to use one line for roaming and one line have no roaming at all.