Carrier T-Mobile (postpaid) eSIM

[fr4c]

Been running eSIM for a few weeks now, and have noticed recently that calls seem to fail. Symptoms are "Call Failed" when attempting to dial out, and I assume no one is able to call my line since I get notified of VM's after I toggle Airplane Mode or reboot. I just performed a Network Reset as well just in case, but this is concerning as I have no way of telling when the T-Mobile line on eSIM will stop working for calls.

My current setup is TMobile on eSIM for calls/texts only for my personal line. Work Verizon nano SIM for data/calls/text.

 

[blueeyes2die4]

Been running eSIM for a few weeks now, and have noticed recently that calls seem to fail. Symptoms are "Call Failed" when attempting to dial out, and I assume no one is able to call my line since I get notified of VM's after I toggle Airplane Mode or reboot. I just performed a Network Reset as well just in case, but this is concerning as I have no way of telling when the T-Mobile line on eSIM will stop working for calls.

My current setup is TMobile on eSIM for calls/texts only for my personal line. Work Verizon nano SIM for data/calls/text.

I have the same setup and was having the same issue at times. I turned of WiFi calling on both T-Mobile and Verizon and I have not had the issue since. Maybe you could try and see if it solved the problem for you as well.

 

[fr4c]

I have the same setup and was having the same issue at times. I turned of WiFi calling on both T-Mobile and Verizon and I have not had the issue since. Maybe you could try and see if it solved the problem for you as well.

Thanks for this, seems to have solved the issue for the time being. However it looks like the other problem is that while outgoing calls now work without failing, it seems like incoming call (at least the first call to come in after the phone has sat idle) just rings twice before disconnecting. So the caller basically gets no dial tone and I get a missed call notification after the phone rings twice. However test calls after this works just fine. I'm wondering if there's some sort of idle/wake-up issue of the iPhone with the eSIM.

 

[cruppga]

I have a potentially crazy question. once esim is activated how do you know if esim is primary or secondary?

 

[hhzhao]

I have a potentially crazy question. once esim is activated how do you know if esim is primary or secondary?

By default iPhone naming, the physical SIM is called "Primary" and eSIM is called "Secondary". Not to be confused the functionality there is no logical Primary and/or Secondary. You configure the one that you want to be using DATA and other is for voice only. You can also setup the DEFAULT line of outgoing call on either one of them. So to be lesser confusion on the term of Primary and Secondary, it is the best practice to name each line with a meaningful name. For example, I have my AT&T on eSIM, which I name it "AT&T", and a oversea carrier on physical SIM which I name it as "XYZ". When I am in the States, I set my AT&T as DEFAULT line for voice and DATA, when I am oversea, I set "XYZ" as my DEFAULT line for voice and DATA.

Hope that answers your question.

 

[cruppga]

It does, thanks.

 

[satpak]

Do others here have issues with WiFi calling after following the method outlined here?

Also, what if for some reason the e-SIM fails or after a few days I'd like to go back to my physical SIM? Is that possible? Curious to know what will happen to the physical SIM.

 

[mofoliar]

I get trying to find work arounds when the eSIMs were still in a beta version of iOS but it's a public release now and both Verizon & AT&T officially support it. It's really unacceptable that you have to get sneaky with TMobile to get this to work. I gave up on them and moved to Verizon for the time being. Once TMO gets their act together, I'll likely come back but it's not worth the hoops people are jumping through. That's IMO anyway.

But hey - John Legere was right!. eSIMs DO make switching carriers so easy! I did it all through the Verizon app.

I am switched to AT&T for work related issue from T-Mobile...I just did a 2nd Line via eSim it was done in 5 minutes through cellular option under general!

 

[hsnsky]

Correct me if I'm wrong, however, would one drawback to eSIM be when you purchase a new phone? With a physical SIM you would simply swap it into your new phone and you're good to go. With eSIM you would have to go through the added step of obtaining a new barcode / digital sim from your carrier to activate on your new phone, is that correct or am I missing something?

 

[George Knighton]

Do others here have issues with WiFi calling after following the method outlined here?

Also, what if for some reason the e-SIM fails or after a few days I'd like to go back to my physical SIM? Is that possible? Curious to know what will happen to the physical SIM.

I replied in the other thread: eSIM + Dual SIM Q&A
[doublepost=1552837465][/doublepost]

Correct me if I'm wrong, however, would one drawback to eSIM be when you purchase a new phone? With a physical SIM you would simply swap it into your new phone and you're good to go. With eSIM you would have to go through the added step of obtaining a new barcode / digital sim from your carrier to activate on your new phone, is that correct or am I missing something?

Nope, you're not missing anything.

eSIM is a step forward if you really need more than one plan. If you travel a lot for business, say, and want an eSIM for Hong Kong, an eSIM for the EU, and a physical SIM for your main cellular plan in the UK or US.

I know that you can have at least five eSIM plus a physical SIM.

So it's really neat...but maybe not for everybody.

The typical everyday consumer of cellular services would probably do as well just keeping the physical SIM and never giving eSIM a chance at all. As you say, most of us would just want to take out the old SIM and put it in the new phone, skipping any phone calls or activation fees.

On the iPhones, an eSIM survives a full backup and restore process, if that's any help. You'd have to delete it in the iOS settings before you restored the iPhone if you wanted to get rid of it.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Do others here have issues with WiFi calling after following the method outlined here?

Also, what if for some reason the e-SIM fails or after a few days I'd like to go back to my physical SIM? Is that possible? Curious to know what will happen to the physical SIM.

You can reactive the physical sim within 30 or 90 days. I don't remember which one exactly.

 

[il8on]

Has anyone had success doing this lately? I am attempting to activate eSIM and am having issues.

Please confirm the ACTIVATION CODE must be blank.

Also, for CONFIRMATION CODE I have tried the last four of my social, the last four digits of line phone number and leaving it blank.

No dice.


Please help. Thank you.

 

[George Knighton]

T-Mobile might update their app to offer more painless process eventually, but I couldn't wait.

I followed solodogg's awesome instructions to activate eSIM on T-Mobile. I had to make few minor adjustments, but the process is relatively easy.

What you need:

• iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or iPhone XS Max
• Upgraded to iOS 12.1.1
• SIM removal tool from your iPhone packaging or paperclip
• Connected to Wi-Fi
• T-Mobile app

1. Launch the Settings app, then General, then About. Hold onto EID field (probably begins with 8904) for few seconds and select Copy.
2. Launch the T-Mobile app, then click on the text chat support icon (upper right corner, next to the phone support icon).
3. When representative welcomes you (wait time was about 10 minutes for me), type "I would like to initiate a SIM swap. My EID is " (hold on to the text chat field then select Paste to fill in the EID number).
4. T-Mobile rep might ask few minor questions like phone model and phone number.
5. T-Mobile rep will eventually initiate the SIM swap, then send a confirmation PIN SMS (takes a minute or two).
6. Type in the confirmation PIN.
7. After few minutes, you will get a confirmation SMS. Thank the rep.
8. Remove the physical SIM card (you do not need to shutdown your phone).
9. Launch the Settings app, then Cellular, Add Cellular Plan, then Enter Details Manually.
10. Enter the SM-DP+ Address: cust-005-v4-prod-atl2.gdsb.net
11. Click Next. If it fails, repeat steps 9 and 10.
12. If asked for Confirmation Code, enter the last 4 digits of your social security number or phone number.
13. You are done. Verify Cellular, P2 page, making sure all the settings are unchanged and Cellular Plans and Usage are same as before. Your eSIM maybe initially assigned with "Secondary" Cellular Plan Label. Change it to "Primary" or whatever you prefer.

On the physical SIM slot, I am using a SIM card from the promotional voice line, which will be given to my younger kid eventually.

I'm quoting this because of the couple of people who have queried recently, evidently unaware that the precise instructions are here.

 

[upnorth85]

I'm quoting this because of the couple of people who have queried recently, evidently unaware that the precise instructions are here.

Thanks for reposting the instructions. Just a quick question. When I go overseas, can I disable the e-sim and enable the local physical SIM of the country I am visiting?

 

[George Knighton]

Thanks for reposting the instructions. Just a quick question. When I go overseas, can I disable the e-sim and enable the local physical SIM of the country I am visiting?

Yes. It is very easy to do.

You can assign the Mobile Data and Default Voice lines back and forth at will, or turn off completely whatever cellular plan you do not want to use.

 

[Siskata]

Hello,

I have postpaid T-Mobile plan and an iPhone XS. I tried to transfer to eSim card few times but each time I couldn't get it to work properly or at all. No idea what is going wrong but I noticed that the eSim card says "T-Mobile" for carrier while my physical Sim says "T-Mobile One". And while reading this thread I realized that I didn't not take out the physical Sim card prior to entering the servers (I scanned a QR code). Is it possible that this is the problem?

I will be in Europe for over 2 months and I was hoping to use a physical local Sim card.

Thank you in advance!

 

[George Knighton]

(I scanned a QR code)

You're the first person I've read has received a QR code from T-Mobile support for a postpaid line, so I want to make sure that I am understanding you correctly.

The technique that has been posted here a few times, requiring entering a URL for the SM-DP+ address, still works. At least, nobody has reported that it has stopped working.

My T-Mobile eSIM is still working fine.

 

[Siskata]

You're the first person I've read has received a QR code from T-Mobile support for a postpaid line, so I want to make sure that I am understanding you correctly.

Sorry, I wasn’t clear - I scanned a QR code that I found on the internet from another site instead of entering the address manually. That QR code has worked for everybody else but me.

 

[George Knighton]

Sorry, I wasn’t clear - I scanned a QR code that I found on the internet from another site instead of entering the address manually. That QR code has worked for everybody else but me.

Ahh. I see.

Well. We know that the URL technique works, so maybe you should try that. What most of us do is send the URL to ourselves in a way that allows us to be able to paste the address into the right place when it's needed.

 

[Siskata]

Ahh. I see.

Well. We know that the URL technique works, so maybe you should try that. What most of us do is send the URL to ourselves in a way that allows us to be able to paste the address into the right place when it's needed.

Thanks again. I usually either create a note on my Mac or copy/paste between phone and computer.

I do believe the bar code worked the 4-5 times but the issue was that I left the old SIM card in and when it asked me to select which line to use for what didn't give me an option to select the eSIM card for everything.

I will try it again tonight one last time and see if it works if I remove the SIM card before I enter the address manually.

 

[mofoliar]

I got my TMOBILE sim moved over eSim without a hitch (postpaid).. Inserted my Sprint sim in...Dual networks!

 

[Banglazed]

I got my TMOBILE sim moved over eSim without a hitch (postpaid).. Inserted my Sprint sim in...Dual networks!

When did you activate the eSIM? My friend has been trying to but T-Mobile isn't budging.

 

[mofoliar]

When did you activate the eSIM? My friend has been trying to but T-Mobile isn't budging.

1hr ago...Call 611 and when a Rep comes on the line,I told her I wanted to activate a device and gave her the EID and once that was done,I asked her to make sure my sim card line got moved to eSim .then goto general>Phone>Add Cellular plan>Enter details manually!
On the SM-DP+Address Enter this-
https://cust--005-v4-prod-atl2.gdsb.net
Then just follow the setup for primary/Secondary!
Good luck!!

 

[Siskata]

Ahh. I see.

Well. We know that the URL technique works, so maybe you should try that. What most of us do is send the URL to ourselves in a way that allows us to be able to paste the address into the right place when it's needed.

I finally figured it out! I guess 5th time is the charm!

Initially I had the same result I took out the SIM card a few times and the last time I added it I went into the settings of that line and turned it off. This is what did it for me. It didn't matter that the physical SIM was not inserted, the data wouldn't work until I inserted the SIM and turned off that line.

I hope this helps someone else.

 

[Chargerdan]

After a few months of thinking about it I finally took the plunge and switched my line to eSIM on T-Mobile. Took me 2 chat sessions. First one wouldn't budge and I was using the 9to5Mac wording. Second one I used the exact wording from the first post here. He understood what I wanted and assisted me through the entire process along with the requisite warnings of limited support. I don't think either procedure is better than the other but adding the EID to the original message took the need to talk about not having a SIM card number out of the equation.

It was probably just luck the second time.

Tomorrow I'm going to pickup my Spectrum Mobile SIM. It's runs on Verizon's network so I should have a decent backup in the areas that T-Mobile isn't as strong.

I would like to thank those of you who performed this earlier and shared your knowledge.