The last time I dropped my phone and broke its screen I took out the SIM and left the phone in a repair shop. I went home, put the SIM in an old phone. If the broken phone had an eSIM, would I been able to use the old one as a backup? Maybe by going to a shop and askig for a physical SIM. That would be slower and less convenient. A physical SIM fits in a Samsung A40 which is probably the smaller and lighter Android phone available today and in much smaller phones of the past so it's definitely not a burden.
If we disregard the fact that many older but still usable phones don’t support e-sim (which was the original point), what do you mean ”just” download the e-sim?
At least in my country, getting an e-sim is a pretty involved process which requires secure authentication, and specifically in my case that authentication would be gone with the now-broken phone if one didn’t have the foresight to have a backup (which many people do not).
If you have a physical sim, you can move it to almost any (unlocked) mobile phone in existence (at least in Europe) and at most you’ll need the PIN/PUK.
Of course, this goes the other way as well if you drop your phone in the ocean for example, provided you have alternate authentication and a compatible phone, e-sim will have you up and running again much faster.
Not everyone has that option. For my carrier I have to call them and ask if they can help me set up esim each time because I can't do it myself. And each time it takes at least 30 minutes. Plus I just don't trust esim yet, it hasn't been able to shine as a technology. Give it a few years, I'm all for esim, but we have to make the switch gradually. Give me both for now and keep physical sims alive for the next 7+ years to get everyone onboard. By then the process for getting an esim will have gotten waaay smoother.
Lucky for you, but I don't have that option. I also like having the ability to move a SIM between my 5G CPE and my phone. Not gonna replace a 2 year old, €700 CPE just to try and chase eSIM dreams.
Oh yeah, it's great that my car has a way to install a saddle on, because if the car breaks I can easily switch back to my horse.
Carriers are the real problem here, not letting you easily switch between a physical SIM and an eSIM in case that happens. Some do, but you usually have to call up, there are delays, etc. Ideally it would be an easy switch in their web admin panel.
But you would need to somehow get in touch with said carrier. Granted, you could probably do that over WiFi but if my phone breaks when, say, I'm out camping I'm SoL.
In the UK most carriers also offer printed QR codes for the eSIM. These can be scanned more than once to activate it. So you can store that somewhere and scan it on another phone.
While I could see how the camping scenario might matter to a few people, I would personally rather have a couple mAh larger battery because of the slight physical space savings that I imagine eSIM brings.
Oh yeah, agreed. If moving an eSIM requires me stowing away a QR code with my backup phone then I'll gladly give up my physical SIM slot for more battery.
Would you bring a spare phone then? Sounds implausible. If you did, and it’s an emergency you can use a phone without a sim at all with the emergency network.
I actually do, it's always good to have a few back up essential things if they don't take up too much space. Every time I go camping/travelling I update my old OnePlus 3T (LineageOS is still up-to-date which is amazing) and bring it with me. If my iPhone breaks I can move the SIM card and still keep at it.
Agreed. Both wife and I need our phones for work connectivity, and it's a lot easier just to carry our old models in case one of ours dies on a trip. I'm not going to buy an iPhone while on a trip out of the country - they won't even have the models that support Verizon in most markets.
My old phone is still logged in to Apple, still works, still holds a charge. I'd like some eSIM system that was as convenient as "phone dies, pull SIM, put in old phone, boot".
The associated esim app has free connectivity to complete the signup flow without wifi. It is obviously more convenient to download an app to your backup phone than futz around with physical sims you just have to remember to do so before you go camping.
Now you might retort aha! See! In a very narrow set of circumstances.. let me cut you off, look, you're going to need to remember to bring a paperclip or sim tool to do it the old fashioned way anyhow. So you're remembering something. If you're an amnesic lost in the woods you got bigger problems.
Besides, those are 2 grams of weight savings in my ultra light backpacking setup!
My carrier don't let you download an eSIM - they have to mail you a physical QR code that has a SIM number then swap them over the phone or in a store. Makes it a week long process at least.
I worry about this so much. I have a Samsung Galaxy S10e that I dread losing or breaking... a family member with a barely more recent Galaxy had to give up a sim slot and a headphone jack. Her phone does add 5G however which anecdotally has not been noticeably faster but has a huge impact on battery life. If I can't keep repairing my phone maybe the next one I get will be an iPhone from Europe.
