Anybody use an e sim?

ronnyb

So Mrs R has started a new part time job that necessitates use of a mobile phone. She has an i phone but doesn't want to use her own number for work related stuff. Anybody use one of these e sims alongside a regular sim in an i phone for separate work and personal calls. Saves carrying two phones about.     

octatonic

Yes, but don't use O2 for it.

They still send a regular sium card that you have to convert to an esim.
It is dumb.

EE are much better.

ronnyb

She's on giff gaff.

exocet

I used one recently whilst travelling in Thailand. Worked like a dream. Your phone sees it as an extra SIM and you can specify whether its on / off for Voice, Data, Texting. 
I'm guessing a mobile managed with InTune or other corporate device management system would allow specific SIM to be ties to Work Profile.

andyp

I have two numbers, a UK and a US one. The UK one is an esim now with Vodafone. It works very well. I had to spend a bit of time working out how to set it up for iMessages and Facetime as I'm overseas, but for two sims in the same country it should work right away and you can turn lines on and off independently if you ever want to.

Lodious

I have one on O2. I changed iPhones a couple of months back and it was absolute hell. O2 haven't got a clue what they are doing with them. It left me without any service for a couple of days. Neither the call centre staff, the website or staff in the shops have any idea how they work. It's totally dysfunctional. 

esims are OK, but don't use them on O2 at the moment. From my experience, I'd keep my main account on a physical sim and use sims for travel etc, where they work well. You do have to be careful to make sure you are calling from the right number, as there are a number of factors which can cause the phone to switch lines. 

andyp

This is a good point. I left O2 having had a lot of issues with them. I'd been a customer for 20 years and it was one of those things that just worked and you pay the bill every month, but something changed semi-recently (I think they changed owners) and they became an absolute disaster in every respect.

The Vodafone esim process was pretty straightforward, and I had zero experience of esims before I did this.

octatonic

Lodious said:

I have one on O2. I changed iPhones a couple of months back and it was absolute hell. O2 haven't got a clue what they are doing with them. It left me without any service for a couple of days. Neither the call centre staff, the website or staff in the shops have any idea how they work. It's totally dysfunctional. 

esims are OK, but don't use them on O2 at the moment. From my experience, I'd keep my main account on a physical sim and use sims for travel etc, where they work well. You do have to be careful to make sure you are calling from the right number, as there are a number of factors which can cause the phone to switch lines. 

I'm leaving O2 as soon as my sim only contract is up.
They are a disaster.

TeleMaster

Barely any problems with O2 in what, nearly 20 years? But I've never used an esim with them. Like couriers, they're all awful to some degree when things go wrong.

Would getting a dual sim phone help with the reliability etc?

mo6020

My US number is on an esim. No dramas with it at all.

ronnyb

TeleMaster said:

Barely any problems with O2 in what, nearly 20 years? But I've never used an esim with them. Like couriers, they're all awful to some degree when things go wrong.

Would getting a dual sim phone help with the reliability etc?

I'm not sure if apple do dual sim phones?

Kittyfrisk

ronnyb said:

TeleMaster said:

Barely any problems with O2 in what, nearly 20 years? But I've never used an esim with them. Like couriers, they're all awful to some degree when things go wrong.

Would getting a dual sim phone help with the reliability etc?

I'm not sure if apple do dual sim phones?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209044

bertie

whats the difference between an "e sim" and bog standard dual sim  ??   

Kittyfrisk

bertie said:

whats the difference between an "e sim" and bog standard dual sim  ??   

An E-SIM is virtual, not like standard SIM's.

TeleMaster

ronnyb said:

TeleMaster said:

Barely any problems with O2 in what, nearly 20 years? But I've never used an esim with them. Like couriers, they're all awful to some degree when things go wrong.

Would getting a dual sim phone help with the reliability etc?

I'm not sure if apple do dual sim phones?

You could get an android, they're very good. 

littlegreenman

I used an Airolo esim in Turkey recently (thanks EE for not including Turkey on my "worldwide inclusive plan"). It was painless and just worked. Only used it for data though, Google maps and tFB mainly just so as to not rely on local WiFi. Cost about £6 for a week, couldn't complain about that.
No idea about using one in the UK concurrent with another sim though.

octatonic

ronnyb said:

TeleMaster said:

Barely any problems with O2 in what, nearly 20 years? But I've never used an esim with them. Like couriers, they're all awful to some degree when things go wrong.

Would getting a dual sim phone help with the reliability etc?

I'm not sure if apple do dual sim phones?

Only in China, because China doesn't allow e-sim.

octatonic

TeleMaster said:

Barely any problems with O2 in what, nearly 20 years? But I've never used an esim with them. Like couriers, they're all awful to some degree when things go wrong.

Would getting a dual sim phone help with the reliability etc?

No, it is an O2 policy to issue physical sims for e-sims.
This is not like couriers at all.
This is O2 having an idiotic policy that is entirely pointless.

No one else does this, because it is dumb.

CavemanGrogg

I have an Asian mobile number that is a an esim, I've never had an issues with it, though did find it a bit fiddly to setup.

ronnyb

TeleMaster said:

ronnyb said:

TeleMaster said:

Barely any problems with O2 in what, nearly 20 years? But I've never used an esim with them. Like couriers, they're all awful to some degree when things go wrong.

Would getting a dual sim phone help with the reliability etc?

I'm not sure if apple do dual sim phones?

You could get an android, they're very good. 

I know that you can get android dual sim phones but she also has an i pad and is used to the operating system, sharing photographs and the like. Her network is giff gaff which piggybacks on O2. According to their website giff gaff have had problems with e sims on i phones from 2018 to 2020. Her phone is a 2020 SE.