I have a new Phone Plan starting in a couple of days. I have the option to choose a Physical Sim or eSim, both are similarly easy to get going. What are some +/- of both, what should I use? Or does it even matter at all?
One thing I think of but have no conclusion to yet is when my Phone gets stolen, is that a concern then?
I greatly prefer physical sim, just because I can control it. If I want it out of my phone, it’s out, if I want to switch phones, I switch. Easy peasy. I really don’t see any advantage to an eSim apart from maybe faster delivery.
You can disable and even delete an eSIM-profile. Then it’s just a dead chip. If your provider is halfway decent, you can recover a deleted eSIM-profile as well.
When I traveled last year, having eSIM-capability in my phone was extremely convenient. I picked two providers, one as the primary and one as a backup in case there were problems with the first one. No juggling with the SIM-tray and different nano SIMs.
Hmm, that’s actually a decent point. I’ve two regular sim slots, so it isn’t really an issue for me.
The other advantage is getting a second sim in a phone which otherwise can’t have one, only times I’ve used them.
Physical leaves the option of a second one for travel or similar.
You can have a physical SIM alongside an eSIM. These days you may have to have at least one of them be an eSIM, as many phones only have one physical SIM slot.
Yes, I know. Many phones will also be restricted to one active esim profile at once.
Don’t android phones have 2 esims?
Not all of them.
Oh ok, thought that was a standard thing. My bad
Good Point, thanks
Also a lot easier to transfer to another phone if yours breaks
eSIM requires proprietary google services to activate, so if you’re planning on messing with ROMs I find physical to be easier
Physical for your main contract, esim for traveling
My main sim is a normal sim. When I travel, I get an esim for that country. My current provider doesn’t so esim or I might consider the opposite
I want to start using eSIM but I keep hearing about issues with tethering and the phone reporting normal data usage as tethered so I’ve always avoided it due to that. My fear is at some point carriers charging a fee to switch the eSIM from one phone to another.
Some phones will let you save your physical sim as an eSIM.
I moved to esim for everything since my carrier (US Mobile) supports it and has a nice utility built into their mobile app to allow you to move your number to a new esim anytime you want to switch phones.
I’ve transitioned to eSIM with no plans for going back
What’s your reasons for that?
I didn’t feel physical SIMs brought me any benefits. Nor do I feel an eSIM has any downsides. The industry is slowly moving towards eSIMs anyway, so…
eSIM works until it doesn’t. Carriers in the US have had eSIM phones fall off the network when their activation servers fail, or bill data usage incorrectly on eSIM lines, among other weird issues. It’s a way too fragile technology that adds more problems than it attempts to solve.
