What is an eSim?

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  • MSE_James
    MSE_James Posts: 1,627 Community Admin
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Cashback Cashier Newshound!
    I'm using an eSim for the first time right now - via Airalo in Belgium - and it's all going well so far. 
    Official MSE Forum Team member.
    Please report all problem posts to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com
  • sully1311
    sully1311 Posts: 385 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper
    eSIMs are great for roaming abroad (mostly to non-EU countries). Use the eSIM for data and still hae voice/SMS for calls and texts, if necessary. I had a 10GB Flexiroam eSIM for a holiday to Turkey last year for around a tenner. 
  • frankie
    frankie Posts: 848 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts
    I too have read the eSIM article and found it quite interesting.  However, on looking into eSIMs further I was sorry to see that only certain mobiles support them. I thought it would be the ideal solution for my upcoming trip to Canada and have found that my Moto G32 will not work. It does have 2 SIM slots though so I suppose I will have to go down the more expensive Local SIM route?
     
  • I recently found Just eSIM who offer a 200MB free trial for their Global Travel eSIM.

    Work across 84 Countries. You can test their service with the free trial before committing to a paid plan.


  • Uitlander
    Uitlander Posts: 33 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 10 November 2023 at 1:54PM
    On Monday I asked Tesco Mobile how I could set up an eSim on my new mobile phone as a pay monthly customer. My handset is a Moto G54 which is a dual sim handset - 1 eSim & 1 physical Sim slot (I wanted to use the eSim for my personal number & the physical sim for my work line). I was told by their customer service staff this feature was not yet available on their network. The table in the article is wrong I'm afraid.
  • d123
    d123 Posts: 8,726 Forumite
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    Uitlander said:
    On Monday I asked Tesco Mobile how I could set up an eSim on my new mobile phone as a pay monthly customer. My handset is a Moto G54 which is a dual sim handset - 1 eSim & 1 physical Sim slot (I wanted to use the eSim for my personal number & the physical sim for my work line). I was told by their customer service staff this feature was not yet available on their network. The table in the article is wrong I'm afraid.
    IIRC you can only get a Tesco eSIM by going into a Tesco Mobile store and directly asking for one, customer service aren’t processing them, that was info from a Tesco Mobile staff member about a month ago.
    ====
  • Uitlander
    Uitlander Posts: 33 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 10 November 2023 at 2:59PM
    d123 said:
    IIRC you can only get a Tesco eSIM by going into a Tesco Mobile store and directly asking for one, customer service aren’t processing them, that was info from a Tesco Mobile staff member about a month ago. 
    That doesn't align with what I was told on Monday by Tesco Mobile staff. It was a blanket statement that eSims were not available on the network. There was no suggestion that visiting one of their shops would change the situation.
  • d123
    d123 Posts: 8,726 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Uitlander said:
    d123 said:
    IIRC you can only get a Tesco eSIM by going into a Tesco Mobile store and directly asking for one, customer service aren’t processing them, that was info from a Tesco Mobile staff member about a month ago. 
    That doesn't align with what I was told on Monday by Tesco Mobile staff. It was a blanket statement that eSims were not available on the network. There was no suggestion that visiting one of their shops would change the situation.

    I have the info from two sources, one is a customer who now has an eSim from Tesco Mobile and the other is a Tesco Mobile staff member. 
    They will not offer or suggest them, you have to directly ask the in-store staff to supply one.
    ====
  • d123 said:

    They will not offer or suggest them, you have to directly ask the in-store staff to supply one.
    I followed up on Twitter/X as there is no Tesco mobile shop nearby. After a series of false starts, with different Tesco staff leaving stock responses on the thread that demonstrated that they hadn't read the original question, I eventually got through to someone who claims they have sent me an eSIM pack. I'll wait and see if that actually produces an eSIM as my understanding is that all I need is a QR code that they could email to me, but apparently that is not possible. Half of me is expecting them to send a physical SIM instead as that would be in line with the standard of customer service to date. But I don't really have the spare time to make a 2 hour round trip to the nearest Tesco mobile shop. Tesco mobile are not exactly covering themselves in glory with their approach to this.
  • Uitlander said:
    d123 said:

    They will not offer or suggest them, you have to directly ask the in-store staff to supply one.
    I followed up on Twitter/X as there is no Tesco mobile shop nearby. After a series of false starts, with different Tesco staff leaving stock responses on the thread that demonstrated that they hadn't read the original question, I eventually got through to someone who claims they have sent me an eSIM pack. I'll wait and see if that actually produces an eSIM as my understanding is that all I need is a QR code that they could email to me, but apparently that is not possible. Half of me is expecting them to send a physical SIM instead as that would be in line with the standard of customer service to date. But I don't really have the spare time to make a 2 hour round trip to the nearest Tesco mobile shop. Tesco mobile are not exactly covering themselves in glory with their approach to this.
    Regardless of whether you receive a physical or eSIM, have you just managed to swap your current SIM for a replacement on the basis of a Twitter/X conversation? 

    Must have been just a tad of security questioning/identity verification as well?
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