What is an eSim?

MSE_James

I'm using an eSim for the first time right now - via Airalo in Belgium - and it's all going well so far. 

sully1311

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

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?
 

Ceks1988

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

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

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

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

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.

Uitlander

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.

flaneurs_lobster

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?