Sim or eSim

danco

I'm thinking of changing my sim-only contract to iDMobile who have a good deal, and have a couple of questions.

1. They offer a choice of physical Sim or eSim. I've always used a physical one. What are the advantages and disadvantages of an eSim?

2. Any particular reason not to use iDMobile? The negatives I've seen on this forum relate to non-delivery of vouchers, which does not concern me.

Murmansk

You have to have a phone that's able to take an ESIM in order to use one. Plenty of info on the SIM Sherpa website about ESIMS

https://www.simsherpa.com/networks/esim-for-uk-sim-only-deals#esim-benefits

danco

Yes, of course. I wouldn't have asked if my phone could not take an eSIM.  Thanks for the site; basically it says there is no significant difference. That's what I suspected, but was not sure.

Murmansk

ESIMs are good in that you can have more than two and you can get ones suited to travel to countries outside the EU so you can get to use data at a MUCH more reasonable price than you'd pay if you were to use your own network provider's SIM. 

I use a Roamless one and it seems very good but there are no doubt others that are as good

jbrassy

I switched to ID a little while back and opted for the physical sim over the esim. This was mainly for ease and familiarity, but I don't see any downsides to an esim. If you have a physical sim, you can still use an esim simultaneously.

As for ID itself, I think it's good value and recommend to others. Not had any issues myself, although I didn't go for one of those deals which gives you a free voucher. 

Frozen_up_north

The advantage of a physical SIM is that you can easily and quickly swap it to another phone in case of problems.

ID Mobile use the 3 network, IMO one of the less reliable ones. We had two phones on 3 and my OH had no data at all at her work location (site only 200 yards away) as Three seemed unable to supply enough bandwidth on the cable to the site, and at home any glitch in the mains electricity resulted in the local 3 site going off for around 15 ~ 20 mins as they had no back up battery.

No such issues with O2 or the EE networks we currently use (GiffGaff and 1p Mobile, 30 day rolling on a non contract basis).

All mobile networks are built down to a price, some are less well engineered than others...

steven141

They both work just as well but in my experience esim can be an issue if changing devices.

I'm not sure about iD Mobile. I've heard that their customer service is bad. 

Here is my tips on esim from networks I've used which some people may find useful:

Vodafone is straightforward in that it emails you a new QR code as soon as you delete your esim from the device that it is registered on.

EE is a hit or a miss. You can't delete the esim before adding to the new device without going round in circles on the live chat or having to go into the shop. If you leave it active them try to add it to the new device from the EE app as they need a text confirmation code.

flaneurs_lobster

steven141 said:

They both work just as well but in my experience esim can be an issue if changing devices.

I'm not sure about iD Mobile. I've heard that their customer service is bad. 

Here is my tips on esim from networks I've used which some people may find useful:

Vodafone is straightforward in that it emails you a new QR code as soon as you delete your esim from the device that it is registered on.

EE is a hit or a miss. You can't delete the esim before adding to the new device without going round in circles on the live chat or having to go into the shop. If you leave it active them try to add it to the new device from the EE app as they need a text confirmation code.

Personally I want the procedure to swap SIMs, e- or otherwise, to be as secure as possible in order to make SIM swap fraud hard. 

Yes there needs to be an efficient method to do this when it's legitimate but I want the supplier to only release the new SIM (e- or otherwise) when I'm in control of the process, with my secure login, passcodes, SIM lock codes and anything else that might be available.

W1zz

I'd avoid ID Mobile. Shocking when indoors (pubs) or in busy city centres. Got 4 sim contracts with them and I'm regretting it. Call failures where it would either not ring at all, or it would ring and the other person couldn't hear you speak. Finally threw in the towel this weekend after having nightmare service in Manchester city centre. Walked into the local EE store and walked out with 4 new contracts. Even though I still have 6 months left on these damn ID Mobile contracts. What's the point of paying for a service, however cheap, when it's like stepping back 20 years using Edge data. Just too slow and unreliable. And yes, the ID coverage maps claim to have good signals, but in reality, you can have 5 bars and zero internet with ID mobile.