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> In theory, with an eSIM it's even easier to swap in your old SIM because you don't have to deal with the physical SIM card. Especially so if you don't have the physical SIM because it's lost or whatever. In my experience it's super frustrating to have to wait for a new SIM to arrive in the mail because you lost it or the old one is faulty! "Even easier" until eSIMs become commonplace or the default, and then manufacturers and OS vendors start locking things down. I'm guessing there are few, if any, regulations around eSIMs. > eSIMs are a massive win when travelling, too. Instantly activate a data plan at cheap local rates in whatever country your travelling to, without having to first get your hands on a physical SIM... Not without a data connection, you can't. Meanwhile in most of the world you can walk into any bodega and walk out a minute or two later with a SIM that pops into your phone. Hell, in damn near any country you can have a SIM in your phone before you've left the airport. The push for eSIMs has little to do with "reducing parts counts" or thinner devices, and everything to do with carriers wanting more control over their customers now that they have to unlock people's phones, by law. Right now I can pop a SIM out of a damaged phone, pop it into a new phone. Or buy a temporary plan and swap SIMs when traveling, just by going into any corner market. Even in the US, you can get a SIM damn near anywhere. Supermarkets, convenience stores, bodegas, electronics stores, cell phone shops. Mark my words, we'll start seeing eSIM transfer fees, locks, policies - all designed to keep people from participating in a free market for cell phone services. Probably mandatory app installation, too - and of course the apps will demand a ton of permissions for things like "fraud prevention", when really they just want to snarf even more of your data. |
And yet, it's the phone manufacturers who are pushing eSIMs. Many carriers seem resistant to rolling them out! Why? If anything, it's because the opposite is true: eSIMs make it easier to switch providers, by eroding the barrier of having to first acquire a physical SIM card in order to switch.
> "Mark my words, we'll start seeing eSIM transfer fees, locks, policies - all designed to keep people from participating in a free market for cell phone services."
I think if that were to happen in Europe, we'd quickly see a regulatory response from the EU (if it isn't illegal already).