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Why I won't buy a esim again by Stuff

hle13

ULTIMATE Member
A journalist for Stuff on a trip to Athens went ahead and brought a esim for the convenience only to buy a data only esim without checking first.

She than discovered her error when she found that the data only SIM didn't come with a phone number/calls so wrote in her article she's never using esims again.

Surely if you're buying a esim for whatever reason than it's up to you as the consumer to ensure it does everything you might need from it?

If it's only a data only SIM and you're happy with calls over WhatsApp than go with one of them, if you want to be able to make calls than surely you should look at buying a SIM that supports calls?

Truly a face palm moment!

 
I've used eSims before and found it simple enough to get it up and running, the only glitch was while the esim would accept/make calls fine and data worked just fine neither myself or the reseller or O2 could fix the glitch that prevented texts from working.

The point though is when I went to ahead to buy the esim I wanted to make sure it offer the trio of calls, texts and data before purchasing it as a data only sim wouldn't have ticked the boxes of my requirements.

In any case rather than own up to their own mistake, they've written off the entire ideal of the esim because they went ahead and brought a data only esim rather than ensure they brought one with calls.
 
On an unrelated experience with eSIM, I recently upgraded my phone, went through the process on the website step by step, deactivate old phone, etc. Final step we're emailing you the QR code to scan on your new device. Email never came through, some sort of system "glitch". So I was stuck with two phones unable to call.

I literally had to install Skype, which I still have some old credit on just to phone customer services and get it sorted out. The simple task of switching out a sim from one phone to another took me over an hour. So not the greatest first experience for me.
probably worth stating which network this is with as it can be a very different experience

EE does it very well in my opinion. They support Apple's transfer system if going between two iPhones, and you can request a new eSIM at any time in the app or on the website.
 
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probably worth stating which network this is with as it can be a very different experience

EE does it very well in my opinion. They support Apple's transfer system if going between two iPhones, and you can request a new eSIM at any time in the app or on the website.
Vodafone doesn't support this. Learnt this the hard way when I was moving my wife to a new iPhone.
 
Vodafone doesn't support this. Learnt this the hard way when I was moving my wife to a new iPhone.
With Vodafone you just delete the esim on the old phone and a new esim arrives instantly by email.
 
How are users supposed to figure that out?
It's not exactly consistent between providers which sucks.

I was loaned an EE eSIM to see whether I could pick up 5G and I ended up erasing it since I didn't want to take it for too long and ofc EE wants to send a code when moving to another eSIM and I didn't realise so I've just made someone go to the EE store.
 
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It's not exactly consistent between providers which sucks.

I was loaned an EE eSIM to see whether I could pick up 5G and I ended up erasing it since I didn't want to take it for too long and ofc EE wants to send a code when moving to another eSIM and I didn't realise so I've just made someone go to the EE store.
when I got a new iPhone and was having problems with the easy transfer, I was able to just get a new one from the app/website. I don't remember needing a code, but it was a while ago so might be wrong
 
when I got a new iPhone and was having problems with the easy transfer, I was able to just get a new one from the app/website. I don't remember needing a code, but it was a while ago so might be wrong
It's an SMS code apparently, was supposed to keep the eSIM installed so I could forward the code on
 
A journalist for Stuff on a trip to Athens went ahead and brought a esim for the convenience only to buy a data only esim without checking first.

She than discovered her error when she found that the data only SIM didn't come with a phone number/calls so wrote in her article she's never using esims again.

Surely if you're buying a esim for whatever reason than it's up to you as the consumer to ensure it does everything you might need from it?

If it's only a data only SIM and you're happy with calls over WhatsApp than go with one of them, if you want to be able to make calls than surely you should look at buying a SIM that supports calls?

Truly a face palm moment!

Hi, it seems like eSIM experiences have been a bit of a mixed bag lately. From unexpected glitches to navigating different provider processes, it's been quite an adventure. Here's to smoother journeys ahead with fewer face-palm moments.
 
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On an unrelated experience with eSIM, I recently upgraded my phone, went through the process on the website step by step, deactivate old phone, etc. Final step we're emailing you the QR code to scan on your new device. Email never came through, some sort of system "glitch". So I was stuck with two phones unable to call.

I literally had to install Skype, which I still have some old credit on just to phone customer services and get it sorted out. The simple task of switching out a sim from one phone to another took me over an hour. So not the greatest first experience for me.
Try this:
- Upgrading to handset plan in O2 store
- eSIM Transfer not supported on O2 (EE worked)
- Ask store rep for a new eSIM
- Wait one hour while they try and do it, not working on all their systems
- Older employee comes and makes one in 2 minutes
- Both phones on No Service, he says it takes a bit to activate and hurries me out of the store
- 24 hours later, still No Service. Call CS at 7pm, on hold for 90 minutes and the call automatically hangs up because it's near closing
- Call the next morning, "system is down"
- Visit the store, system is backup but they can't do anything, tell me to call CS
- CS tells me to visit the store
- Hang up and call back, new CS Rep, activates a popup on the MyO2 app for me to install en eSIM
 
It's an SMS code apparently, was supposed to keep the eSIM installed so I could forward the code on
Yea, its an SMS code to your old physical sim or eSIM, to be fair I can't see anyway where you don't need this and the process is still secure, and they are usually pretty quick in the store. I deleted my SIM before trying the transfer thing, but more recently it worked fine
 
With Vodafone you just delete the esim on the old phone and a new esim arrives instantly by email.
Wut?! Are you serious o_O

If I had known that, it would have made it so much easier. She hadn't registered for an account so I had to faff about with that and then request a SIM swap etc. etc.
 
Wut?! Are you serious o_O

If I had known that, it would have made it so much easier. She hadn't registered for an account so I had to faff about with that and then request a SIM swap etc. etc.
This arrives as soon as you delete the esim on the old device:
 

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A journalist for Stuff on a trip to Athens went ahead and brought a esim for the convenience only to buy a data only esim without checking first.

She than discovered her error when she found that the data only SIM didn't come with a phone number/calls so wrote in her article she's never using esims again.

Surely if you're buying a esim for whatever reason than it's up to you as the consumer to ensure it does everything you might need from it?

If it's only a data only SIM and you're happy with calls over WhatsApp than go with one of them, if you want to be able to make calls than surely you should look at buying a SIM that supports calls?

Truly a face palm moment!

tl;dr

Journalist from Stuff was stuffed.
 
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A journalist for Stuff on a trip to Athens went ahead and brought a esim for the convenience only to buy a data only esim without checking first.

She than discovered her error when she found that the data only SIM didn't come with a phone number/calls so wrote in her article she's never using esims again.

Surely if you're buying a esim for whatever reason than it's up to you as the consumer to ensure it does everything you might need from it?

If it's only a data only SIM and you're happy with calls over WhatsApp than go with one of them, if you want to be able to make calls than surely you should look at buying a SIM that supports calls?

Truly a face palm moment!

I decided to actually read the article a bit and at no point she ever mentions that they didn't realise it was data only. They wished that they had a local number just for a food delivery app, that's all.

They also said they would still use eSIMs if they had full service by the looks of it.

Title used in the article was a bit clickbaity, that's all.
 
I decided to actually read the article a bit and at no point she ever mentions that they didn't realise it was data only. They wished that they had a local number just for a food delivery app, that's all.

They also said they would still use eSIMs if they had full service by the looks of it.

Title used in the article was a bit clickbaity, that's all.
I mean, I used Getir in turkey and they called my EE number when they were at the hotel reception at 3AM. I think that him talking Turkish was the barrier more than my eSIM not having a number.

I mean what, calls while roaming are <£1/min to receive, it’s worth it for me to have the sim active and just decline any calls and ring them back over WhatsApp. Really dumb I can’t just use WiFi calling though
 
I mean, I used Getir in turkey and they called my EE number when they were at the hotel reception at 3AM. I think that him talking Turkish was the barrier more than my eSIM not having a number.

I mean what, calls while roaming are <£1/min to receive, it’s worth it for me to have the sim active and just decline any calls and ring them back over WhatsApp. Really dumb I can’t just use WiFi calling though
I think the delivery app they were using could only accept a Greek number
 
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