I was afraid of this, when I bought my 15PM. Traveled to Chile, and what would have been a quick transaction at the Entel store ended in disappointment. Apparently you need a Chilean ID to purchase an eSIM. Fortunately, I brought a pixel 3 I can hotspot, and takes a nano sim, but it’s something of a hassle. My only regret so far.
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You can use one of those data eSIM: AirAlo for one time usage. Three Hong Kong for a HK number and cheap data roaming, valid indefinitely (a year if you don’t use it).
Get the Hong Kong version which has dual physical SIM!
Many people are mentioning buying the non-US model. Unfortunately this comes with some trade-offs, the biggest is the lack of UWB. The non-north American model lacks some additional bands. In addition to that, there is the issue of warranty support and AppleCare.
I really dislike the face that Apple removed the sim tray for US models specifically because of issues getting service on travel. The concept of eSIM is great but the implementation so far here in the US has been generally poor.
At this point, my plan is to just take an iPhone SE with me when I travel and not even bother with trying to do an eSIM outside of the US.
Let me tell you, I loathe eSIM. I will sell my youngest child to get a nano SIM slot back. I have t-mo and they need you to call them and then they need to send a 1 time randomized PIN via SMS to read back to them… Except if you have no functioning eSIM or another line they can send it to on your account, how else would you do it? Oh, that’s right… GO TO THEIR STORE! This defeats the whole point of having any SIM to begin with. They wont even send an EMAIL of the PIN to you…
Well that sucks. But specifically that’s T-Mobile having a shitty policy. No doubt supremely frustrating though.
SIM cards feel like an extremely dated concept. You need a random bit of plastic to authenticate yourself with an online service? It’s just that the infrastructure around eSIM hasn’t really caught up to the point where they are as convenient as SIM cards, but we will get there.
I didn’t realize how much of a pita an esim would be until I had to use one (I bought a U.S. Iphone esim only). So until they are way more ubiquitous I will most likely go back to a phone that uses regular sim cards.
That sounds like a T-Mobile issue?
Even more so if your phone is locked to a carrier
Use an app like Airalo and buy one of their country-specific plans. Much easier.
You might have a better chance with a small street vendor. I noticed this is the case for some countries where the small street vendor sometimes doesn’t care to check your ID even when they are required to. Not sure if this is the case in Chile.
This is why I’m glad the 15PM in the UK still has the physical sim
Use this app called Airalo.
Yeah I’m with the physical sim crowd on this one. It’s utterly stupid that Apple is doing this. Incredibly inconvenient and a huge hassle for those of us eu travel. Yea I understand the esim is the future, but the future hasn’t caught up with a large portion of the world. I wish you could easily buy the other versions of iPhones in the US, which still have sim slots. Apple: “nope, nobody travels, nobody travels, and if they do they should pay exorbitant international roaming charges becaus…” Now I’ll wait for the Apple fan club to “let me have it”.
There is a study out there that suggests that middle class Americans only travel internationally once per decade, and that includes Mexico and Canada. I’m guessing that Apple figured out that they could save a few bucks in costs and operational efficiency per phone by removing the physical sim. That extra profit was enough to screw over the small minority of us who have the privilege of visiting other countries pretty often.
On the flip side, the cellular providers won’t catch up until they’re forced. They still haven’t bothered with carrier side RCS. Apple’s going eSIM as much as possible now, and how much you want to bet Samsung and Pixel will follow through within a year or two?
But none of that diminishes the pain points for those of you traveling internationally this year, I know.
Here in the Phils, we have one esim and one physical sim. Hongkong and China has two physical sims.
Next time try using airalo buy a prepaid e sim and enjoy
Airalo is absurdly overpriced, just like most eSim services. A month ago I travelled to Egypt and had the option to get an eSim in there (around 27-30$) or wait and see my options and the airport. I got a prepaid SIM card for 8 bucks that offered me more than Airalo lol for a third of the price. Thanks god that the 14 Pro and 15 Pro still have a physical sim card slot outside the US
That looks like a better deal than the app I was using, ubigi
Had to go for Ubigi (and was very happy with it) when I went to Japan because I read tons of terrible reviews about airalo in Japan specifically. Great service in general but seemed to have horrible coverage in Japan
Hmm
I feel ya, I just bought a 15 plus in the U.S. but I live in México and it’s been a total pita. The other problem is you can only register your Apple ID in one country/region so many apps I need in one country are not available in the other and you can only change it once every 90 days.
You can make a second Apple ID and switch between the two for 2 different countries app stores that is what I do to get local apps for 2 countries.
Thanks for the tip, I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll give it a try!
My samsung j7 with dual Sim slots and a micro sd slot 🫡😂
If I’m traveling, I’m paying my carrier for their international plan. I’m not spending thousands of dollars on an international trip just to worry about saving an extra $50-$100 on cell service. Plus I do not want to waste a single second hassling with a foreign carrier. I only have so much time to enjoy my vacation. Dealing with telecoms is not in my to do list.