My question is when using an esim - what happens to the original sim card? How do you restore that to being active if you switch your phone to the esim option?
I was going to do this and when I when to activate the esim, it told me my original sim card would no longer work. Not desirable.
dj
Totally dependant on the phone.
If it has a physcial SIM and an esim....What that means is they can't be enabled at the same time.
My current phone has 2 radios so both the physical SIM and esim CAN be active simultaneously. Like carrying 2 phones.
My last trip, I disabled my real SIM on arrival. When I got back home i re-enabled it. Just a menu choice.
Some phones only have a single radio circuit for cell towers and don't allow more than one number active at a time.
Basically one phone with an easy way to switch numbers/carriers.
That isn't a drawback specific to esim because some phones which have multiple physical Sims have that same "problem"
Some people don't need them both active at the same time so they buy a cheaper phone without multiple radios.
To make things more confusing, you can get phones that have 2 radios which don't work on the same frequencies.
Asia Vs north America.
My friend in Macau had a dual SIM phone that he said handled both GSM and CDMA.
So...it is important that you know what frequencies are available where you are traveling (a "world" phone is often best), and know what your needs are, before purchasing the phone.
Confusing ? Yep.
It is getting better though. North America has been slow on supporting dual phone numbers, but I suspect esim tech will change that. I don't doubt that every phone will have esim soon, and the more expensive models will support dual active numbers.
m.gsmarena.com
