iPhone 11 eSim

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nadeem_k

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Hi

Has anyone managed to get the eSim working on the iPhone 11. Are the devices available in South Africa dual sim with an eSim?
 
nadeem_k said:
Hi

Has anyone managed to get the eSim working on the iPhone 11. Are the devices available in South Africa dual sim with an eSim?
Click to expand...

All devices in SA are Normal + eSim yes.

Whether someone has bothered to try make it work I don’t know.
 
@tzepez I have an esim from Vodacom working in my iPhone XR currently, have had it for nearly 2 years. You do have to keep your physical SIM card active however, I keep mine in another old phone. The eSIM is copy of the main sim and needs it to be active. I got mine (twice) from Vodacom World. The person who helped me also told me it wouldn’t work as it was only meant for wearables, but it does work. I have a rain sim in the slot for data.

Tsepz_GP said:
I questioned Vodacom around this, not sure if your question is similar to what I had in mind but here is what I said and here is what vodacom told me on Twitter:
View attachment 919447
Click to expand...
 
wilbur said:
@tzepez I have an esim from Vodacom working in my iPhone XR currently, have had it for nearly 2 years. You do have to keep your physical SIM card active however, I keep mine in another old phone. The eSIM is copy of the main sim and needs it to be active. I got mine (twice) from Vodacom World. The person who helped me also told me it wouldn’t work as it was only meant for wearables, but it does work. I have a rain sim in the slot for data.
Click to expand...
Now that's what I want to hear :) My main (Vodacom) sim will be the physical sim and I want to add a data eSim. Excluding rain, who else can provision a data eSim ? Or am I reading your post incorrectly.... You have rain in the nano-sim and VC as eSim ?
 
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wilbur said:
@tzepez I have an esim from Vodacom working in my iPhone XR currently, have had it for nearly 2 years. You do have to keep your physical SIM card active however, I keep mine in another old phone. The eSIM is copy of the main sim and needs it to be active. I got mine (twice) from Vodacom World. The person who helped me also told me it wouldn’t work as it was only meant for wearables, but it does work. I have a rain sim in the slot for data.
Click to expand...

This is amazing, so you had to physically go to Vodaworld to get this done?

I’m sure Vodacom are telling me it’s not possible to deter more people from trying to do this as they know many will add a second sim of a competitor.
 
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Luke7777 said:
Now that's what I want to hear :) My main (Vodacom) sim will be the physical sim and I want to add a data eSim. Excluding rain, who else can provision a data eSim ? Or am I reading your post incorrectly.... You have rain in the nano-sim and VC as eSim ?
Click to expand...
So yes, my Vodacom line is the eSIM, because as yet rain don't offer one, so I use their nano-sim. It really doesn't matter which is which, they are both active at the same time and you can choose which is used for voice and which data. The iPhone lets you prioritise which sim is the data one, but can switch to the other active sim if you lose signal (see below).

Also, before lockdown I used to travel to India quite a lot and have a JIO esim as well. When I left home I would put the Vodacom nano-sim in the slot and turn on the JIO esim, worked perfectly.
IMG_5324.jpg
 
Thanks, will look further into this when I get my iPhone 11... probably in the next day or 2 . Interesting that you have both an eSim and nano sim active with the same number. That was my reason for going main as nano-sim, in case something goes wrong and I need to revert back to my 6S.
 
Absolutely brilliant, yeah I am also going to look into this. During Load Shedding I have found that Vodacom’s masts go down much faster than MTN, so I have a prepaid MTN sim loaded with data just in case Eishkom does it’s crap again (which I am sure it will).

May also get a RAIN sim, need to see how good their coverage is in my area.
 
Luke7777 said:
Thanks, will look further into this when I get my iPhone 11... probably in the next day or 2 . Interesting that you have both an eSim and nano sim active with the same number. That was my reason for going main as nano-sim, in case something goes wrong and I need to revert back to my 6S.
Click to expand...
As the Vodacom eSIM is linked to the main physical sim, you have to keep them both active otherwise the eSIM stops working. Keep your 6s on with the VC nano in it and your good to go with a back up ready!
 
wilbur said:
As the Vodacom eSIM is linked to the main physical sim, you have to keep them both active otherwise the eSIM stops working. Keep your 6s on with the VC nano in it and your good to go with a back up ready!
Click to expand...

Dont you think having a physical sim in a device that is switched on and having the e-sim assigned to your iPhone then defeats the purpose of an e-sim ?
So I go buy a brand new iPhone 11 Pro + Apple Watch Cellular series 6 (as available as of 06 Oct 2020) since the iPhone 12 is still to be launched , assuming Vodacom then allows e-sim (which is only active under their One-Number product that is for wearables , not handheld phones) and they tell me must leave a nano-sim plugged in , then I am wasting my time with this "virtual" simless sim.
And that is why I'd rather get the 2 x nano sim version of current iPhone or a equivalent Android , current got a dual nano sim Note 10
The provisioning using vendors like TruPhone etc with Apple's specific e-sim implementation is more of a hassle than anything else.

Vodacom One Number

Vodacom One Number
www.vodacom.co.za www.vodacom.co.za
 
I guess it’s about what you want to achieve. For me, I don’t want an Android device and I don’t want to get an iPhone from overseas that supports dual sim as I’d be concerned about warranty support. My local iPhone can then give me what I want, a VC number that I’ve had for 15 years and cheaper data from rain, with no commitment. If that means I have another phone lying around in my house that’s always on then I don’t mind that. I don’t have to carry the 2nd phone around with me, it just has to be on and connected to the network.

if that doesn’t work for you, don’t do it. I’m just sharing my experience.
 
Just out of curiosity, what happens with voice calls and SMS messages - will both phones ring and receive messages?
 
bluepoole said:
Just out of curiosity, what happens with voice calls and SMS messages - will both phones ring and receive messages?
Click to expand...
Im assuming the same thing that used to happen with dual sim's when they were available.
The last device to logon to the network becomes the primary and will receive calls and text messages.
It may be different with eSIM where a device can be nominated as primary though.
 
fismail said:
Dont you think having a physical sim in a device that is switched on and having the e-sim assigned to your iPhone then defeats the purpose of an e-sim ?
So I go buy a brand new iPhone 11 Pro + Apple Watch Cellular series 6 (as available as of 06 Oct 2020) since the iPhone 12 is still to be launched , assuming Vodacom then allows e-sim (which is only active under their One-Number product that is for wearables , not handheld phones) and they tell me must leave a nano-sim plugged in , then I am wasting my time with this "virtual" simless sim.
And that is why I'd rather get the 2 x nano sim version of current iPhone or a equivalent Android , current got a dual nano sim Note 10
The provisioning using vendors like TruPhone etc with Apple's specific e-sim implementation is more of a hassle than anything else.

Vodacom One Number

Vodacom One Number
www.vodacom.co.za www.vodacom.co.za
Click to expand...

I don’t use a physical sim since I activated the esim for my iPhone. It’s somewhere in my draw for nearly a month now.

With my iPhone being dual sim now it doesn’t make a difference to me if both are physical or not. Physical is easier but not many phones have it, even though iOS even support dual sim
 
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