Yorkshiredoughboy

E-sims:

I don’t want to remove my US SIM card, I want to use an Esim and use my US number for cell only, and then use the Esim for UK data, is it possible to do this?

Appreciate anyone who’s got experience with this?

yes my phone is unlocked and I could just disconnect from US life for a few weeks but that’s not reasonable.

Thanks.

tht

Should be doable with a dual sim iPhone. You can select which SIM to use for data. You can also select 1 data line or allow switching. You can set default voice line so you us the local one.

Yorkshiredoughboy

Thank you. Ive read some folks having trouble with their attempts. I have the 12 pro max. It is capable just haven’t tried yet.

tht

I have a 12 Pro, have not done international, but have 2 US sims in mine.

Yorkshiredoughboy

So it looks like every E-sim I've looked at only allows Data and not cell, I'm assuming I can still make calls over the internet with just data but I've never tried so I may be going in blind on this one.

tht

You can make calls like what’s app or FaceTime over data, but WiFi calling won’t work unless your on WiFi (not LTE) so you can’t avoid roaming charges like that…

Yorkshiredoughboy

That’s what I thought. First time messing around with it.

The real emphasis is on not paying $10 a day to verizon for two weeks times three phones.

Olly_

Actually you can if you have an iPhone...

You just have to either disable international roaming with AT&T/Verizon or use manual network selection to force your phone onto a network that they don't have a roaming agreement with. Your phone will then use data from the other SIM for "WiFi" calling and you can make/receive calls for free while abroad.

Yorkshiredoughboy

Thanks. I have the Esim configured but not turned on yet, will switch it on when we land and see what happens.

tht

Very interesting… do you have “WiFi assist” on?




If this works it’s a much cleaner solution than the one I used for India before I had a dual sim phone. I had a Glocalme WiFi hotspot I would carry with me and then have the phone connect to that when away from office/hotel and turn off roaming and WiFi calling on.

Olly_

I do but that setting doesn't control WiFi calling.

As long as the US SIM has no cell service it'll fail over to WiFi calling via the other (local) SIM - I've used it on multiple trips abroad now and it works perfectly. It was a new feature added in iOS 13 I think...

SpoogleDrummer

I was under the impression you'd just get a sim in the UK and convert it to an e-sim. When I got my phone last month they upgraded the wrong line and it was e-sim only so it had the wrong number. I put my old sim into it, it was instantly recognised. I then deleted the e-sim and converted my physical sim to an e-sim for good measure.

Yorkshiredoughboy

Maybe, wasn't sure, so I went this route, will use data calling and explore other options for next time.