Esim experience.

alphahere

Senior Member
Nov 6, 2010
657
176
63
Hello,

I attempted to activate esim on t-mobile postpaid that did not go anywhere even though others have activated esim on pixel 3 before the t-mobile ban on postpaid accounts. T-mobile has stopped enabling esim on postpaid accounts for unknown reasons. It only enables esim on certain prepaid accounts and only on iphones.

Any other experiences with t-mobile or other carriers?
 

seniorstew

Senior Member
Feb 23, 2006
1,025
144
93
San Diego CA
Hello,

I attempted to activate esim on t-mobile postpaid that did not go anywhere even though others have activated esim on pixel 3 before the t-mobile ban on postpaid accounts. T-mobile has stopped enabling esim on postpaid accounts for unknown reasons. It only enables esim on certain prepaid accounts and only on iphones.

Any other experiences with t-mobile or other carriers?
T-Mobile requires you use there app for esim. The iPhone is the only one that supports it at the Momment
 

Demonface.24

Senior Member
Nov 14, 2014
159
27
48
I have T-Mobile and I was able to get the eSim activated on the 3a Xl . All I did was tell them I wanted to do a sim card swap and I provided the EID number. Took them a few minutes and they were done. BTW this was on a Postpaid account.
 

alphahere

Senior Member
Nov 6, 2010
657
176
63
I have T-Mobile and I was able to get the eSim activated on the 3a Xl . All I did was tell them I wanted to do a sim card swap and I provided the EID number. Took them a few minutes and they were done. BTW this was on a Postpaid account.
Phone call or chat? I had no luck with chat.

Did you use the full esim number - that is a very long number. Trying to duplicate your effort.


Thanks
 
Last edited:

seniorstew

Senior Member
Feb 23, 2006
1,025
144
93
San Diego CA
Hello,

I attempted to activate esim on t-mobile postpaid that did not go anywhere even though others have activated esim on pixel 3 before the t-mobile ban on postpaid accounts. T-mobile has stopped enabling esim on postpaid accounts for unknown reasons. It only enables esim on certain prepaid accounts and only on iphones.

Any other experiences with t-mobile or other carriers?
called t-mobile and gave them the full esim number. Then uses this guide. Works great!

https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/a4507u/esim_works_heres_how_to_activate/
 
  • Like
Reactions: alphahere

reddv1

Senior Member
Sep 16, 2009
732
452
0
Torrance, CA
I got it activated on my Pixel 3a XL through chat. They asked me why I was changing sims, and I just told them I wanted to try out esim. They said ok and did the swap. I'm postpaid.

It's easier through chat because of the long EID number.
 

alphahere

Senior Member
Nov 6, 2010
657
176
63
I got it activated on my Pixel 3a XL through chat. They asked me why I was changing sims, and I just told them I wanted to try out esim. They said ok and did the swap. I'm postpaid.

It's easier through chat because of the long EID number.
I guess I've had really bad luck because I have not been able to get esim activated with chat twice. That's the way it goes we'll try again. It is hit and miss.
 

alphahere

Senior Member
Nov 6, 2010
657
176
63
Thanks guys for the information. Did another chat this morning asking for sim activation. Did not mention esim. Completed in about 2 minutes did not even have to reboot my phone. Nice. I can use the physical sim slot for something else now.
 

alphahere

Senior Member
Nov 6, 2010
657
176
63
Generally curious as I am new to the Android side of things. What can you use the SIM slot for if you do esim? What is the benefit outside of saying you don't need a physical SIM?
I use an ATT MVNO Sim when I am not in a t-mobile area which is rare. I don't need two phones any more. One can do the same for the latest iPhone.

Actually there are other phones that have two sims like one plus, but two sim phones are rare in the USA but common in other countries. It has to do with the carriers. It would really nice if this feature discussed on the link below is included in android Q.
https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/...s-half-baked-dual-sim-support-to-the-pixel-3/

So two sims phones hopefully will become the norm in the USA since iPhone has this option and everyone copies Apple. Anyway I could be wrong but I think the Pixel had the esim before the iPhone.
 
Last edited:

krabman

Senior Member
Sep 22, 2008
2,982
926
183
I'm self employed and having dual sim is huge for me, no more having to carry two phone is big. This implementation sucks compared to real dual sim where you can have both active but it's still ahead of packing two phones around.
 

DaveinAsia

Senior Member
May 21, 2013
132
103
63
I use an ATT MVNO Sim when I am not in a t-mobile area which is rare. I don't need two phones any more. One can do the same for the latest iPhone.

Actually there are other phones that have two sims like one plus, but two sim phones are rare in the USA but common in other countries. It has to do with the carriers. It would really nice if this feature discussed on the link below is included in android Q.
https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/...s-half-baked-dual-sim-support-to-the-pixel-3/

So two sims phones hopefully will become the norm in the USA since iPhone has this option and everyone copies Apple. Anyway I could be wrong but I think the Pixel had the esim before the iPhone.
So at the moment, does your Pixel have DSDS capability? And if not (or before you enabled that functionality), are you at least able to take advantage of the physical sim slot by selecting it under network settings as the preferred option when you want to use the ATT network rather than the esim?

I had been using OnePlus phones with their dual SIM functionality for a long time by always keeping a T-Mobile SIM in one while using my China Mobile SIM in the other during my frequent trips into China. This enables me to keep a local number and avoid the internet censorship that is increasingly prevalent is most areas of the country.
 

alphahere

Senior Member
Nov 6, 2010
657
176
63
So at the moment, does your Pixel have DSDS capability? And if not (or before you enabled that functionality), are you at least able to take advantage of the physical sim slot by selecting it under network settings as the preferred option when you want to use the ATT network rather than the esim?

I had been using OnePlus phones with their dual SIM functionality for a long time by always keeping a T-Mobile SIM in one while using my China Mobile SIM in the other during my frequent trips into China. This enables me to keep a local number and avoid the internet censorship that is increasingly prevalent is most areas of the country.
https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/...s-half-baked-dual-sim-support-to-the-pixel-3/

Also. Currently using dual SIM in China. You will need to do the following to make network work reliable with all apps. This is a problem with pixel phones.

https://www.evil42.com/index.php/archives/17/

I had this problem when I arrived in China. Now everything works great after the above modifications.
 
Last edited:

DaveinAsia

Senior Member
May 21, 2013
132
103
63
https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/...s-half-baked-dual-sim-support-to-the-pixel-3/

Also. Currently using dual SIM in China. You will need to do the following to make network work reliable with all apps. This is a problem with pixel phones.

https://www.evil42.com/index.php/archives/17/

I had this problem when I arrived in China. Now everything works great after the above modifications.
Thanks for replying. However, I didn't really get an answer to what I was looking for. I had also previously read the article in Android Police and I know what DSDS is. My previous OnePlus operated as such. The article suggests that DSDS is no longer an option unless you elected it in an earlier beta release. HOWEVER, I only want to know whether you are able to choose one or the other between your eSIM and your physical SIM slot? You will not get both signals at the same time. I understand that. But I'm just interested to see if I can elect via Settings to choose either the eSIM or a separate SIM card and use that one only.

With respect to the contents of the evil42.com article, I fortunately don't have those problems. Thanks for your help.
 

alphahere

Senior Member
Nov 6, 2010
657
176
63
Thanks for replying. However, I didn't really get an answer to what I was looking for. I had also previously read the article in Android Police and I know what DSDS is. My previous OnePlus operated as such. The article suggests that DSDS is no longer an option unless you elected it in an earlier beta release. HOWEVER, I only want to know whether you are able to choose one or the other between your eSIM and your physical SIM slot? You will not get both signals at the same time. I understand that. But I'm just interested to see if I can elect via Settings to choose either the eSIM or a separate SIM card and use that one only.

With respect to the contents of the evil42.com article, I fortunately don't have those problems. Thanks for your help.
Yes you can switch carrier without reboot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DaveinAsia