AT&T Prepaid eSIM Success!

[SuperDuper]

Just dropped by a Corp AT&T store today and asked for an eSIM. Today is AT&T’s eSIM on iPhone launch day.

Nice attentive rep said he was the most knowledgeable about eSIM in the store and had no idea if it would work on Prepaid. He said the eSIM would cost $5.00, but if it didn’t work, he would not charge me and activate a new nano SIM so I could go back to where I was before I entered the store.

The phone would not recognize the first eSIM he tried. Cryptic error that the card couldn’t be used. Rep tried another card.. and success!

The iPhone XS recognized the eSIM, and took about two minutes to setup (visual voicemail, etc).

I can now switch between primary AT&T Prepaid and secondary eSIM on GigSky, all while having my physical SIM tray empty and ready for international use.

Yes.. eSIM is supported on AT&T prepaid

Happy.

[high technology]

So you’ve piqued my curiousity... What exactly is the “card” — are these preprinted or physical cards in the store or are they computer generated on the fly when you request one?

Reading Apples Q&A from a month or so back, I was assuming an e-SIM was merely a QR code that you scanned with your phone’s camera.

[SuperDuper]

The “card” is a blue paper AT&T card the size of a credit card with the following information:

Activation Code: The QR that is read by the phone’s camera

ICCID number. This was scanned by the rep to activate the card

Also on the card are the SKU and UPC numbers

I was able to add a GigSky eSIM and FreedomPop nanoSIM. I had the physical SIM active and could switch between two eSIMs.

[RenoWirelessGuru]

...Yes.. eSIM is supported on AT&T prepaid...

It sounds like you were a prepaid customer prior to going into the store today?? What prepaid plan are you on?

I’m hoping to activate new AT&T prepaid service on my eSIM, but all I’ve been able to find online in forums is that they will only be doing eSIM on postpaid plans. Maybe that’s just a requirement for new activations?


Sent from my iPhone XS Max using Tapatalk

[SuperDuper]

I’m a existing Prepaid AT&T customer on the $50 ($40 AutoPay) 8GB plan.

I just walked into the Corp store, and said that I heard that AT&T was launching eSIM today and asked could I get one. Rep was unsure if their system would allow for Prepaid eSIM. It did allow for it.

Right now I have two eSIMs and one physical SIM in my iPhone XS.

[nord0296]

Interesting, to switch between eSIMs do you still need anything physical or does the phone remember both of them? For example, do you need to scan a QR code each time you switch?

[SuperDuper]

You can have one eSIM plus the physical SIM active at the same time.

You cannot use two eSIMs at the same time, but you can switch your active eSIM between multiple saved entries.

Right now my phone is configured:

eSIM: AT&T Prepaid (primary, active)
eSIM: GigSky worldwide (inactive)
Nano-SIM: Red Pocket (secondary, active)

[RenoWirelessGuru]

When you switch between carriers, does FieldTest work and display the network information and diagnostics for each respective carrier?


Sent from my iPhone XS Max using Tapatalk

[SuperDuper]

Yes. FieldTest mode works. In the dialer you can specify either your physical sim or active eSIM to make an outgoing call.

[zapjb]

Is this like having a dual-SIM phone?

[sectime]

You can have one eSIM plus the physical SIM active at the same time.

You cannot use two eSIMs at the same time, but you can switch your active eSIM between multiple saved entries.

Right now my phone is configured:

eSIM: AT&T Prepaid (primary, active)
eSIM: GigSky worldwide (inactive)
Nano-SIM: Red Pocket (secondary, active)

Can you use call forwarding to GV on all three, or how do you manage the numbers?

[high technology]

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[RenoWirelessGuru]

FieldTest is interesting. I haven’t switched to the secondary carrier, but FieldTest will automatically switch back-and-forth between both carriers as if it’s looking for signals from both. I will post a screen capture later.


Sent from my iPhone XS Max using Tapatalk

[SuperDuper]

Is this like having a dual-SIM phone?

Yes. But the eSIM is virtualized

You can also have multiple eSIMs stored in the phone.

This is more than dual-sim. Think of it as two cellular LTE communication links. Instead of using credentials stored on a physical Subscriber Identification Module, the network credentials are read from QR code or manual numeric keypad entry.

Since the phone has two radios, assignments are made for the eSIM and nano. The phone can store many eSIMs, but only one can be active at a time.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[high technology]

Is this like having a dual-SIM phone?

Yes, both skms can receive incoming calls, and you have a choice for outgoing calls. You must manually select one for data, since you don’t want/data on both simultaneously.

Even better, you can have multiple eSIMs stored in the device and can turn them on/off instantly. So you can switch your international SIM on when traveling out of the country or turn on a backup sim for those areas without good coverage. But the you can only have one eSIM and one physical SIM active at a time.