alt.hn

7/20/2026 at 8:01:07 PM

eSIM was supposed to replace SIM cards, but carriers turned it into a trap

 https://www.howtogeek.com/esim-was-supposed-to-replace-sim-cards-carriers-turned-it-into-a-trap/

by josephcsible

7/20/2026 at 9:21:37 PM

Warning: The article is an empty shill for Saily. Prominently links to HowToGeek's 'review' of Saily with affiliate code: https://saily.sjv.io/LKDQrL or https://saily.sjv.io/c/156932/2044403/25536?svlink=11737998&... when resolved.

by kweks

7/20/2026 at 9:25:00 PM

Good catch. That being said, I used saily in multiple countries, it’s pretty useful. But they have dirty marketing strategies, like this one

by dgellow

7/21/2026 at 12:04:14 AM

Saily is a joke for pricing. I've never seen anyone beat Airalo's pricing. But they sure cornered those YouTubers!

by nixosbestos

7/21/2026 at 5:30:43 PM

Never heard of airalo, will check next time. I didn’t find sally to be expensive, might depend on the location?

by dgellow

7/20/2026 at 11:06:24 PM

My biggest gripe against eSIMs is that switching from one phone to another is difficult. I wish I could simply send a file to the other phone and get along with things.

by Reubend

7/20/2026 at 8:40:04 PM

Carrier locked phones haven't existed in my country for decades. I'm quite happy with eSIM- my fine motor skills don't work outside of videogames so replacing SIM was always a pain.

by TitaRusell

7/21/2026 at 12:51:38 AM

We never had Carrier locked phones. This seems to be a US only problem.

by rational_indian

7/20/2026 at 8:52:28 PM

Article feels a bit shallow. Obviously carriers will do their usual fuckery, anyone who ever dealt with one knows this. What many people probably wouldn’t expect is when you’re in a country where physical sim are dominant, you the dumb tourist will pay 10x for the privilege of esim since you’re prime target to rip off and what are you going to do about it, buy a new phone? Pay 1000x the price for roaming? Feels like notable omission and is fairly common.

I’m also surprised about there being not a word about smartwatches. I got a cellular apple watch with the idea I could leave my phone at home when doing sportsy stuff like swimming, assuming that a watch with esim support will indeed work with esim. In reality most don’t, Apple is particularly restrictive about it. You’ll probably need some shitty "companion / wearable plan" that most networks don’t even offer. There’s also extra regional compatibility on top of it to deal woth. In the end I never found a deal worth using.

That being said, I settled on esim for my main number and second esim or physical sim as needed when traveling. Having the sim slot free is neat. The biggest downside is "phone gets wrecked and you’re on another continent -> need to authenticate to switch esim to different device -> you need previous number to authenticate -> good luck", but I’m not sure wrecking a phone is more common than having it stolen so it’s probably a wash.

by revolvingthrow

7/20/2026 at 9:28:04 PM

1. Buy physical esim on AliExpress. Even the cheapest ones have 15 profiles.

2. trip.com has the lowest prices for esims.

by slaw

7/20/2026 at 10:12:22 PM

>1. Buy physical esim on AliExpress. Even the cheapest ones have 15 profiles.

What happens when phones go esim only, like the iPhone air already is?

by gruez

7/20/2026 at 10:38:10 PM

I'll buy phones with regular SIM as long as they are available. I hope for the next 10 years there will be options.

by slaw

7/20/2026 at 10:30:15 PM

I'm sorry but what in bloody hell is a "physical eSIM"?

by ButlerianJihad

7/20/2026 at 10:35:54 PM

I'm also curious about this.. its a reprogrammable physical SIM using the same standard as eSIM: https://www.9esim.com/en

by minetest2048

7/21/2026 at 5:32:29 PM

Oh that’s really cool

by dgellow

7/20/2026 at 10:35:23 PM

it looks like regular sim card, but doesn't have any profiles build in. It is an adapter for phones without eSIM capability to use eSIMs.

by slaw

7/20/2026 at 8:22:31 PM

oh no, who could have ever seen this coming?

by kelp6063