eSIM wird die SIM-Karte ablösen

The eSIM will replace conventional SIM cards

Swisscom is one of the first service providers in the world to support the integrated SIM. Read on to find out the eSIM’s capabilities and advantages.

It’s only the size of a fingernail and yet, these days, nothing works on your mobile without it: the SIM card. “SIM” stands for “Subscriber Identity Module” and it is a chip card that enables users to access their carrier, such as Swisscom. In actual terms, Swisscom uploads the customer’s profile, such as subscription information, telephone number, etc. to the SIM card. This card is then inserted into the mobile as a mini, micro or nano SIM card. Up to now.

The “embedded” SIM

The conventional SIM card will soon be a thing of the past. Technology now makes it possible to upload the customer profile to the SIM retrospectively, removing the need for an external SIM card. Instead, the SIM is integrated directly into the device as an “eSIM”, where “e” stands for “embedded”. The network operator uploads the profile direct to the eSIM, eliminating the need for physical SIM cards to be swapped over when customers change providers. Ordering, modifying or replacing a SIM card, and the fear of damaging it, will soon be relegated to the past.

Even the tiniest of devices can communicate

The new eSIM enables small devices, such as smart watches, glasses or activity trackers, to operate in the network, making these devices independent and allowing them to communicate without a smartphone. The Apple Watch Series, for instance, is already doing this now. It has many of the same functions as the iPhone, such as making phone calls or receive messages. In fact, it can do anything that the small display allows. This makes it very useful when playing sport, for instance, as you can leave your smartphone at home and can still be contacted.

New devices with Dual SIM

Thanks to the eSIM you can now use for example the latest generation iPhone with dual SIM. This means that you can use your device with two different phone numbers.

How to use two phone numbers with your device.

How to activate your eSIM.

eSIM as a key to the Internet of Things

Millions of machines and everyday objects are already fitted with sensors and radio chips. In the future, this number will reach into the billions. These devices can communicate with each other and with the Internet: carparks report the number of spaces occupied and letter boxes send a message once a parcel arrives. The eSIM ensures that these objects are always connected through the mobile network. It is the key to the Internet of Things.

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All good and right. But…..

As long as Swisscom continues to operate excessive roaming tariffs (which would be illegal in the EU), I will definitely never buy a cell phone without being able to buy a prepaid SIM at the airport during the holidays and insert it into the dual slot of my cell phone.

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8 days later

@Master Regardless of the fact that roaming in Europe is now largely included in almost all tariffs and the additional packages are now massively cheaper, I would like to remind you once again what the mechanism is and that a comparison to the EU countries is wrong.

In the case of roaming, our customers use a network + IT from another network operator. In order for this to be possible, a contract is required between us and the other network operator. This also sets out the prices that we as Swisscom have to pay to the other network operator. This now happens per country with several network operators and of course with many countries. Prices are not regulated and are subject to negotiation. We cannot now offer our customers a different price for every country and every network operator. Nobody would understand that. That’s why we make groups (Europe/North America, World 1,…) and look at our average costs in these groups and then create the end customer prices. As retail prices fall, you can imagine that we will be able to negotiate increasingly better prices with the other network operators. Please allow us a profit from this service.

Within the EU, prices between network operators are regulated and at a very low level. The EU was therefore able to stipulate that customers could no longer be charged extra costs for roaming. So first step 1, then step 2. The perverse thing is that the network operators in the EU have started to increase prices compared to network operators from other countries in order to recoup some of the lost profits. We were able to partially avoid this through good negotiations.

And on the subject of eSIM. In the future it will certainly be the case that you can load multiple eSIM profiles onto your mobile phone. So also a prepaid card from another country. You then only have to choose which profile is active. Multiple active profiles are not currently planned.

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Hello Guido
I am very familiar with the procedure.
Although I can’t understand why, Switzerland didn’t go along with the EU when it came to abolishing roaming fees, since Switzerland otherwise attaches such great importance to EU conformity.

Now it’s just the case that as a customer I’m looking for the best price/performance ratio for me. During the (EU) holidays I’m clearly best off with a prepaid payment from the relevant country (thanks to EU regulations). It is the right of every customer to purchase the services wherever they want them. If the provider cannot sell his products, he should consider whether he still offers timely products. The Swiss are very sluggish when it comes to price elasticity, so such a policy may last longer here.

Your word in God’s ear that you can also load foreign pre-paid as an e-Sim onto (Swisscom branded) devices.

Until I have tested this, I will continue to pay attention to dual-SIM operation devices when purchasing devices and program myself what which SIM card should do what, or not.![:winking:](https://community.swisscom. ch/html/@371E6B894055D81C5FEC7CB8590B7AEA/images/smilies/winking.png “:winking:”)

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ESim is just an attempt by the manufacturers of mobile devices and the mobile phone providers to connect the customer and prevent them from freely choosing the mobile phone offer on the market. As the Huawei Watch 2 4G proves, a nano SIM card slot can also be easily installed in small devices such as a SmartWatch. And in mobile devices that don’t have space for a nano-SIM card slot, a mobile module makes no sense anyway, as its battery would be empty after a few hours anyway… As a consumer, you should avoid buying mobile devices with ESIM. Swisscom does not offer a prepaid offer for ESIM. You would have to choose an overpriced subscription. If you as a consumer are interested in fair prices for mobile phone offers, you should only buy mobile devices with a NANO SIM card slot. Mobile devices with two NANO SIM card slots (dual SIM devices) are even better. This way you can avoid the exorbitantly expensive roaming costs. After all, “Naka Mobile”, the mobile phone provider behind the “Swiss Mobile” SIM card, also has to conduct the same tariff negotiations as Swisscom and still offers consumers significantly better roaming tariffs, especially in distant countries!?

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The eSIM system reminds me of the past when there were no SIM cards. You would have to take the device to a specialist who would program the number onto the device. A few minutes of work 100 francs. Apart from that, what about security? I could easily imagine someone suddenly having the same number on a device as me and then making calls or shopping at my expense. Honestly, I dread it.

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a month later

I dare to hope that this article was written a year ago? Because stipulating in the article that the first mobiles which will use the E-SIM will be released in a year when Apple has just announced it…?

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Very good because I found it surprising that Apple showed the operators with which they had a partnership for eSIM and which would work with eSIM but that Swisscom was not there…

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Good article, very clear on the big changes ahead.

Still, this paragraph would need some clarification:

An eSIM for smartphones will come on-stream later

Smartphone SIM cards are not set to be replaced imminently. For the time being the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR will not support eSIM in Switzerland. So for now, the heart of your phone will still be a conventional SIM.

Is there a timeframe for this feature to become available?

I see a great use for this feature, allowing the main contract with Swisscom to be on the eSIM, and the external would be used for a second provider when travelling abroad, without the need to swap SIM cards (and thus losing the capability of receiving calls) or worse having two phones (which is what I am doing currently).

I am keen to order the iPhone XS, but I would love to be able to make the most of the device, especially since it’s much larger than my current iPhone SE+iPhone 5S combo.

Many thanks, Luca

Apple says yes the esim will come later this year via sw update then we’ll see what the Swiss providers do! Apple’s list does not yet include any CH providers, but does include D and A! Of course also USA! The esim in the iPhone is now new, let’s see how it goes!

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Hello @llaaccssaapp

There are only a few providers worldwide that enable eSIM and Dual SIM functionality. There is no provider in Switzerland. Swisscom is technically ready to use eSIM. We see eSIM as a positive development for the mobile communications market. Unfortunately, we don’t know when Apple will activate the eSIM for Switzerland.

Kind regards, Miriam

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