Any news on eSIMs in Ireland?

Ah-Watch

Where did you find that Rhino? I would be interested in trying it out.

DopeTech

Would be interested to know if people on gomo also can get the same.

edit: not working on gomo.

rhinosaurious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120457086#Comment_120457086

I went into settings, mobile data and then “add esim” and I got that message. I already have the physical sim in my phone so I didn’t go ahead with it

DopeTech

Is everyone on Eir able to get this with a esim compatible phone can anyone else confirm?

timefora_J

I’m on EIR with a physical sim installed.

This is what I get in the same section, tried both on Wi-Fi and 5G but same result unfortunately.

I was getting my hopes up when I saw what rhinosaurious was getting. We’ve been waiting way too long for carriers to adopt eSim

bennyx_o

Nothing for me on Android either with Eir

rhinosaurious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120461977#Comment_120461977

Tried it again and now nothing! Seems they’ve taken it off now, Id say they’re working on it now. As far as I know Vodafone is the only doing it for public access

timefora_J

It’s certainly promising, we’ll just have to wait for an official release.

Yeah I tried the esim with Vodafone previously, but I moved to EIR for the 5G and at €14.99 a month it’s hard to beat.

Eir_Insider

eSIM will be available later this year as will environmentally friendly SIM Cards. No timeframe given unfortunately.

DopeTech

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120605625#Comment_120605625

Would Gomo be getting it same time?

RetroEncabulator

Any sign of this happening?

They're doing eSIMs for their GoMoWorld product but nothing else yet.

I don’t know what all the foot dragging is about. There’s a demand for eSIMs, especially for second lines and so on. If they can do the cloning for Apple Watch they’ll have the market cornered until their technically lethargic competition eventually catches up, which let’s face it, with 3 could be a while!

Also, as pointless as voicemail is, I’m sure that fancy new voicemail platform they just rolled out must support Apple visual voicemail. Missing a marketing opportunity…

IdHidden

The rumour is that the new iPhone maybe be eSim only in EU countries that have eSim technology available. If true then eir etc will be trying to have it in place by the end of the year.

Eir_Insider

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120607281#Comment_120607281

I can't confirm with GoMo as of yet, but i can confirm about the eir eSIM cards being available on eir this year.

Eir_Insider

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120609263#Comment_120609263

Hi, They are using GoMoWorld as a testbed for eSIM to have the technology just right for the rollout.

RetroEncabulator

Hopefully they get it in the market soon.

wassie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120609263#Comment_120609263

I don’t know what all the foot dragging is about. There’s a demand for eSIMs, especially for second lines and so on.

Irish Telcos are typically slow at adopting and rolling out new tech. Probably because our market is relatively small that irish consumers are serviced so poorly.

Esims have been around for years yet only VF have it publically available. It was the same for the 4G & 5G rollouts.

RetroEncabulator

Irish cellcos are very, very good value for data and calls though! I lived in Belgium and it was way more expensive, despite being a very flat country, easy to serve with signals and with very high density population compared to Ireland.

laoisfan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120621118#Comment_120621118

Agreed. We get very good value here when compared to what is on offer in other EU countries e.g. Germany, France, Italy, Norway etc etc.

RetroEncabulator

Absolute cheapest I could find in Belgium was 70GB for €30.00 / month vs 14.99 for 120GB (fair usage policy limit) on Gomo and frankly on a better network in Ireland too. I'm not sure how aggressively Gomo enforces that FUP limit, but a lot of continental networks will throttle you to near dial up speeds when you exceed it.

Free in France is €19.99 for 210GB

wassie

Irish networks may appear to be competitive on price, but this is at the expense of network features.

Only need to look across the water at Lycamobile UK who do 5G + esim with 100GB, unlimited calls and 100 international minutes for £10/month for first 6 months. Makes Irish 'good value' look pretty poor in comparison.

1 main carrier here using esim is complete rubbish given this standard has been readily available commercially since 2018.

RetroEncabulator

Compared to the UK and they’re a bit more expensive, but the UK is extremely cheap. Irish operators are pretty good value by EU comparisons.

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120628853#Comment_120628853

And no Irish network ever implemented the visual voicemail feature of the iPhone either.

RetroEncabulator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120630126#Comment_120630126

I assume they just couldn't be bothered paying Apple for the software licence for it. Their voicemail systems aren't likely to be radically different from any other network around the world. The vendors are usually quite off-the-shelf.

There's some middleware that sits between the network voicemail and the iCloud's systems and I assume the carriers are charged for it, even though it's probably doing Apple a huge marketing favour...

I use HulloMail on my work phone and it's a HUGE advantage because you get transcriptions of voicemail and don't have to deal with tons of spammy calls.

DopeTech

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120653069#Comment_120653069

Plenty deals like that going but you won't have an irish number which would be a deal breaker for most. Currently Vodafone is our only option.

RetroEncabulator

Just checked that Orange Luxembourg plan:

Unlimited Internet up to 250 GB then reduced to 512 Kbit/s 

La vitesse de la 5G sera réduite (512Kb/s) après la consommation de 250GB en data nationale et en Europe.

RetroEncabulator

Any updates on the likely rollout of this on Gomo or Eir?

I've a 2nd sim stuck on VF prepay at the moment, and would really quite like to move it to a better value network.

PH0NER

Apparently nobody here has seen the prices of Italian mobile carriers! Very Mobile (Windtre MVNO) is currently charging €7.99 for 300GB + unlimited talk/text & eSIM.

Iliad (Eir's Parent) is charging €9.99 for 150GB, unlimited talk/text and 5G. eSIM is not available on Iliad though.

I really would love for Gomo to offer eSIM in Ireland. I'm surprised Eir still doesn't.

Cork981

Going by this it sounds like 3 should be launching eSim this year.

https://www.three.ie/search/?q=esim

RetroEncabulator

They’re incredibly slow.

eir could steal a march on Vodafone by launching Apple WatchOS compatible sims, but sure why bother …

thayes

I contacted comreg, and it would appear all carriers will be offering eSIM this year but it’s not clear what level of IoT support will be offered.

Pity the items like Apple Watch can’t use a completely independent number/plan.