You might think that switching your phone to a new carrier is a big hassle. Do you need to go to a store to change your account? Do you have to deal with tiny SIM cards? How will your old carrier react?
T-Mobile has come up with a diabolical plan (opens in new tab) for iPhone users, which simplifies the process and even gives new customers up to three months to try out the T-Mobile network. Everything is based on eSIM technology.
Thanks to a built-in alternative called eSIM, your fancy new phone might not even need a physical SIM card. Apple has included eSIM in its best iPhones since the iPhone XS, and the current Apple iPhone 13 also supports eSIM.
All major US carriers support eSIM, which links to an account or accounts on your phone without having to insert a physical SIM card. Currently, a carrier will give you a QR code that you scan during the setup process. Your phone must be connected to Wi-Fi. At this point, the QR code instructs the phone to download the eSIM software to access your carrier’s network.
T-Mobile realized that even the QR code is unnecessary – there are other ways to download software. Now you can simply download the carrier’s app from Apple’s App Store and access the eSIM on your iPhone without a QR scan.
If you’re ready to make a permanent switch yourself (and maybe your family), there’s an Easy Switch feature. However, if you only want to feel the magenta vibes for a short time, there’s the Network Pass trial offer, which grants access for three months via eSIM for free.
To connect to T-Mobile via eSIM, your phone must be unlocked. Competitor Verizon, for example, sells its phones without a SIM lock, so that’s not a problem. However, compatible iPhone models purchased from AT&T are more problematic. T-Mobile has included instructions in its app, covering both AT&T and Verizon phones, explaining how to initiate the unlocking process.
This three-month offer is available to both business and private customers. The eSIM app features are currently only available on Apple iPhones, but T-Mobile says its Android app will eventually be updated to support this new eSIM switch as well.
Analysis: Could this spark a new switching battle?
We’ve seen eSIM technology on phones for a while, and carriers are making it pretty easy to activate an eSIM by already using a QR code, but this aggressive new tactic from T-Mobile grants the consumer in terms of even more power carrier switch.
If the process is as simple as downloading an app, you wouldn’t try it; especially when T-Mobile pays the bill for three months? Call your carrier and pause your existing plan, don’t cancel it.
T-Mobile says people looking to switch to a new carrier would prefer to try the network first. Switchers don’t look for coverage maps for the best cellular network in their area, according to T-Mobile. We agree that maps are a poor guide for choosing a cellular service. Maps don’t tell you if the service is just working in that one corner of your kitchen or is completely failing in your basement office.
Although T-Mobile appears to be the first to embrace this new app-based eSIM switching solution, what can be said that smaller carriers don’t benefit from the convenience of smuggling customers away from larger providers like Verizon and AT&T?
Upstarts like Mint Mobile already support eSIM functionality, so it wouldn’t be a huge leap to see their kind scrambling to switch by simply dragging an app to the App Store.
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