eSIM Swap while abroad?

[KelvinS]

TLDR: I'm back home in the US and have bought an iPhone 14 Pro. I swapped to an O2 eSIM before I flew to the US and thought I'd just be able to transfer this to the new iPhone. Alas - over a week has gone by and I still haven't managed to do this after multiple calls to O2 for support. Any advice would be appreciated.

Buying an iPhone stateside is cheaper than buying one in the UK - between currency conversion and VAT it's a good £200 less, depending on the specific model. With their latest iPhones, Apple have decided that US models no longer need physical SIM cards since all major carriers here offer eSIMs. Knowing this, I successfully swapped my O2 nano SIM to an eSIM in the UK before coming over to visit. Unfortunately, the transfer option I was counting on during setup doesn't seem to be possible:

Not possible to simply transfer eSIM as expected

The US line is with T-Mobile. I simply called and told them I wanted to move the eSIM to my new phone and presto - seconds later it was done, entirely over the phone once I confirmed my identity and gave them my new phone's IMEI. I called O2 on Tuesday 8th Nov, and asked them to do the same. I was advised they would have to send a new eSIM pack - that one couldn't be emailed and they couldn't simply transfer the eSIM so getting a new one in the post was my only option. The eSIM pack arrived at my UK address a full week later - today, 15th Nov and my partner sent me a photo of it so I could scan the QR code. This worked and the eSIM is showing up on my new iPhone, recognised as  an O2 SIM:
New O2 eSIM is recognised but can't be activated

So far so good... Unfortunately, I have not been able to activate the O2 eSIM. I specifically asked Customer Service last week whether this could be done while abroad and he was adamant it wouldn't be an issue. Both the O2 website and the SIM Swap texts I've tried have failed and told me to call O2 for help. When I called O2 today, the rep seemed to have no idea why it wasn't working and 'escalated' the matter which will take another 5 days. I need to complete the trade-in of my old phone by next Monday so it seems I'll have to go without my O2 line for the duration of my stay. Because everything is done via multi-factor authentication these days, this will be very disruptive as I'll lose access to essential work and personal/financial services until I'm back in the UK in December.

If this had been a physical SIM, I could've simply moved it across to the new device and been done in seconds. I get why eSIMs are better in theory but clearly the transfer process leaves a lot to be desired. I'm seeing mixed information about whether O2 SIMs can be activated abroad. If eSIM activation and registration is done over wifi, I don't see why being abroad would hinder this. Does anyone know the answer to this definitively or perhaps a workaround to allow an eSIM to be activated while off the O2 network? Thanks in advance!

[MI5]

@KelvinS 

You need a new esim pack to switch to a different phone.

You can only reinstall an esim on the same phone.

[KelvinS]

@MI5 thanks for the reply… As I said above, O2 sent me a new eSIM for the new phone when I found I couldn’t simply use the transfer eSIM option during setup. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to activate it, neither by using their web form nor the text SIM swap service. They told me it wouldn’t be a problem to do this abroad but I suspect that’s the issue. Just frustrating given how easy it is to move a physical SIM from one device to another. 

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

@KelvinS 

The sim needs to activated in the UK as it needs a connection to O2-UK network. 

Roaming networks won't work unfortunately and you were unsurprisingly misinformed.

[KelvinS]

@MI5 thanks for confirming what I feared. Truly a shame that they’ve disabled the built-in facility to transfer the eSIM to another device in the name of security. It shouldn’t be any different to moving a physical SIM from one device to another and then it wouldn’t need ‘activating’. I’ll have to trade in the old device this weekend so I’ll be without O2 service until the end of the month which is going to be a real pain because of everything requiring MFA a these days 🤦‍

[MI5]

Sorry it wasn't good news.

[KelvinS]

So it turns out, that even after returning to the UK, I was unable to activate the new eSIM. After my third call to O2, they worked out that they’d assigned the SIM to my partner’s line instead of mine so they sent me to an O2 shop. They were able to get me up and running but had no 5G eSIMs in stock 😑. Honestly, the way O2 handle eSIMs really needs to change. I don’t see why they can’t just work with Apple to enable the ‘Transfer eSIM’ feature as that would have avoided all of this nonsense:

Perhaps if enough people request this, O2 will at least look into it? If US carriers can provide eSIMs through apps and emailed QR codes, I don’t see why the same can’t be done here. Either that or we’ll have to wait a few years for physical SIMs to disappear entirely for this to become a better user experience. 

[Enlli]

Once everybody is on the new billing system eSIMs will be available through the My O2 App.

Got mine that way this week. No phone calls and no shop. Took 5 min tops

[KelvinS]

That’s awesome! Doing it directly through their app makes a lot of sense. T-Mobile have a prepaid eSIM app just for people visiting or wanting a pay as you go option in the US. I used this to get local service for a month and it was amazingly simple so I’m a fan of eSIMs in that regard. Really glad to hear O2 will be handling this via their app in the future - thanks @Enlli!

[AlexK]

I can’t download the MyO2 App as I’m not in the UK (wrong region). I’m having the exact same issue as the initial author except of T-Mobile I am using Verizon in the US.