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!

[sau]

Thanks, good to know.

[sau]

Thanks. Yes I think that is the safest bet than trying to activate esim abroad.

[sau]

Hello, I took the plunge and can confirm that sim swap worked successfully whilst roaming 😁. @jonsie @MI5 

[Enlli]

@sau Thanks for the heads up

[MI5]

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@sau wrote:

Hello, I took the plunge and can confirm that sim swap worked successfully whilst roaming 😁. @jonsie @MI5 

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Was this through your MyO2 @sau ?

[sau]

Yes it was through myO2 @MI5 

[jonsie]

Brilliant and good to know

Presumably then, you are on the new 360 billing platform

[MI5]

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@sau wrote:

Yes it was through myO2 @MI5 

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@sau 

Thanks for the update.

So we can now advise 360 customers that a sim can be activated abroad.

That's a great help, thanks.

[Aweb48]

I have no idea if I’m on 360, but I was able to successfully transfer/activate my eSIM onto a new phone while in the USA today. 

[pgn]

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@Aweb48 wrote:

I have no idea if I’m on 360, but I was able to successfully transfer/activate my eSIM onto a new phone while in the USA today. 

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Excellent news, @Aweb48, thank you. Good to hear it can be done while travelling in the United States. 👍🏼