eSIM provisioning issues

[tekguy]

I hope this post saves some of you a huge headache and maybe $10.

I'm happy to report, that eSIM works and how simple it was to add the line to an iPhone XS. I'll start off by saying it wasn't an easy journey to get here though. I had to gather pieces of information from various posts and finally figured out how to activate an eSIM from our RogersDirect portal as there is NO official documentation. During the ordering process, I was required to provide an IMEI number. I provided the IMEI2 number on the box of an iPhone XR (i know I said XS earlier). I think Rogers totally missed the mark here, as the eSIM should allow you to activate a line with a QR code or manually enter information without a physical printed card. When the new line was ordered with the eSIM option, it had to be mailed out. I receive it 2 days later and there was a bunch of packaging a return label, a plastic return pouch and a plastic card with a QR code printed on it. I was too excited about receiving the eSIM to type up an angry message about this unnecessary waste.

I grab an iPhone XS on my desk and snap a pic of the QR code. The activation was done in seconds. I don't know why a QR code couldn't have just been presented on my computer screen when I created the order. Tested it over the weekend, everything went well. We all know how easy it is to swap a SIM card from one phone to another right? I thought this would be a piece of cake with an eSIM since you don't have that tiny little chip to lose once it's taken out. I proceed to remove the eSIM account from the iPhone XS. No problem, but it did leave a footprint of sorts, which contained information about the previous phone number. That gave me an opportunity to re-link any numbers dialed from the eSIM to be linked to the remaining line. Sure. Now I fire up the iPhone XR which was supposed to get the eSIM and followed the same procedure to activate. I get the message saying, the QR Code has already been used and can't be used on this phone. Well, that was annoying. A bit disappointed that I couldn't just easily transfer the eSIM to another device. Oh well, lesson learned, now better just provision the eSIM back on the first phone. Received a message "Unable to complete cellular plan change. Try again later." GRRR, so now I need to call Rogers business support to have them reset the line I'm thinking. I could tell pretty quickly that when I told the tech I had an eSIM, she was dreading this call already. I was willing to be patient here knowing full well that this was something new and nobody had been properly been brought up to speed on it yet. I told her what had happened how I activated the line of a phone, then removed it but couldn't get it on to another device, so tried to reactivate but got the error mentioned earlier. I'm placed on hold for several minutes while this is being escalated with tier 2. Finally she comes back and says, it can't be done. But not to worry, we'll send you another eSIM in 2-5 days and charge me $10. I took a short pause, then told her how ridiculous this sounds that Rogers would even consider charging for this when they could probably just generate a QR code and email it to me. We have nearly 500 lines on our account, so this $10 would be nothing, but it's a matter of principal. She agreed to ask a manage to have the fee waived... i suspect it wont (stay tuned next month).

So lesson learned, do NOT remove your eSIM and try to reactivate it again (even on the same phone), or you'll be in a terrible surprise. I would hate to imagine what would happen if you wiped your phone with an eSIM enabled. Rogers has taken something designed with greater convenience in mind and added unnecessary steps and unnecessary waste.

***Added Labels***

[RogersMaude]

Good evening @tekguy,

Thank you for sharing your detailed account of events with the Community! We appreciate the feedback and are grateful you're raising awareness amongst other users.

While I understand this situation can be frustrating, please don't hesitate to reach out to us if you have any inquiries, before testing it on your own and ending up disappointed.

We remain at your disposition if you have any other questions!

Regards,

RogersMaude

[Pauly]

so whats the advantage of activating an eSim? why do so many people want to do this? can you not just use the existing sim card in your phone? if that one already works why the need to change? are people wanting to just simply hop onto the latest technology and trends for the heck of it? whats the technological advantage? or is it just to be the "first"?

i remember I was one of the "first" to join the rogers "GSM" network back in the day, and yes there was all this big hype about being the first but i also did it because I work in the industry and it was required for my job as a technician so I was not always trying to be an early adopter. I even won a bet cus a friend of mine did not believe me that rogers had sim cards, and i showed him my sim card and he was shocked, and bought me a beer, haha

[tekguy]

That’s funny because back when phones didn’t require SIM cards to work with Rogers people were griping about not being able to easily change phones... everybody wanted SIM cards. We’re right back where we started it seems.

So in our case, we have users that carry a personal phone and a work phone. If we provision new iPhones with an eSIM, then a user could simply put their existing SIM into the available slot and have their line without any assistance from IT. But they’ll call anyway....

Another is with roaming. This may change down the line as there are already a couple of providers that offer eSIM for roaming. Today you can pick up a prepaid SIM fairly easily at any airport and pop it into your phone. If your main line was activated with an eSIM, you could just add the physical SIM and still continue to use your phone with iMessage and FaceTime using the data on the second line so you don’t incur high roaming rates. Business customers still don’t have the benefit of Roam like Home, so roaming can get quite expensive even with the corporate Flex plans.

[bugzy]

Agreed - seems like eSim is going back to the CDMA/TDMA days but I think the advantage is you can use your primary cellphone plan as the eSIM and that allows you to insert another physical sim card say your work sim or another sim when you're traveling.

Ideally it would be better to have dual-sim like most Chinese phone companies. : )

[al007]

hi ,

eSim for a voice only plan / Dual Sim
i have an iPhone 11 and i have been using a physical sim from Bell and an eSim from rogers.
i had data on both lines but i recently changed my Rogers eSim to voice only.
everything was fine till i broke my phone and i had to replace it. i bought a new phone myself as (b6od plan).
with the physical Bell sim had had no issues and set the new phone and installed all my back ups properly.
the problem started with the eSim ( 2nd line with Rogers). we have no Rogers store in our town so i had to cll rogers to send me a new eSim. when eSim arrived i scanned it but it didnt work. so called customer service and they told ne that i had to call and activate it first before scan it and now its scanned you cannot use it anymore. Also they told me that since u switched to a voice only plan you cannot activate it as the activation is using voip over LTE and the solution is to add a temporary data plan , activate tour line then remove data plan.
they sent ne a new eSim and i did what exactly they tole me.. called rogers to activate with adding a data and scan. the moment i scanned my phone prompt to to login with my apple id again and it would not allowed me to proceed further “ activation lock” .....!!!
rogers rep said this is apple issue call the. and they detecting u r phone as stolen and locking your device.
i spent 6 hours with different apple customer and technical service reps, reset , erase, update and configure the phone number of times. finally they said that lets wipe the phone and go rogers store to get another eSim.
i drove 40 min to get to the rogers store and explained them the situation. they told me that the system is allowing them to activate an esim without the data plan. so they did and after me scanning the QR code the phone got to the activation lock mode gain. ( despite my number of request to add a data plan to my phone he did not)
anyways j paid $10 for something that didn't work in store ( very unhappy for that) and bought an eSim ( not activated one) and paid another $10 to take home.
i am planning to call back to the tech ical service line and seek to speak with the lady who game me the solution at the first place and ask if somebody could put me in contact with her through my case number...

any idea from anybody on how to solve my issue ?? i would be greatly appreciated

[tekguy]

You need to provision the ESIM from the Rogers portal. Not sure if you’re a consumer account or business account. With consumer account you need the original SIM card number to change SIMs, but in the BSS portal you can just enter the new number.

For new lines, SIM or ESIM is already programmed with the assigned number and ready to use. When doing a hardware upgrade or replacing a sim, the SIM/ESIM isn’t activated since that would switch your service to a SIM card that is in the mail and you’d be without service.