After a bit of a disappointing prepaid eSIM (non-) experience directly from US network operators, I switched to plan B and had a look if I could get an eSIM for use in the US from one of the global eSIM roaming platforms. Two years ago, I checked out Airalo when I was roaming in … Continue reading Roaming Report – Part 3 – Airalo – 5 Minutes to the eSIM
While I was in the US, I was using my German SIM card to roam through the different networks. When using a German SIM card, however, all IP data traffic goes back from the US to Germany and from there to the Internet. As the servers for my self-hosted services are in Europe, that’s not … Continue reading Roaming Report – Part 2 – Getting a Local US eSIM – How Hard Can it Be?
I’ve been following the development of the eSIM on this blog for 6 years now and in recent years, I’ve been downloading and testing eSIMs to see how the process actually works. However, all of that was for learning and educational purposes only. But now, finally, I’ve used an eSIM ‘for real’ to get me … Continue reading Switching To eSIM in Slight Distress
After the positive experience I had with my first eSIM download (see part 1 and part 2 of this series), I wanted to explore the topic a bit more, and decided to purchase yet another eSIM via the Airalo web portal and download it to my device. I did this because I wanted to see … Continue reading Downloading an eSIM – in Practice – Part 3
In part 1 of this series, I’ve taken a look at the process of purchasing an eSIM online for roaming purposes and then downloading it to a smartphone. In this part, I’ll have a look at some technical details such as the home network operator of the eSIM, location of the Internet connectivity, performance and … Continue reading Downloading an eSIM – in Practice – Part 2
Back in 2017, I wrote quite a number of blog entries about an upcoming technology: Virtual SIMs, also referred to as eSIMs. As with many network technologies, it took a number of years before things end up in the mass market. But it has finally happened, and an interesting ecosystem has grown around downloadable SIM … Continue reading Downloading an eSIM – in Practice – Part 1
In the previous part of this series I gave a quick introduction to the difference between today’s handling model of a physical SIM that the user can insert in any device and embedded-SIMs to which subscription information can be downloaded. In part 2 I’ll now give a high level overview of how this download process … Continue reading Embedded-SIM Intro – Part 2 – SIM vs. eSIM User Scenarios
Here’s a quick follow-up to my recent blog post on using an eSIM when roaming in the US: After I installed the eSIM, I noticed with my trace tools that whenever my smartphone connected to an LTE network, the phone would, in addition to the LTE PDU session for Internet connectivity, request another PDU session … Continue reading Roaming Report – Part 4 – When the SIM card talks to the Internet
It’s March 2024 and for the first time in 5 years (thank you Covid pandemic), I was in the US again. So far, so good, but there is one significant difference this time, at least from a technical point of view: For the first time ever, I’m roaming with Verizon! Most travelers won’t even notice, … Continue reading Roaming Report – Part 1 – Roaming with Verizon – A First!
It’s the time of the year again to reflect on what has happened in the last 12 months. It’s been quite a ride again, with many things happening, and also some things not happening. So if you are interested, come with me on a trip through my year in tech 2023.