I just want to swap my number into different phones like I can with a physical card, without anyone else's involvement or approval.
If I could just grab an esim and download it onto a physical card that would be great.
> only allowing so many changes per month
That I have actually encountered. I've seen one (fortunately only when traveling) that actually charges a "SIM fee" for each new eSIM profile installed, and they don't allow reinstalls of my initial one...
Charging for a new eSIM is dubious even if a profile is reinstallable, but it's less of an issue for me, as I'd only have to do that if I lose a phone, or it fails to a point where I can no longer remove the installed eSIMs so that I can redownload them on another one.
And a lot of operators have restrictions on phones. Imported phones are often blocked (and also not given access to VoLTE).
For me it is a big deal if it charges "sim fees". I do swap my sims very regularly. For testing, or to put one in my tablet when I travel. I just want to be fully free to do as I please.
But luckily I only use prepay these days and none of the carriers here in Europe that do prepay offer eSIM anyway.
Not true, e.g. in Portugal: https://www.nos.pt/movel/esim (though you need to go to a store to pick-up the QR code, I think to avoid people from other countries using it?), https://www.meo.pt/servicos/movel/tarifarios-telemovel/e-sim same thing
(I haven’t seen any other that ships reusable QR codes yet.)
They have great roaming deals so I like having its eSIM always installed, but if I change iPhone I have to visit a store Thailand. Fantastic. I ended up switching it for a physical SIM card.
The prices charged are often too high but depending on the setup the provider is using they might actually pay a vendor a fee every time an eSIM profile is generated.
that's only needed on non-rooted Android, due to security restrictions imposed by android. OP even mentions using an open source tool (lpac) with his esim adapter.
I don't really like the move to eSIMs, or rather the removal of physical SIM card (slots.) A physical thing is a lot easier to reason about, and you can swap them in seconds.
Edit: Looks great but it's US only. But I think the one in the article spoke about a similar solution.