SIM cards are a necessary evil if you want to use your smartphone for calls or getting online away from a wi-fi signal. Except they’re not. Thanks to an exciting and relatively little-known innovation called eSIM, SIM cards are well …
SIM cards are a necessary evil if you want to use your smartphone for calls or getting online away from a wi-fi signal.
Except they’re not.
Thanks to an exciting and relatively little-known innovation called eSIM, SIM cards are well on their way to becoming obsolete.
That means no more messing around with those fiddly little pin-like SIM card port openers, no more scrambling to find a new SIM whenever you go abroad, and no dealing with monolithic telcos. Hooray!
An eSIM – which stands for Electronic Subscriber Identity Module – is essentially a programmable SIM card. It works just like a normal SIM, except it stays in your phone forever.
To change providers or set up a data and call plan with an eSIM, all you need to do is buy your package online and then scan a QR code with your smartphone.
This makes eSIMs ideal for anybody looking to travel for work or play, since your global data plan will follow you wherever you go.
And there are many other advantages besides, including the added security that eSIMs provide.
Whether or not you realise it, the traditional SIM in your phone is incredibly easy to hack, and smartphone users fall victim to hackers every day through nefarious tricks like simjacking, SIM cloning, and SIM swaps.
It’s pretty much impossible to hack an eSIM, since they require an activation code to set up. Plus, they don’t give up personal information without explicit permission from the user.
Interested? There’s a growing number of eSIM providers out there which you can find on esims.com, including Nomad, Airalo, Maya Mobile, Simtex, and RedteaGO, Apple’s official eSIM partner.
Believe it or not, Elon Musk might join this list of providers one day. Starlink – SpaceX’s cutting edge satellite communications system – is reportedly eyeing the mobile network operator market.
One day soon, you could be enjoying cut price global data thanks to the miracle of space lasers. What a time to be alive.
