Boost has enabled esim via their updated app. Download the new app then select your mobile. Select transfer or restore esim.
I transfered today took 2 mins on android.
https://boost.com.au/pages/esim
https://boost.com.au/blogs/help-topics/does-boost-have-esim-…
https://boost.com.au/blogs/can-i-re-use-my-physical-sim-afte…
@Bystander: Strange. I used them all around Europe, was super easy, and even in Bali, via esim stores like airalo. No need to go looking for Sims, register, activation, no Id, just works upon landing.
@lawyerz: I landed in Poland and went to the biggest 3 telcos and 2 said no for prepaid. The last one said they can do it but not on a Sunday, come back tomorrow. A similar experience in Spain.
In Bali the only choice was Smartfren but their reception was pretty bad in some places such as Ubud.
Maybe you bought a eSIM online. I fronted up to the stores after doing a fair bit of research beforehand.
BTW,
The easiest place to get an eSIM was Georgia.
@Bystander: The telco I used for Europe was Orange and worked through multiple Europe countries. It was all online, never had to go in store. Signed up and activated in 10 mins.
Another alternative is you can try one of the many many esim stores on the app store, you don't have to deal with the telcos directly. They work well. Airalo for example, but there's many more. Sometimes they're cheaper or as cheap, sometimes they are alot more expensive esp in places without existing esims but convenient.
@lawyerz: Yeah, that was a part of the reason that I had difficulty in some places, I wanted to pay local prices. In every instance when I looked at Airalo etc they were far more expensive than the local SIMs.
I almost always avoided buying SIMs at airports as they want to sell you "tourist SIMs" which again are overpriced.
I'm happy to hunt around for bargains and in the end I got reasonable prices for mobile data almost always.
@Bystander: Travelkon is often on sale with 25% or so - https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/830569
Just another consideration.
Depends on where you travel. I've been to 4 countries outside australia in past couple of years and eSim was the way to go. Much easier and you don't need to pop out your local physical sim (boost) which will keep on receving calls / messages and even wifi calling through travel sim's data.
Much easier in just about every country to get a physical SIM vs eSIM. In some countries they don't give eSIM's to prepaid customers.
My advice is to keep the physical slot free when travelling.
+1
the article says Boost doesn't currently have eSIM capability yet. However we are working on it as we know its something our customers are interested in.
lol
That's the link , BUT as stated in the post it's thru app. I'm guessing they will update the site soon
Confirmed. Update app and it's there.
Wait until end of month and activate my boost sim. Woolies run out soon.
This might get me to stop using Boost for my primary and use a lesser network.
Generally I find reception (bars of service) is fine on most carriers and calls work fine but data congestion (have signal but nothing is coming through) is the killer.
Brisbane Northside I find something similar, fine during the day but when the kiddies get home from school Telstra/Boost seems to slow down noticebly… Vodafone (!!) is fine.
The wonders of wireless data
I found it better to keep physical sim because the free overseas trial sim + data deals are usually eSim. This way you can use dual sim on iPhone.
Anybody with iPhone 13 series & later can use dual esims at the same time and turn off physical sim.
I wonder if this means the Apple Watch cellular support is one step closer to becoming a reality..
"However we are working on it as we know its something our customers are interested in." - years ago
https://boost.com.au/blogs/help-topics/smart-watch
Follow
I'm wondering the same thing…
Doubtful. Telstra has a longstanding history of ensuring that early adopters have to pay the higher Telstra price, until other carriers practically force Telstra to offer it. To date I'm not aware of any MVNOs offering Apple Watch/One Number. Telstra will continue to try to extract the higher $$$.
Does that mean can’t use eSIM in Apple Watch and keep physical sim in iPhone with the same number?
So far as I know, Apple Watch won't take just any eSIM. The carrier has to support the Apple Watch specifically and the carriers are not making this service available to MVNOs.
I’d completely given up on that ever happening.
Can you use esim in new offers? Or this is only for switching?
Hopefully this eSIM option will be integrated into the checkout for those that would prefer to not deal with physical SIMs at all.
You can buy an esim service straight from the app!
Is there any difference between porting out from an eSim compared to a physical sim?
No
said. my Android phone does NOT support eSim.
A little old model.
who said that?
sad.
"said" is a typo
lol, I thought you were trying to swear before…
Well that was easy enough to do. Updated app and activated esim on iPhone.
What's the benefit to having an esim? Apart from not having a physical Sim in my phone
If someone steals your phone they can't remove the sim so you can still track it (even when off its still trackable with find my (iPhone))
If someone steals your phone they can't remove the sim and use it to impersonate you/receive SMS validation codes
So if no one steals your phone it’s basically the same benefit as having the current physical sim?
You can freely switch between 2 sims without turning off the mobile phone.
Good for travelling when the main sim is still physical.
Good to have spare sim to make that call or use internet when main is not Telstra.
2 is not the limit, I think you can install a few, switch for international phone call, heavy data download and switch back.
Esim is like a ev you need to plug in every night
I don’t understand how this is a “deal” ?? Can someone enlighten me?
Faster rorts for SIM swapping antics. Ozbargain will go nuts over it.
Forum post would technically be better place for it, but likely posted as a bargain for greater visibility and eclout
I don’t understand how this is a “deal” ?
It's not.
It is a public service announcement…
What are the advanteges of an esim?
Asking because I didn't read any of the previous comments.
What are the advanteges of an esim?
Weighs less.
I don;t think they are absolutely great, as someone mentioned, if you phone stops working, then there is no way to get the sim out quickly and test it on another phone like you can with physical esims.
The advantages, i feel, are more related to having them as secondary sims. E.g. you are traveling and want to buy a sim overseas, you can do it before you travel or from your hotel room, and be ready in minutes, or if your phone doesn;t support dual physical sims, you can have a sim and an esim working at the same time (my use case)
Honestly I only care about eSIM support because I moved to iPhone and Apple have decided that if you want dual-SIM functionality, at least one SIM must be an eSIM. It can be difficult as a tourist to get an eSIM in some countries (when you want a local SIM plan), so it's safer to leave that spot free.
The other bonus of being able to keep as many eSIMs as you want with the phone is barely important. Especially as many carriers/MVNOs will lock the eSIM to the device and prevent it from being transferred (looking at you Amaysim, and most of the global data-only SIM carriers - so stupid).
You can use this SIM as a backup for when Optus goes down again and not have to physically change over the SIMs
I can finally go Dual Wield Boost mobile!
This is the way
I added 5G enchant to my dual wield setup.
Adderton Double Peg Mode: ON
Is it possible to revert back to Physical SIM if, for any reason, eSIM doesn't work that well? Asking becuase i;m on pixel 7 and already using an eSIM, apparently you can have 2 eSIMS working at the same time, but there might be cases where this doesn't work (unclear info online)
There shouldn't be any difference within Australia. It either works or doesn't. Overseas you might have some unsupported carriers
There shouldn't be any difference within Australia.
That's one risky statement in the world of telecomms.
Oh yah I worked a couple decades for the big one , I was careful with should hahaha
Overseas you might have some unsupported carriers
I doubt it, even while roaming. I have been able to connect to roaming networks overseas fine with an aussie esim.
Depends on country some don't support
Apparently China and Hong Kong have banned eSIMs, so your phone probably won’t work there without a physical SIM.
@bargain ben: Not totally right, there are many carriers in Hong Kong offer eSIM, some mainly add as offering for Apple Watch and some phones also have esims. only china doesn’t have eSIM
China mobile Hong Kong: https://global.cmlink.com/esim?LT=en
@bargain ben: iPhones for CN and HK (and Macau) markets don't support eSIM, not that eSIM are banned
Hang on! I never knew about this, this is great then. So you could have 2 eSIMs on standby? As in, if somebody dials any of these 2 numbers, it will ring on your phone? And you can use one esim as a data sim and still receive calls/sms on the other sim?
What if you plug in a physical sim? Does it make 3 active lines?
So you could have 2 eSIMs on standby?
That depends on your phone
iPhone 13 and onwards you can
It varies with Android based phones.
And you can use one esim as a data sim and still receive calls/sms on the other sim?
Yes if you phone allows dual esim
Or your can do the same with a physical SIM is esim
What if you plug in a physical sim? Does it make 3 active lines?
What if you plug in a physical sim? Does it make 3 active lines?
No there's no mainstream tri active SIM phone
You could look at these
https://m.gsmarena.com/flashback_multiple_sim_cards-news-544….
Or this
https://www.simore.com/en/quadruple-dual-sim-adapter-4g-andr…
Is it possible to revert back to Physical SIM if, for any reason, eSIM doesn't work that well l
Yes you can, it's just the same as a normal Sim swap
Now this is a revolutionary change we all need
4 more months with amaysim and will jump the boat. After the outage debacle my optus speeds improved but not the latency
is this a QR code kind of eSIM? will this work on a LTE Galaxy Watch
Is it's in app, then no I guess
Didn't have a QR code but it was a swap from existing so not sure.
I just tried it. It didn't work on my first attempt but then I restarted the phone, tried again and it worked.
Terrible idea for people like me who constantly change phones all the time. Just be warned.
How so? The swap occurred in minutes just do that on the new phone
I’ve always ran into problems doing this and the only solution is to buy a blank SIM to put your number back onto. First thought it was the phone but nope, then thought it was the carrier but nope. Error 1D10T perhaps? I have NFI. YMMV.
Damn, I need wifi to do it.. Well that sucks for me
My S21 supports one Esim and one sim, I'm already used esim when i travel overseas so I'll stick with the physical one with boost.
Samsung from S24 supports two Esim active at the same time, in this case would make sense switch boost to Esim
Far out. This morning I bought a 12 month Kogan eSIM because Boost didn’t have them. Their website still said unavailable. So annoyed now.
Heh. i just wanted the cheapest possible eSIM for a second line. $120 for 1 year is pretty good!
Isn't eSIM not as secure? Also when it comes to time you need to port out and back for deals it becomes inconvenient. You would need port number from eSIM to physical sim for any deals. Most deals Cashback what not are physical sims. Even if you can port back in you will need to again convert to eSIM. Also once you lost or swap your eSIM I think you need to reapply etc. It's not easily swappable between phones as well
I wouldn't bother.
I only use eSIM while overseas with roaming ones which I can just dispose at will
You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
Well then instead of replying with something useful just say I have no idea. That doesn’t help.
Apart from insecure bit likely wrong. The cashback and sim swap is real. It’s not as simple as transferring to another phone that easily. Even the Google eSIM transfer app or tool doesn’t work 100% last I heard. You would need the provider to issue a new eSIM. Most Boost starter kits (with discounts) are not on eSIM that’s the truth
Finally it has arrived after waiting for it since 2022.
I’m looking forward to 2023, gonna be awesome.
……………….
.wait, did that happen already?
As an existing user of boost mobile I don’t seem to be able to find this on the app or mobile app?
Tried the iPhone “convert to eSIM” option under “mobile” in the settings, didn’t work
Upgrade the app
Thanks. It seems it’s not available for existing user. For context: after the update the app does show I’m able to buy a new plan with eSIM. It doesn’t provide a function for existing users to upgrade to eSIM.
Just resolved! For readers benefits, do not activate it in iPhone. Do it via Boosts app;
Go to Services tab
On the services homepage, tap the service you want to switch
Scroll down to the bottom and tap ‘Transfer or restore eSIM’.
Follow the prompts and you'll be binning your SIM card in no time.
@jv I like this deal
i wish we had a esim by boost to use on apple watch
Just as I'm leaving the service for the 1/2 price Vodafone yearly plan 😝. I've been waiting or this for years….
same, now due to international roaming, I am moving to Amaysim
Just fyi, Felix Mobile's roaming is better value. I've used it in NZ, US and Canada.
checking it out now
Finally!
Was literally looking into this last night and saw no option on the app and the website said nothing. Perfect timing… thanks OP!
I love Boost, but there international roaming plan does not even come closer than Amaysim. Amaysim has a 365 day plan which I need as I travel a few times a year. I waited waited waited Boost so I can have esim, Amaysim has esim many many month earlier, has better roaming plan, time to switch. well, good bye my boost.
People still use ripoff roaming plans?! Travelkon eSIM for the win!!
We need to receive calls on the Australian number.
I have eSIM's for about 10 countries on my phone.
Major problems getting them in Spain, Portugal, Poland, and a real pain in Bali.
Phsical SIM's were easy to get every time.