Being a Apple fanboy I find the Android phone I need for dual SIMs a bit of a pain. The phone itself, an OnePlus, is excellent and their implementation of Android is commendably bloat free but I think it’s time to move to an iPhone (the smallest available). Since they only support one physical SIM I’d appreciate any feed back on eSIMs. Are the trouble free?
I think it might be a bit like the phones which have an integral battery - will it limit your future choices?
No, I don’t think so Graham. It’s portable. It’s “installed” through a link (I think). Anyway, I think I’ll have a crack at it. Who dares wins as they say 
eSIMs are trouble free if you set the priorities correctly for both eSIM and pSIM.
Are you planning to use the eSIM for roaming?
I’ve only ever used eSIM for data plans on iPads, but being able to pick either daily or bundled plans made them very handy.
eSims are fine, I had one for a while until I changed provider to Reglo who unfortunately do not support eSims.
Ideally I would like a phone which fully supports eSims - mine (Google Pixel 3) doesn’t really in that you have to choose which one you want to use rather than say receive phone calls on either. The later Pixel3a does support this. I want to be able to have 2 sims so I can have French sim & UK sim in Phone at the same time.
It is worth checking exactly whether phone will offer the use of esim you want as there are different ways in which they work depending on the phone.
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Yes, I want a IOS device and I want a roaming eSIM with a physical Free SIM that I can swap into my router when I’ve maxed out on my routers’ SIMs data limit. If I use a Free eSIM then I can’t swap it with a router SIM.
First World problems 
. I suppose I should be worrying about more important things.
I have been using Swytch.com. it’s not an eSIM but a virtual sim. I transfered my UK number to it about 6 months ago. It works well as long as you have good reception or good WiFi… it uses VOIP and sometimes it breaks up a bit but I don’t use it a lot. I still get texts and incoming calls. And for 6 euros a month it suits me.
Remember that unless you have a home Internet package that guarantees Conversational Quality of Service (QoS) for VoIP, you’ll only be getting the regular Interactive /Background QoS, so dropouts and audio breakups are highly likely.
Hi @D_Scott_Bayliss and welcome to SF
Are you a French resident? If so, might you experience issues with fair usage terms on your contract?
Hi, yes I am a French resident. As it is a virtual sim via VOIP there are no roaming charges. But I only use it for calling UK numbers. I would be charged for calling in France. All pricing should be on their website.
I have now had an eSIM for over a year on an iPhone XR so I have a UK normal phone contract with EE and an SFR virtual SIM (cost €3 per month) Works perfectly.
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Biggest disadvantage is that you limit your choice of service providers - not everyone offers eSIM and it is not always straightforward to use it. That said, I have a Pixel phone and use the physical SIM for my UK number (Three) and an eSIM for my French number (RED by SFR). No problems in the 6 months I have been using this (I had 2 physical SIMs in my previous Motorola) and I have Three for primary calling as it includes calls throughout Europe and I use RED for all data when in France. If I am calling someone French who is likely to want to call me back I manually dial from RED to make it easier for them.
In the days when I was travelling abroad, which hopefully will return (although not as much as pre-pandemic I hope) I would switch between them according to where I am for the best deals.
But technically, it seems to work just as reliably as a physical SIM, which I think is what you wanted to confirm.
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Bit confused by this service. Is this something you can only use when connected to WiFi? In which case it is hardly a substitute for a physical or e-SIM, although I can see it has some advantages for office or home based people that don’t need mobile communications. The Swytch website is unclear or, dare I say it, deceptive on this point.
Ì can still make and receive call when I am out of the house. Of course the quality depends on how good your signal is. I have a Bouygues sim and it uses my mobile data. I am not recommending just saying it works for me. I don’t use my UK number much. I’m sure there are better options for those who need to use there UK number a lot. Like for a business.
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