Anyone using esim in their phones? I set mine up yesterday and noticed something..

I set up my esim with a second number for work. I noticed my esim line has much better signal than my nano sim line. Is this normal? Or should I go get a new sim for my main line?

 

You could buy new nano SIM, sometimes it helps if the current SIM is more than 3-4 yrs old.

 

it's 11 months old. I will go back and get another one. thanks.

 

I think Carrier service update could fix the issue.
Try typing *#*#4636#*#* in phone dialer, Phone Info check preferred network type or enable DSDS(Dual SIM Dual Standby) if carrier has not enabled it thereby improving coverage and avoid call drops on multiple networks.

 

All a sim does is tie your # to the ID on the sim.

Call quality shouldn't be any different from one to the other as they both just authenticate the phone to the provider and nothing more.

 

Not only that, sadly. And it can be exploited.

SIM card is a highly integrated microchip with its own CPU, RAM, ROM, OS, that can cause call quality problems if damaged or just bad from the factory. But they are also pretty tough and hard to break.

 

I will go back to my service provider, and see if they can replace the sim again. I have a prepaid airtime on my eSim, and my full data plan on the nano sim.

 

@kojack how exactly did you determine signal strength? Via service menu?

 

just on the phone screen itself, I noticed my main line dropped service, lost my sirius stream, and showed no signal on the meter, but my other line had 3 bars.

 

The service drops are not due to the sim.

Which providers / phone model matter when it comes to the signal. If you're using a sim for say T-Mobile based networks and eSIM for ATT based networks the coverage differences will cause drops on either network. Dual sim service though complicates things as well as they're both competing for antenna access.

With the advent of different technology improvements Voice service which is indicted by GSM / EVDO / etc. aren't quite as important as they used to be when selecting a handset since the VOLTE rides on data and not the traditional technologies used in the past. For instance my phone will sync up with any US network and work just fine. The differences in which bands are being used is what matters for voice/data though.

My phone is geared more towards TM coverages but, is working on VZW MVNO just fine. In the past though the differing networks / protocols they use to TX/RX signals wouldn't be capable of moving from one to the other. This is one of the reasons carriers are pushing to shutdown legacy technologies to free up spectrum (bandwidth) to move away from the slower / inefficient network equipment. Being able to shift the spectrum to newer / more efficient technologies like VOLTE allows faster data as well. The issue every provider has is the legacy handsets forcing them to keep the legacy portions of the networks active for X years while they phase out the older handsets. When you see news about providers shutting down 2G/3G networks this is what's going on to make more room for LTE/5G bandwidth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_card

It's not what you think it is. "which is usually made of PVC with embedded contacts and semiconductors."

If a SIM has those components in bold you wouldn't see them being installed by everyday people w/o tons of issues being presented to carriers for replacements because of static discharges causing them to short out due to improper grounding. SIM's have been used for many other things than just phones. They're used as payment methods as well for many years prior to the banks putting them onto your CC. Back in the 90's even they were used to provide stored payment info for things like coin op machines like laundry / vending / etc.

The "SIM" is just a way to tie identifiable / unique information to the card itself that can be loaded into a tracking system to authorize services / payments / etc. in a secure fashion. It's just a mechanism for validating the holder with a machine. As for phones everything used to be registered using the ESN which would authorize the device to work on the network. This was mostly seen on VZW / Sprint / CDMA carriers post-analog phones. Analog phones were all tied with ESN's to the network. Digital phones is where you start seeing the SIM being more popular for "GSM" based networks though as things progressed it became more popular with all networks due to the ease of setup w/ less programming needed on the handset (reduced carrier costs = profits) . Where it used to take a sales person 5-10 minutes to setup a new phone now it's seconds of inserting a SIM into the slot and turning the phone on and letting it program itself to the network of choice.

Simplifying them to a piece of plastic w/ identifying information on them may be oversimplifying but, these days SIM's also have programming on them that setup your WAP profile for you for data access in addition to the voice access. The process in which things ":activate" when a phone is paired with a SIM is roughly a 25-30 step handshake with the network / device when you turn it on. The automation of programming the phone based on the SIM # dictates what's possible from a service prospective / features enabled based on the #. Sometimes you'll see carriers stating you need a new sim for x feature to work. This is usually because they're restricting older devices based on the sim # "age" in the system. SIM cards don't just go bad which is why you have people w/ cards 10 years old being inserted into a new phone w/ working service. Since your average consumer doesn't source their own handset and then add an existing sim to it the carriers weed out obsolete phones when someone goes to s store for a new phone / cancel the old sim from the system.

 

The phone is my Telus iPhone 11, and both my plans are with telus. So really its an even playing field for comparison. What is causing the vast differences in service? There is some back story here as well. My iphone 11 main plan (regular sim) keeps dropping signal in certian places, while my samsung galaxy tablet has full bars in the same locations.
I was told it's the system in the iPhone causing it. Then, fire up my esim in the iPhone and I get full bars on my secondary account the same as my tablet would, but my main line still is dead in the same areas.
Faulty phone? Even though my iphone 8 dropped in the same places and I replaced that phone with the 11 because of it. My wife's phone does not have this issue and it's an iphone 11 as well.

 

Certainly peculiar situation seeing as though both are the same carrier. Seeing as though the 8 & 11 exhibit the same issue but not your wife's 11 there might be an easy test. Swap the sim's in both phones and see if the issue carries over to your wife's 11 and if it does there's something odd about the configuration that the sim is pulling to the phone when it initializes. If the issue doesn't follow the sim from phone to phone then it's the phone. Then again it could be a glitch in the billing system for your 1 number tied to that sim producing the issue.

 

Well, I was on service chat with apple, they said there was nothing wrong with my hardware (besides being an iPhone). They said it's the sim card, so I replaced my sim again and will see what happens. I guess I will be getting a motorola G pro for a replacement. It's the only android phone with 2 sim slots, expandable storage and stylus support.

 

Plenty of phones have dual slots.

Expandable SD storage though is a bit different and the stylus is limited selection.

I went with an OP 8 Pro w/ 256GB of storage and struggle to fill it more than 50%. If you need that much room for media / apps then I would think the phone would slow to a crawl. SD is nice if you're aiming to keep the actual phone cost down but, it's a chink in the armor of the phone for something to die eventually.

https://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_g_pro-10269.php it has decent specs and it's not too old at this point either.

Just make sure it has all of the bands you need for the best coverage - https://www.frequencycheck.com/mode...im-td-lte-xt2043-7-moto-g8-pro-motorola-sofia

 

Again, it's the only phone with dual sim, sd card and stylus support. 3 needed things for me this time around. It works on my system no issue. My friend is using the G8 power on telus without issue now.

 

Great!

 

I would use esim if any of our local operators supported the feature

 

They won't let you use esim here unless it's the second line..

 

One of my phones has eSIM, but I don't use it due to privacy implications - signup process is more complicated and involves taking a selfie.

 

I never had to do any of that, just scan the esim sim card and pick my new number. I only have a pay as you go airtime plan with phone and text. Work line.

 

I was going to say swap the SIM cards but I just learned that esim is digital? Interesting stuff

 

Yes, the esim is short for ELECTRONIC - SIM.