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.
(I haven’t seen any other that ships reusable QR codes yet.)
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
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.