Are you outside the US? I've used eSIM on iOS many times with a number of carriers and MVNOs and never noticed a fee (unless you're talking about a postpaid carrier's line activation fee, usually around $36, not related to esim or not)
That’s a trade a lot of people would gladly make.
Say you arrive somewhere where your regular provider doesn't have signal so you get a prepaid sim from the one provider that does have signal. How do you install it if it's an eSIM? You don't have connectivity on your regular.
One, you can plan ahead. Two, most of those spots have Wi-fi for this purpose.
There are legitimate reasons to prefer a physical SIM. This isn't one.
I have no idea where to get a local sim from, but it would mean I wouldn’t have my normal phone number (unless I had a phone with two physical sims - very rare), and presumably would have had to find a shop at 3 am body clock time and 10pm local time. Maybe there was one post customs, I don’t know as I was autopiloting to the taxi.
...? - they are literally the norm in Android land nowadays, it's only Apple that INSISTS upon a single SIM or, in third-world variants, two eSIMs.
As it is nowadays, I am not up to date.
That 10 € fee is exactly the cost they would have charged for a physical SIM, shipping included.
Bouygues was one of the companies lamenting the change. They viewed it as a "loss of connection with their customers", whatever that means. I haven't set foot in a phone store in I don't even remember how long, but at least 10 years, so I have no idea what the hell they're talking about.
Makes it harder to sell a SIM card along with a new phone, or upsell an entire new phone to someone who wants a SIM card.