Using eSIMs with devices that only have a physical SIM slot via a 9eSIM SIM car

Haha what a coincidence, I bought a 9eSIM adapter a few weeks ago! There is a new eSIM-only card in Germany where you get 3 GB of data plus unlimited SMS and calls per month for free. To order it I had to use Frida and the Android emulator to fool the app into thinking the device had an eSIM. After that you have to do some JavaScript shenanigans on the website to get the QR code. But after that, everything works flawlessly with the eSIM adapter. The card is called "GMX FreePhone".

In case the original author reads this:

Depending on what 4G/LTE modem/chip your laptop it is using (it must be based on a Qualcomm SoC which 99% are), there are and I can share documents on how you can do the provisioning directly on the Laptop the SIM card is in.

The feature is present in the stock Qualcomm firmware bundle, but vendors like Quectel, Sierra etc may decide if they include the feature or not.

I know this because it is on our dev team To-Do List to implement that for a Linux daemon :)

These have been around for a while.

Alternatives:

https://esim.5ber.com/

https://esim.me/

https://jmp.chat/esim-adapter

Tangentially related - I recently got the holy grail of eSIM travel router setup:

- GLiNet Mudi v2: https://store.gl-inet.com/products/mudi-v2-portable-4g-lte-r...

- EIOT Physical eSim https://store.gl-inet.com/products/esim-experience-seamless-...

- 20GB Worldwide Airalo for 365 days ($69): https://www.airalo.com/global-esim/discover-365days-20gb

Buy the airalo esim on my iphone. Download the QR code. Upload it to the mudi router. Activate it there. Voila! I then wireguard back to my home internet in case I need a US on the router. Can also use tailscale, but if my gf wants US internet its helpful.

https://docs.gl-inet.com/router/en/4/tutorials/how_to_set_up...

This is neat. I’ve only heard about ESTK [0] and sysmoEUICC by sysmocom [1].

ESTK supports a couple neat features, like cloud provisioning of profiles [2] (which makes it possible to add eSIM profiles on iPhone, too, not just Android).

[0]: https://estk.me/

[1]: https://shop.sysmocom.de/sysmoEUICC1-eUICC-for-consumer-eSIM...

[2]: https://docs.estk.me/manual/download/cloud-enhance/index.htm...

I always wondered - can you have no roaming if you use eSIM with wifi calling and an exit node in country where eSIM is issued? So, basically:

- you bought eSIM in Germany

- you are currently in US

- you use tailscale with exit node at your apartment in Germany

- voila, no roaming when you call German mobile lines

Right?

[EDIT FOR ADDITIONAL QUESTION]

If I have troubles receiving SMSs from Germany to German number while in US, would wifi calling icrease the chances of receiving the said SMSs?

Was "the SIM's packaging" not just an original credit-card sized SIM? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_card#Full-size_SIM, with punch-outs for newer formats?

If you use the JMP eSIM Adapter you can use a fully open source app, or even your own build of the app or whatever you like.

I wonder if there's a reversed solution: using physical SIM card on devices that have only eSIMs. The use case: recent fewer versions of iPhone support only eSIMs, yet we will need a physical sim when traveling in China (yes yes, one could use roaming. It's just that with a China phone number, one can do more).

I like the initiative and I’m not against experimenting, it’s fun.

But why would you ever want an eSIM in a SIM device, I’d assume it’s more often the other way around

Almost the entirety of the enthusiasm for this post is based on people running crippled OSes (iOS, mainly) which won't let you tunnel 100% of traffic over a VPN.

I wish I knew if this would have helped me on a recent trip out of the U.S. In preparation, I upgraded my older, low-end smartphone to one with a more recent version of Android, NFC (for tap-to-pay), a headphone jack, and support for two physical SIMs.

So when I arrived at my destination, I was able to purchase a 30-day SIM for a local phone number and data, but my primary SIM was useless outside of the U.S. so no access to my primary phone number (I ended up using WhatsApp a lot). My carrier (Boost Mobile) advertised an add-on for "Global Roaming", but despite non-trivial time spent reading and talking to them on the phone, I got merely a vague impression that only an eSIM would have allowed me to continue to use my primary number out of the country. Would this solution have worked for me?

Meanwhile, I still have the (now deactivated) second SIM in my phone, hope that is not a security risk of some kind.

Is there any effort towards enabling increased privacy against tracking by "rotating" eSIMs amongst a group of individuals? The article mentions capacity for 50 profiles, what would be the legal and/or implementation effects of such a Local-Profile-Agent?

Does anyone have any resources which explain why eSIMs tunnel your network traffic to the provider? My mental model for old fashioned physical SIMs is that they would roam on the network you're visiting. ie, a Chinese physical SIM on a US network would show up from the US network, and would otherwise be normal except that the phone and network traffic would be very expensive. My understanding of eSIMs is that they act more like a VPN; your network (and phone?) traffic is tunneled back to the home network.

Hmm that's kinda nice. I don't like eSIMs because the provider often imposes arbitrary constraints. Either needing their data-stealing app, only allowing so many changes per month, only allowing 'certified' handsets, having 2FA bullshit etc.

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.

Previously, https://www.androidauthority.com/esim-adapter-android-phone-... said "While there are other eSIM adapters, the JMP adapter is the only one that doesn’t use a proprietary, closed source app." Is that still true, or is this one now a second FOSS option?

This seems like it might be useful for web scraping. Ive been having a munch easier time scraping/ not having to buy proxies since moving to strictly 5G modems. Something like this might help get past the two sim limit on both devices.

I would love to have a simple device out of the box that can receive sms and send them via api to a Webserver.

Just with my own SIM card, or even multiple SIM cards.

I m working on a diy solution with cheap sim800c usb modems but it’s just not that good.

I'm interested in solving the opposite problem: using physical SIMs with devices that only have eSIM. This is extremely important when going to mainland China as physical SIMs are required there.

Is there no chinese knock-off SIM yet that let you change IDs and efficiently backup eSIM keys? That one would be actually a cool product.

I wish I could do it the other way around. I got a SIMcard I really want to use but the provider does not do eSIM.

I'm glad that there is finally some competition for esim.me and its scammy business practices

Is this a knockoff of https://esim.me/ ?

Does this reader allow cloning an existing SIM into this bought SIM, or what does it do if not that?

Hoping for the opposite option. Using physical sims for devices that only support esim?

Need the other way around, an eSIM emulator for a physical SIM card.

Transitioning to eSim-only could enslave us even further, as if Windows 11 secure boot shenanigans were not enough. Please raise this with your favorite digital freedom advocate. Let's be proactive on this one.