Moving eSim to new iPhone

[deeger]

Hi Mark,

I have not had service on my mobile line since Sunday 15/11

I previously had an eSIM that was activated on an old phone and attempted to switch to a new device Friday 13/11. However the online eSIM re-request didn't work (as others have explained on this thread).

After chatting with support the morning of 15/11 a new eSIM QR code was sent in the afternoon and the activation worked properly -- HURRAH!  Service however was inexplicably disabled in the evening after 6-8 hours without issue.

Monday 16/11 I'm told this was because the simswap was cancelled by the backend team (why?) but that service would be restored to this eSIM within 24 hours. 

No change on Tuesday 17/11, so chat with support who tell me an eSIM order is still open. (Assuming it's the previous day's agent who re-opened?) Am told it will be sent within 24 hours.

No change on Wednesday 18/11, so chat again with support and told the best course of action is to reactivate my physical SIM. OK -- told I'd have that active within 24 hours (and indeed I receive a simswap confirmation email for the first time since 15/11).

This morning Thursday 19/11 I'm still without service so contact chat advisor again, who confirms a delay but that my physical SIM would be activated by 5pm today. Still no service at 5pm, so contact chat again to understand the delay. Am told "glitches happen" and that the timeline is now 24 to 48 hours.

I'm a fairly patient and polite customer, not the type to lose my temper when it's hardly the agents' fault. At a loss to where to go now? 4 days unable to work because I can't authenticate to business systems.

Please help! Thanks.

[Stubbo]

Afternoon @deeger 

We do appreciate your patience, sorry to hear your journey hasn't been as smooth as it should have been. We will need to take a look at your account to get to the bottom of what's going on, which we're not able to do over the Community Forum.  Could you please drop us another message over Social Media? 

[zpjet]

And of course it didn't work.

At least the second part, adding the eSIM to the new iPhone 13 Pro.

But of course the first part - disconnecting my old eSIM - worked PERFECTLY.

So frustrating!

[garetbe]

I went into the Vodafone store yesterday and swapped to a physical SIM yesterday so I can switch to an eSIM again later today when I pick up my phone from the Apple Store.

There seems to be issues going from eSIM to eSIM which takes a few days to sort out.

I’ve also found that you can go back to your old physical SIM if you have it and then swap to an eSIM without issue.

[zpjet]

Actually, a correction.

Scanning the new eSIM's QR from computer's screen didn't work.

What worked was finding a PDF in an email called "How to set up your eSIM"  with the new QR code - the PDF is password-protected with your birthday.

The QR looked different and worked.

Sigh of relief!!!

[viaccess]

I thought I would add to this thread as I have just swapped my Esim (from a series 12 iPhone to the new series13) and it was no problem at all. I used the website (as opposed to the App), logged in and to Settings. Then 'Swap Your Sim' from the left menu. Although this is used to swap from a physical sim to an Esim, it also works for an Esim migration. So - you need to tick three boxes acknowledging that your old sim will stop working and it may take up to 24 hours. Once you do this - you will get a QR code pop up. This WILL NOT WORK if you are swapping from one eSim to another. Don't worry. You should also receive a text confirmation - and in my case almost immediately an email with a PDF attachment with the new, working, QR code.

So, it took me about 2 minutes all in. I hope this helps some of you swapping to the new series 13 iPhone this week.

[AB8]

I followed the online process (esim to esim swap) and am now 6.5 hours without service. The emailed QR code didn’t and doesn’t work, and Vodafone has said that the swap is ‘open’ and that I must wait 24 hours before worrying. Not reassuring! I will try to move back to a physical sim tomorrow. 

Edited to add: if anyone from Vodafone could kindly reach out to help me resolve this, I’d be very grateful. For a variety of reasons, I’m in urgent need of access to my phone number. 

[garetbe]

Unfortunately you’ll need to wait for the eSIM swap to either be completed or resolved as their system won’t let you start another swap while one is in progress.

They will fix it, it’ll just take them a bit of time for which you’ll need a great deal of patience 

[AB8]

My line is business critical to me so I don’t have all the time in the world and, frankly, I have no confidence that the issue will resolve on its own. I hope it does though. 

[simax]

Unless your Vodafone account is registered as a business account then you’ve got little argument with them other than to wait I’m afraid….

[richellis2001]

Thanks for this - followed this evening and worked flawlessly!

[AB8]

Well, despite my cynicism I got a new QR code after 16 hours, and it works. There is hope!

[cam1210]

Can someone from Vodafone explain definitively what is going on?

Have just upgraded phones with old phone on an esim. Logged on to vodafone chat and talked through getting the esim changed to my new phone. Get the same error message as above "Data Plan Cannot Be Added". Chat agent then manually sends me the pdf email. I have the same problem. Chat agent then tells me that vodafone "have not activated esims on iPhone 13" yet and I need a physical sim. I'm now without service as my old phone was disconnected by the process.

So:

What is this issue that is effecting us all?

Anyone gone esim to esim?

[AB8]

I went e-sim to e-sim but it took around 16 hours, which I wouldn't do again.

[cam1210]

How did you get past the error message?

Vodafone-why are we all getting this message?

[cam1210]

Probably too late for me to even try - vodafone have screwed up the migration and I no longer have a working sim to authenticate and even log into my account as they all require code verification by text!

Thanks vodafone!

[AB8]

Chasing Vodafone, and waiting.  The QR code generated on the website didn't work.  The QR code on the first email I got didn't work.  Then, out of the blue, I got a further email with a QR code that worked.