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Prepaid sim to esim

  • 21 March 2023
  • 9 replies
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I have an old PayGo prepaid sim that I would like to add as a second esim on an unlocked Iphone, Is this possible? I see a similar older question from a couple of years ago that does not seem to have arrived at a conclusive answer

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Best answer by jamesp 24 March 2023, 01:49

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Userlevel 7
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If the SIM is still active.  It might be possible.  Is the old SIM a T-Mobile SIM?  If not, your iPhone will need to meet the SIM Unlock Policy requirements to be SIM unlocked to add a non-T-Mobile SIM as a secondary SIM.

https://www.t-mobile.com/responsibility/consumer-info/policies/sim-unlock-policy

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Thank you for your reply. Yes the SIM is still active. Yes it is a T-Mobile SIM. How might it be possible? Do I have to request a change from SIM to eSIM? Or, do I add it as an eSIM on an existing unlocked nonT-Mobile IPhone 13 under Settings-Cellular?

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What I am not understanding is whether the old SIM needs to be converted to eSIM by T-Mobile, or whether it happens automatically through the IPhone settings-cellular “add eSIM”.

Userlevel 7
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Have you tried this article from Apple?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212780

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Thank you for the article link. It contains the gist of my uncertainty. Overall, it seems to be more geared toward setting up a new IPHone as opposed to addimg an eSIM as a second SIM (for dual SIM uisage) to an existing nonT-Molbile IPhone. Following the article, I do not see Convert to eSIM on my IPhone, so that option is not supported by my carrier.

The part of the article “Transfer a physical SIM or eSIM on your previous iPhone to an eSIM on your new iPhone after setup” hints at my question. While it seems to be geared more toward setting up a new IPhone, it does concern physical SIM to eSIM.

My question is whether this physical to eSIM transfer can happen automatically in the process of adding eSIM as a second SIM in an already existing unlocked nonT-Mobile IPhone 13. Or, does T-Mobile have to make the conversion first?

Thank you

Userlevel 7
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In my Pixel I can download a new esim but I need to remove the physical sim. From what I've read every manufacturer tweeks this.

You can try using messenger on one of tmobile's social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook and ask them to if they know for sure.

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Thank you. Will try

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Thank you to all who replied. I called T-Mobile. The representative knew immediately what to do, and it was quick and easy.

To recap and summarize: I had a legacy PayGo prepaid SIM that I wanted to convert to eSIM for IPhone 13. The represenative asked for the phone’s IMEI2 to confirm that it was compatible (unlocked) and said to turn on roaming. She then said she would send information to the phone, the physical SIM would deactivate, and our phone connection would end. I was instructed to turn the IPhone off and on again and install the eSIM. All good.

Thank you again.

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Maybe roaming had to be turned on because I am out of the country.

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