Vodafone will now email out your eSIM phone plan

Customers will no longer need to go a Vodafone store to get an eSIM-powered phone plan, with the telco today enabling online orders and SIM swaps for subscribers with a compatible device. Vodafone customers after an eSIM will now receive a QR code email, along with a confirmation code sent to their phone via text. Scanning this QR code will add the eSIM to a compatible device.

For those not familiar with the term, eSIM - an electronic SIM or embedded SIM - is a rewritable SIM card that’s built into a cellular device like a smartphone, tablet, or smartwatch. There's no need to pop open a slot or pry off a case to put in a SIM; an eSIM never leaves your phone.

If you're a Vodafone customer with an eSIM enabled phone, you can ditch your physical SIM via the SIM swap process on My Vodafone web portal. If you decide you'd prefer to go to a physical SIM, you can also SIM swap back.

Vodafone prepaid plans are now also eSIM ready, but you'll first need to activate your prepaid plan with a physical SIM and then swap to an eSIM online.

Vodafone's range of eSIM enabled smartphones include the iPhone 11, the iPhone 11 Pro family, the iPhone XS family, the iPhone XR, the Pixel 4 family, the Pixel 3a, and the Samsung Galaxy Fold.

If you decide to go for an eSIM, this keeps your physical SIM slot free for a secondary SIM, essentially making your device a dual SIM phone. There's a couple of reasons you might want to do this:

• You want a personal number and a work number without carrying two separate devices.
• You want to keep using an Australian phone number when using your phone overseas, but pick up a more cost-effective local SIM for mobile data.
• You want the benefit of coverage from two different networks. For example, if you're heading into regional Australia and know you won't get Vodafone coverage, you could throw in a prepaid Telstra SIM in the second slot for additional coverage in the outback when you need it.

Vodafone is the first Australian telco to introduce an online option for eSIM delivery. Optus and Telstra both require customers to head into a brick-and-mortar store to get a eSIM QR code. Hopefully they'll follow Vodafone's lead, cause after all, it's a bit dumb having to go into a physical store to get a digital SIM. 

Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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