eSIM transfer to iPhone 11

[dheinrichs]

They've been telling something similar since Thursday/Friday, hbranum. They've submitted it (apparently) to DMD 5-6 times so far by my count. Each one promised a different time frame. One said 10-30 mins, most 48-72 hours, and another said 3-5 days. Just totally ridiculous to be out of service this long.

[OceanSurf]

Amazing how much the answer varies between each persons call. I don't know the specific process they have to go through, but my iPhone 11 Pro Max was the unlocked model, shipped directly from Apple, so the IMEI2 would not have been in their system. In a 15 minute phone call, they got the IMEI2 entered, generated a QR code that allowed the phone to activate the eSIM, I scanned the code and had service 100% functional on my phone. So, this leads me to believe that there is a relatively simple process that most Verizon reps are not able to replicate. I would suggest calling back in and asking for a higher level tech. Explain to them that this process does not take 24 hours based on other people's experience and that you need to talk to someone that actually understands what is required.

Verizon, if you're reading these posts, please help clear this up. Either post what customers need to specificially ask for when talking to reps, give us some kind of procedure reference to help your techs look up what must be done, or post the steps here to help us get service in a timely fashion. eSIM techonolgy with the iPhone 11 is supported on Verizon and it shouldn't take days of trying for people to get it active when we know it can happen in a 15 minute time span with a knowledgable customer service representative.

[dheinrichs]

If only I were so lucky OceanSurf! I've chatted with 3 different agents, called in and dealt with two agents, one tier 1 that tried to tell me I needed an AT&T QR Code - huh?! And one tier 2 that just resubmitted DMD. I can't even begin to count the number of agents that have looked at this via Twitter DM's. It has to be over 10 by now.

Below is the QR code that we're using that has been emailed multiple times and pulled directly from VZW Support site, they're all the same. When we scan it on our 11 Pro Max's all we get is "Cellular Plan Cannot Be Added" - "This code is no longer valid. Contact your carrier for more information."

OceanSurf, is the QR you used the same?

[OceanSurf]

Yes, I just went back to my email and downloaded the QR code to compare. It is indeed the same code. I'm honestly floored at the level of disconnect on Verizon's side. Sounds like I got very lucky to get a representative that understood how to make this work.  

[dheinrichs]

Awesome, good to know it's the same. Now any more stuff they spout at me trying to pass the buck, I know it's their stuff.

I just tried to link twitter reps here:

I'm sure they're behind firewalled proxies, but they can't even load their own site?!

[JUSTWILL312 · Accepted solution]

All the QR codes are the same.

If you are an active Verizon user, make sure your current phone's IMEI is completely removed from your account, deleted!

They will then have to add the new one into your account, and then you can use that QR code.

So here's the exact process that I had to go through:

I originally had iPhone XS that is activated with ESIM (that was a whole other nightmare, last year).

I bought the iPhone 11 Pro unlocked from Apple and I brought it to the Verizon store immediately and told the person that approached me that I wanted to transfer my service from iPhone XS to iPhone 11 Pro.

The person gave a slight groan when I told him that the current service was ESIM - I just didn't want him to go thinking this was going to be easy like switching SIM card 😄

Anyway, he first thought it was going to be as simple as switching the IMEI numbers in my account. Of course, that didn't work and nothing worked, even turning off celular signal and rebooting the phone. He had just given up and had told me to get in touch with 611 because he couldn't do it.

But, to make matters worse, at this point, my iPhone XS also wasn't working. Naturally, I told him I wasn't leaving without a working phone and that he should restore my service on the iPhone XS.

This is when he came up with a plan to just remove my IMEI number completely from my account. Once that was completed, he came up with another idea to just try adding the new iPhone Pro 11's IMEI, instead. And voilla! That worked.

So he recapped that he needed to remove the original IMEI completely and add the new IMEI into my account.

And that's how I got mine transferred.

While this was going on, someone came in and talked to one of the other rep about switching his service to ESIM because he was going overseas and that he wanted to use the sim tray for while he was overseas. Instead of helping, the rep said that that couldn't be done and tried to sell him on the travel plan. SMH!

Moral of that last one is, there are a lot of lazy reps working at Verizon and that you really need to know how to talk to them.

[12operatorslater]

well this was directly from third level support after days of calling and asking.  Im going to go in again and try some more.  this sucksssssss.

I may switch to T MOBILE

This was the message from verizon directly 

That's an interesting question. There will have to agreement between Verizon and Apple that both are ready for the change. We will learn two or three days before it happens. We can't have that information because if we gave it out, and something delayed the project, customers would not take it well. I'm sorry I have no information about the projected roll out date. Watch the adds here, on TV and in magazines you will find out the same time we do.

If there's any way we can assist, please get us involved. We want to help.

 *CLC

[OceanSurf]

What??

"There will have to agreement between Verizon and Apple that both are ready for the change."
This is ridiculous. It works. My iPhone 11 Pro was switched in 15 minutes. How is Verizon this scattered with something that should be simple? I swear reps will say anything to get you off the phone sometimes. 🙄

[PowerSparkles]

I got my iPhone 11 Pro Max dual-sim fiasco finally resolved earlier this week.  Long story short is that I had AT&T on physical SIM and Verizon on Digital SIM (esim) on my XS Max.  I upgraded through the  Apple Upgrade Program to an AT&T iPhone.

AT&T transferred immediately but the Verizon line couldn't be activated due to the inability to locate the IMEI2 (esim) in the Verizon database.

After Apple support escalated (after 1 week) to senior support, I was able to get on a 3-way call with Apple Senior Support and Verizon Senior Support (Apple Senior Support team member had another direct # he could call).  We spend 30 minutes trying to get the IMEI2 into the system but failed.

We noticed that someone here succeeded with a fully paid and unlocked iPhone so I bought a second fully unlocked iPhone 11 Pro Max outside of the upgrade program.  This phone took less than 15 minutes though chat support and the QR code to activate on Verizon.

And AT&T just had to move the nano-SIM card.

I mailed the AT&T phone back yesterday.  So it appears that even though the AT&T phones through the upgrade program are supposed to be unlocked, other carriers may not have added the eSIM IMEI2 numbers to their database.

I am still a bit irked this took so much time, but it does appear that once taxes and trade in values are accounted for, it may be actually cheaper to get iPhones through fully paid with the Apple Card 3% cash back than to use the Upgrade Program.

[taylorh10]

I used the website support chat to move from SIM to eSIM.  They were both willing and able to help with that at least.  Perhaps try the chat feature.

Thanks for the tip on getting the old IMEI removed.  I'll rember that when I get a new phone.