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I have a friend who bought a 13SE which did not come with a SIM card. She has Verizon and they were going to send her one. Then she called Verizon and someone mentioned the Esim. How does she know she has one? Can she use the old SIM card?

This friend has an iPhone 7 she is trading in - can she use the SIM card from that phone and how does one know they have the Esim on the new phone? The whole thing is very confusing.


Posted on Mar 30, 2022 4:55 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 30, 2022 5:18 PM

Yes, the SIM can be (physically) swapped.


Verizon may or may not allow the SIM to be swapped, and may charge a fee for that. Some carriers and probably some cellular plans allow SIM swapping, and some don’t.


If this is a new order from Apple and with the carrier and the telephone number provided to Apple, then the iPhone will usually arrive with the eSIM pre-loaded with the Verizon cellular plan.


But…


Rather than discussing SIMs and SIM swaps and eSIMs and cellular plans and the rest, get the phone…


Do you have your new phone? Good. Now use the content-migration from old iPhone to new, a migration which will be an option when setting up the new iPhone when it first powers up.


Best to use the same Apple ID as on the existing iPhone, too.


You’ll be offered a few options while setting up the iPhone, including whether to move the cellular plan.


That migration will then tell you if you need to swap the SIM, or obtain a new SIM from Verizon, or load the eSIM. Loading the eSIM usually involves scanning an image (QR code) provided by Verizon using the iPhone camera.


I’d expect this iPhone to have the eSIM already loaded too, if the iPhone was purchased from Apple for use with Verizon for an existing telephone number.


If the cellular plan doesn’t transfer or if the migration tool tells you to, contact Verizon for help migrating the cellular plan. If that cellular plan migration doesn’t happen automatically. Which it usually does.


For what the content-migration looks like: Use Quick Start to transfer data to a new iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support


4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 30, 2022 5:18 PM in response to neberlin

Yes, the SIM can be (physically) swapped.


Verizon may or may not allow the SIM to be swapped, and may charge a fee for that. Some carriers and probably some cellular plans allow SIM swapping, and some don’t.


If this is a new order from Apple and with the carrier and the telephone number provided to Apple, then the iPhone will usually arrive with the eSIM pre-loaded with the Verizon cellular plan.


But…


Rather than discussing SIMs and SIM swaps and eSIMs and cellular plans and the rest, get the phone…


Do you have your new phone? Good. Now use the content-migration from old iPhone to new, a migration which will be an option when setting up the new iPhone when it first powers up.


Best to use the same Apple ID as on the existing iPhone, too.


You’ll be offered a few options while setting up the iPhone, including whether to move the cellular plan.


That migration will then tell you if you need to swap the SIM, or obtain a new SIM from Verizon, or load the eSIM. Loading the eSIM usually involves scanning an image (QR code) provided by Verizon using the iPhone camera.


I’d expect this iPhone to have the eSIM already loaded too, if the iPhone was purchased from Apple for use with Verizon for an existing telephone number.


If the cellular plan doesn’t transfer or if the migration tool tells you to, contact Verizon for help migrating the cellular plan. If that cellular plan migration doesn’t happen automatically. Which it usually does.


For what the content-migration looks like: Use Quick Start to transfer data to a new iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support


I have a friend who bought a 13SE which did not come with a SIM card. She has Verizon and they were going to send her one. Then she called Verizon and someone mentioned the Esim. How does she know she has one? Can she use the old SIM card?

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