Difficulty Avoiding Roaming Charges with Dual SIM

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Level 1

4 points

Difficulty Avoiding Roaming Charges with Dual SIM

I have in e-sim which I use with my Canadian home carrier, “Bell.” The roaming charges from Canadian carriers are literally obscene. So I have a Mexico “Telcel” SIM I use when travelling.

Data is easy to deal with, choosing a specific SIM for all data.

But texting / phone is where Apple makes roaming charges hard to avoid.

If I turn off my Bell E-SIM iMessage gets seriously screwed up. It deregisters the Bell Number even though the e-SIM is still registered in the phone, and can be reenabled with a single tap.

you would think this only affects SMS,

but no, it affects iMessage as well. Any thread where someone has messaged me using the Bell number, people now can not reach me.

but if I leave the Bell SIM on, and make a call, or send a message, I will be hit with huge roaming charges.

this is why an “always use primary default line” option is required. When in Mexico I still want to be able to receive messages which is free, but I want ALL sent messages and outgoing calls to be from the Mexico SIM, NEVER from the Bell SIM while I am in Mexico.

iPhone 13 Pro Max

Posted on Jul 4, 2023 4:34 PM

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Answer 1

Hard Rain Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 5, 2023 2:58 PM in response to Missy5937

Hi Missy.

I am not referring to a carrier issue here, it is an Apple issue. Apple makes the use of two SIMS to avoid roaming charges, extremely awkward. It doesn't properly accommodate this common need.

The problem is Apple making the very wrong assumption that people with Dual SIM phones all want to associate each individual contact with a specific SIM. Apple does not properly support the use of dual SIMS with the intention of avoiding roaming charges. I.E. When in Mexico I want everything to go through my Mexican SIM card, except for incoming SMS, which is free. If I make a call while in Mexico, I want the call to ALWAYS go through my Mexican SIM.

I want to be able to choose which SIM to use, depending on what country I am in. I want this to apply to ALL contacts, not specific contacts. ALL outgoing calls and ALL outgoing SMS should happen on my Mexico SIM when I am in Mexico.

There should be an option to ALWAYS use a specific SIM, instead of forcing people to choose a specific SIM for each contact. That is absurd for travelling.

Turning off my Canadian e-SIM is not an option, again because of Apple. Apple de-registers my Canadian iPhone number from my iCloud account as soon as I turn off the e-SIM. I become unreachable to many.

Apple should NOT de-register a the phone number of a SIM that is still in the device. It should ONLY do so when DELETING an ESIM or physically removing a physical SIM.

Thanks

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Answer 2

Missy5937

Community Specialist

Jul 5, 2023 2:33 PM in response to Hard Rain

Hello Hard Rain,

Thanks for posting in the Apple Support Communities.

To ensure you receive the most accurate information regarding roam charges for your cellular plan, it's best to speak with them to see if they can provide any suggestions.

If you still need help, reach out to Apple Support for additional guidance at Get Support.

Best regards.

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Difficulty Avoiding Roaming Charges with Dual SIM

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