ApplePoor

Have been on a seven week trip to Europe: Austria, Greece, Ireland and the UK. Wearing my Apple Ultra watch on the left wrist and my stainless steel 1968 vintage Rolex GMT Master Pepsi design two time zone self winding watch (from my Navy days) on the right wrist. They are about the same size and weight. The mechanical watch is just in case the Ultra has a hiccup.

I have a Phoenix branch cable company (AT&T in disguise) email as we get access only to the internet through them., no TV service A problem quirk is one MUST use a VPN landing in Phoenix in order to access this account when out of the USA. They make no support when questioned on this isolation policy. I can not use SPARK email to access this account.

I have a private domain hosted by GoDaddy which is using Microsoft software and an Apple email account with 2TB of storage. I use Spark to access these two accounts from anywhere on all of my Apple devices.

Because an eSIM needs an input of information. Such equipment is not in place. A physical SIM card is take the old one out and insert the new one. Only tool needed is a pin to cause the sim tray to open. 

It has been a BFD to swap cell service with Verizon every year since this eSim started. I have had to go up the food chain to very senior techs at Verizon just to get the latest top model of iPhone operational.

What happens if my iPhone dies out of country? There is no way to get the Verizon eSim re-enabled if I am in the UK where my wife's family resides.With a SIM card, it was instantaneous to bring a new replacement phone on line. Just swap the SIM card - a no-brainer.

My iPhone backs up to iCloud so it is simple to restore the "data" to a new phone, but the eSim is not a possible remote restore.

If one never leaves their home country, then this eSim issue is a moot issue. But as an international traveler it is a real issue.

Never saw a source for an eSIM at any border cross points of the seven southern African countries we visited driving overland. This sure screws international travel communications when going to the third would countries. Thus the need for my iPhone 13 mini with SIM card slot. At age 78 in les than two weeks, I expect the Mini will last long enough for any more international traveling I might hope to do.

By now, anyone using Apple products for any time (since 1990 for me) has an inventory of USB-A chargers and USB-C chargers and lots of cables and dongles. I even have a few of the original cables and chargers from the 90s. Apple could help the clutter by making useful multiport chargers still with the ability to change the actual plug to various formats for around the world.