If you’re not too concerned about Verizon’s recent price hikes and would rather join the largest US wireless service provider with your own existing phone than trade that in to get a free iPhone 13 or Galaxy S22 with few strings attached, you’ll probably be delighted by the carrier’s latest (low-key) announcement.
According to Big Red’s PR manager and self-described “Gadget Guy”, George Koroneos, “select” eSIM-capable devices can now be activated from the comfort of your own home by following a few simple online instructions.
In theory, that is, because in practice, a couple of folks on Twitter and Reddit are complaining that the “handy-dandy self-service tool” recommended by Koroneos for performing this process doesn’t actually work very well, at least for the time being.
When it eventually does, you should keep in mind that your BYOD (bring your own device) phone will need to be unlocked by your current operator to work on Verizon without a hitch once you manage to activate its eSIM functionality.
Short for embedded SIM, this technology has been around for ages, but for unknown reasons, certain carriers have taken an eternity to fully embrace it. While most modern handsets are equipped to leverage all of eSIM’s strengths, Verizon is even now limiting its BYOD support to an annoyingly short list of names.
We’re talking devices like Samsung’s Galaxy S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra, as well as Apple’s iPhone 11, 12, and 13 families, plus Google’s Pixel 4a, 4a 5G UW, 5, 6, and 6 Pro, but oddly enough, not the Galaxy S22 series or any members of the Z Fold or Z Flip families, at least based on 9To5Google’s early research and experimentation.
Of course, that’s likely to change before long, as confirmed by Big Red’s own support webpage here dedicated to this theoretically simple but currently complicated process. Naturally, the webpage also describes the benefits of using eSIM to bring your own device to Verizon in detail, the bottom line being that you don’t need to visit a physical store or have a physical SIM card shipped to your physical address anymore… in theory.
Oh, and fret not, if you do manage to complete the BYOD with eSIM process, your port-in benefits from “competitive carriers” are not affected in any way, so you can still easily get up to a $1000 virtual prepaid MasterCard as a reward for leaving the “Un-carrier” (or AT&T) behind.
