I wanted to share a strange experience that my wife and I had with travel eSims I am wondering if others have had a similar experience or have some idea of what is going on.
We have identical phones, the iPhone 13 mini, which is eSim compatible. We also have identical Public Mobile plans (Canada-US-Mexico) using physical Sims. Both phones are unlocked.
For a recent European trip, we wanted multi-country travel eSims that provided us with local numbers. The vendor Sim Local suggested a 20 GB, 30-day plan from Orange.
Upon arriving in Europe I easily installed and activated the Orange travel eSim on my phone in about 10 minutes. However, when I tried to install the identical plan on my wife's phone, I got the error message "This eSim is not compatible with this iPhone. Contact your carrier for further details." Over about a day and a half, the Sim Local customer service rep walked me through the standard alternatives: install via the app, install via a QR code, enter the activation codes manually, reset the network settings on the phone. None of it worked. We got a refund for my wife's plan and she managed using Whats App through WiFi or a hotspot from my phone.
To avoid such problems in future travel, I would love to hear from anyone who can shed light on why two apparently identical phones, using the same plan from the same primary provider, can respond differently to the same travel eSim.
