The Bell and Rogers fees are obviously bogus; they were never needed before and nothing has changed other than their decision to charge the fee.
The Telus one is intriguing, as most phones sold today don’t actually need a SIM card. If they offer eSIM service as part of the activation and separately charge if you want a physical SIM card for some reason, that actually makes sense as it costs them more.
For example, an argument could be made that with the proliferation of eSIM technology, physical SIM cards could be an optional purchase, as most phones no longer need a physical card. However, that would leave people with older devices in a lurch — and that’s not even getting into the fact that Telus charges $15 for both physical SIMs and eSIMs.
This is the one I’m currently with, but I guess if I have to update my phone, I may need to see what Eastlink offers in my area, or the newer one I know of that’s supposed to be coming soon…
The Bell and Rogers fees are obviously bogus; they were never needed before and nothing has changed other than their decision to charge the fee.
The Telus one is intriguing, as most phones sold today don’t actually need a SIM card. If they offer eSIM service as part of the activation and separately charge if you want a physical SIM card for some reason, that actually makes sense as it costs them more.
Telus’s SIM fee includes eSIMs:
I believe Public Mobile charges $5 every time you change phones with your e-sim registration.
So we’re back to CDMA ESN times?
It was only a matter of time before eSIM turned back into bogus fees for the providers.
The only benefit I see to eSIM is a thief can’t take it out easily. Everything else seems like dealing with ESNs again.
This gives me nightmares about calling in to Verizon (I grew up in the US) to change ESNs and trying to talk my way out of the fee.
This is the one I’m currently with, but I guess if I have to update my phone, I may need to see what Eastlink offers in my area, or the newer one I know of that’s supposed to be coming soon…