We have an ISP outage, four days now. We bought an eSIM, and I went to install it on my Fairphone 4, running 2.2-t-20240715417772-stable-FP4.
I go;
Settings → Network and Internet → click the “+” next to my SIM → “Download a SIM instead?” → Next → and then I get “Connect to wifi”.
So to begin with, I had mobile data, so I was annoyed at this. It looked stupid.
We went down to a cafe, got wifi, and then found that this STILL happened. Now it looks broken.
As far as I can tell, there is no way to install an eSIM, and the UI path for doing so is fubared. All it does is take you through a few screens which end up saying “connect to wifi”.
I Google for documentation, couldn’t find anything. I Googled for other people using eSIM, found nothing relevant.
Hi Xeno, I have just installed two eSIMs on my Fairphone5 with /e/OS (the latest version) and they both worked fine, one of them required some special “Access Point Names” manual setting but that was later in the process than you. I used the QR code install method that comes up when clicking on ‘Download a new eSIM’ in the + menu next to your existing SIM(s).
You definitely have to be connected to the wifi first before going through the eSIM install process. Have you tried the basics steps like restarting your phone, connecting to wifi and trying the eSIM install again? Do you not get the option ‘Download a new eSIM’?
@Xeno, sorry to hear the reboot didn’t help. That’s really puzzling.
I am running /e/OS 2.3-t-20240820426372-stable-FP5 (looks like the same as you except on Fairphone5).
Edit: actually not the same, do you have an update available to 2.3?
2.3 is available, but I can’t download it right now as I have 5 GB of bandwidth and it would be 1.4 GB to download I’ll see what I can do next time I have some wifi.
I doubt it will fix it though - other people have had eSIM running before now.
I do, yes, but it doesn’t help, because I can’t get to the point in the install process where I’m prompted to provide the QR code. The install process always says “Connect to wifi”, regardless of whether or not I am connect to wifi (or mobile data), and there is no option or path past that page in the install process (it says “restart the install process once you have wifi”).
For me it seems you try adding it from the setting. I suggested just scanning the QR-code without going Sim Setting. I remember someone else also struggling maybe ltmis an Fairphone issue
I installed a QR scanner from app store, it scans the QR code, produces the activation code (well, in it’s correct form - the code sent by the provider is in fact incomplete and as such wrong), but the only option is “visit the link”, and then the error is “no app knows how to deal with this link”.
You have appreciated that the eSIM install process itself does not get to the point of scanning the QR code?
(I tested the normal install process to see if in fact it needed a QR scanner, and the error I was getting was a broken error, but the normal install process hasn’t changed - I’m on wifi, and it’s telling me I need wifi to continue).
Okay - I think we’ve reached the end of the road. eSIM support for me is fubared.
We’re going to talk to O2 Germany (Telefonica really) again this morning and see if they have an ETA/explanation (it’s been five days of no Internet and not a word from them, and their customer support phone line is broken (“this number doesn’t work, call customer support immediately!”) and if not, we’ve going to change provider.
This is not the ideal time and place in which to find out eSIM does not work. In fact far as I can tell it’s been incompetence across the board - O2/Telefonica, eSIM functionality in e/OS / FP4, the eSIM provider (the QR code is right, the activation code is wrong) and also the hotspot functionality on an iPhone, which as we’ve been discovering is unreliable in a number of ways (turning itself off if no one is connected, just not working after a while and needing to be cycled, etc). I’m starting to think Starlink is the way to go, in an effort to get away from these problems.
My guess would be the normal install process worked for you, and you got past the “connect to wifi” page. It seems to have done so for others, by what I can see on-line.
That link is very interesting, but I don’t get to the point of telling the phone about the eSIM, so it’s not that it has the eSIM but the eSIM isn’t compatible.
(That site blocks you from accessing, presumably based on your IP as a proxy for your location?)
I stumbled upon a ‘SIM-Manager’ issue recently, that is the system app which takes care of eSim. I read that for an Vodafone eSim the person had to unistall updates for the app. Then adding eSim worked. Didn’t read more into it… Just a hint what the issue could be.
I’ll see what I can do next time I have some wifi.