Months after Optus and Vodafone launched eSIM support for smartphones and tablets, Telstra has used the iPhone 11 launch to join the party, pushing eSIM as an alternative to the good ol’ plastic SIM.
Similar to Optus, Telstra has gone down the path of offering physical eSIM kits – smaller pieces of physical cardboard with the unique QR code inside.
eSIM kits can either be posted out to you (if you sign up over the phone or online for a new service or a brand new phone, or just requested over live chat) or obtained from a Telstra store (whether it be an official company store, a franchise or reseller). After activating the eSIM kit, scan in the QR code, wait for the order to be processed, and you should be good to go.
Officially supported phones are the iPhone XR, XS, XS Max, as well as this year’s iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max. In tablet land, the myriad of recent iPad models are supported (12.9 inch iPad Pro (3rd generation), 11 inch iPad Pro, 10.5 inch iPad Air 2019, iPad mini 5 & the 10.2 inch iPad (7th generation))
Thanks to the special Microsoft offer, launched back in March and ending at the end of the year, other eSIM devices aren’t officially able to take advantage – meaning even if you have an existing mobile data SIM (eg, still holding a Data Share SIM especially on business), you can’t swap it to an eSIM and add it to a device like the Surface Pro.
(to be clear, this is a business rule, not a technical rule. If you tell them you’re swapping to an eSIM to add to an iPad, then they can’t stop you scanning it into your Windows 10 tablet)
The Pixel 3a also isn’t ‘supported’, as it’s a Vodafone exclusive in Australia – but in theory should work just fine if you can convince staff to hand over an eSIM.
Telstra offers eSIMs to all customers, from prepaid customers, to postpaid, through to business customers.
You can find out more at telstra.com/esim
