Tag: optus

September 21, 2019

The state of eSIM in Australia

There’s a lot to love about Dual SIM phones – whether you’re a frequent traveller heading rural or overseas, have a personal and work/business number, or a super savvy shopper looking for the best deal on mobile data.

The iPhone XS, launched last year, was one of the first devices to offer support for eSIM, or ’embedded SIM’ – a simple alternative to the good old plastic SIM. And if you have an iPhone in Australia, it’s the only way to get your dual SIM groove on (combining a plastic SIM together with an eSIM) – as we don’t have a model with two SIM card slots (unlike say the Huawei P30)

A handful of eSIM supporting devices are available in Australia, from the iPhone XR, XS and XS Max, to the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, as well as the Google Pixel 3a.

In tablet land, there’s the Microsoft Surface Pro (2017, 5th Generation with LTE), HP Spectre Folio, and the iPad Pro 2018 (11″, 3rd Generation 12.9″), iPad Air 2019 (3rd Generation) & iPad mini 2019 (5th Generation)

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April 3, 2019

Optus launches eSIM support

Optus has quietly launched eSIM support at the end of March, becoming Australia’s first telco to market – starting with iPhone Xs and Xr customers.

While Telstra is still dabbling in their Windows 10 specific eSIM offer, Optus is offering the full experience – if you happen to have an iPhone and a postpaid plan, you can swap your plastic SIM to an eSIM and take advantage of all the Dual SIM goodness that’s available.

What is eSIM? It’s an alternative to the plastic SIM, and in the case of the iPhone XS, Xs Max and Xr, means you can use both an eSIM and plastic SIM at the same time.

eSIM in the iPhone allows you to use two phone numbers on the same phone at the same time; one using the physical SIM slot and one using the eSIM. This means you can make and receive calls from two different mobile numbers without the need to switch between SIMs / phones. 

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August 22, 2016

Telstra & Optus battle it out over unmetered mobile streaming

January 30, 2013

iOS Custom Carrier Logos – 6.1 Redux

October 3, 2012

iOS Carrier Bundles Demystified

One of my favourite things about the iPhone is that it’s fairly painless to throw another SIM card into your iPhone, and have all of your carriers settings just work (internet, MMS, voicemail, and tethering if your carrier allows it). The way this magic works is that Apple actually has the settings for all of the official iPhone carriers preloaded into iOS. If you throw in a SIM from a supported carrier, the settings are simply loaded and away you go. These are referred to as carrier bundles (or, carrier settings according to Apple).

Carrier settings updates are small files (about 10 kb) that are installed on your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular models). Carrier settings include updates to Access Point Names (APNs), MMS settings, features such as tethering, and default apps such as Stocks, Maps, and Weather.

 

On your iOS device, they live at

/var/mobile/Library/Carrier Bundles/ – bundles that have been updated with iTunes, or pushed over the air

/System/Library/Carrier Bundles/ – stock bundles that ship with iOS

On your computer side, they can be found at

~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Carrier Support/

If you haven’t ever had iTunes prompt you about a carrier update, this folder probably won’t exist.

Carrier bundles themselves are simply .zip archives, but with a .ipcc extension instead. They’re named after your carrier, and may also say whether they’re for your iPhone or iPad (Telstra_au_iPhone.ipcc)

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