Question Can't remove esim from Android

[Katie Parker Banks]

Ok this might take a minute. The other day I thought it would be a good idea to switch to Visible from Tmobile because I was looking to save some money. Well the experience I had with Visible was terrible and I didn't even make it to actually being a customer because I wasn't able to get the esim to work. After two hours of chatting via the web (since they don't have live customer service you can call), I said screw it I'm going back to tmobile. Mind you, I had already ported out my number, closed my Tmobile account etc. But Tmobile took me back, reactivated my account and I thought all was good. Until my sim wasn't working. I tried and tried and tried to delete the Visible sim and it would not go. Idk if that caused problems with my tmobile sim? I'm assuming. Anyway the next day I went into a Tmobile store and they gave me a new sim card. It didn't want to work at first and I thought oh no. But after some finagling it finally did and all was well in the world. Until it wasn't. Me and my boyfriend had been talking about getting a new plan at Verizon so I said sure, let's see how much more I can screw my phone up (I didn't say that, but that's what happened). So we go to Verizon and I get a new account and sim card. But guess what? The new sim card doesn't work AT ALL. Me, my bf, and the Verizon guy were all trying to see how to remove this old esim and it gives an error message every time: "Couldn't connect with sim, try again later". And I did, later and later and later and it still isn't working. So I decided to do a factory reset and just start all over. But guess what? When you do that it asks you if you want to remove all esims. I said SURE, that's what I've been trying to do this whole time!! But sure enough when I clicked yes to delete, I got the exact same error message. So I essentially can't even reset my phone to get rid of this thing. So now it's 11pm, I'm sitting here wondering what, if anything else I can do because I really don't want to get another phone. My bf thinks that maybe their esim never really got installed on my phone since there were issues, and so it's kind of just half living in my phone and making it so that I can't do anything? I've been dealing with this for 3 days now and I'm tired and frustrated. And yes I know, it's nobody's fault but my dumb self. I don't know though, why the new tmobile sim card worked earlier but the Verizon one wouldn't. Anyway, if you've read this far you're a trooper, and I appreciate any suggestions or feedback. (Samsung S20) Thanks!!

 

[VidJunky]

Welcome to Android Central Forums.

This is not the type of trouble you should be having with the S20. I'm a little surprised at how difficult this has been even with the flip flopping around on different carriers. I'm not familiar with this Visible network. Then you were talking about saving money and landed at the most expensive carrier on the market. Talk about your complete 180s. Anyway, my only suggestion/idea would be to do another factory reset. In the past, on other less expensive devices, I've seen issues where everything didn't clear with the first initial factory reset. This isn't something I would expect from a flagship device but weird stuff happens. That's why it's weird. Personally I would try another reset, you've already suffered through the toughest part doing the first one doing it again isn't going to change much. In fact you might try doing two back to back just for S&Gs and you should probably do them without the automatic restore option. I know this can make getting your apps back a bit of a pain but auto restore has a way of being a problem of its own when factory resetting for cause. Now if you're just doing it for the heck of it probably not a big deal but when you're suffering from an issue automatic restore seems to just bring back the issue. I'm assuming since you spent so much time with the Verizon guy the three of you did all of the Googling and YouTubing to search for a solution. Those are my go tos for issues like this because I'm rarely the first to have a problem.

Best wishes in all of this and Big Red is the most expensive but they have the best service too. At least in my experience. I tried AT&T over a year ago for the same reason. I just wanted to save some money and figured how bad can they be? I mean there are active debates online back and forth about which is better between the two and people who have them are like XBox vs Play Station people, Ohio State vs Michigan people, all up in their feelings for one or the other but AT&T was horrible for us. We never knew what a dropped call was until then, no service in places where we never had issues. I really couldn't believe they were no. 2 as bad as it was. But of course with the premium service comes that premium price and I think we ended up right about 5 bucks more per month on our return. I will say that it was worth that extra 60 bucks a year if AT&T quality was the second best alternative. Just saying. Sorry to ramble. Good luck. Post back how things turned out.

 

[Katie Parker Banks]

Thanks for the reply. After another day at the phone store and another lengthy conversation with Tmobile, I found that after doing the factory reset the phone was now telling me it had to be unlocked by SPRINT. I was like really??? So I didn't want to mess around with that. The reason I switched to Verizon is because me and my boyfriend had been talking about it but just never did it, and I guess it took me doing something completely stupid to actually do it. Now we are on a plan together and it had a pretty good promo on it so I'm saving about $15 per month. Anything is better than nothing. Luckily he had his old phone that he wasn't using so I am using that now. I will try the reset again just to see what happens. No harm in trying now. Thanks again!

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

I suspect the only people who can resolve this issue are visible. And maybe not even them.

 

[J Dubbs]

This just reinforces my distrust of esims... I think they make a simple thing complicated I'll be keeping my physical sim cards until they pull them from my cold dead phone lol.

 

[VidJunky]

Oh, well I think your issue may be easier solved than you think. Based on your statement, "I found that after doing the factory reset the phone was now telling me it had to be unlocked by SPRINT. ", it sounds like your device is locked because you switched to another carrier and switched before the waiting period. Most places want you to be on their plan for 60 to 120 days before releasing it (unlocking it). This is to be sure that you don't skip out on your bill and to prove you're a trustworthy customer. Since you ended your relationship with Visible, who I'm assuming partners with Sprint, as long as you paid your last bill and no longer owe them anything they should release your number, and unlock your IMEI number for transfer to another carrier. Surprised whomever you worked with to figure this out didn't know this or think of it. You could just wait 90 days or so and try again. Surely by then your bill will have reconciled and the waiting period will be over releasing the device. It happens automatically with most carriers and neither side has to do anything.

I would not want to just let this go given that the S20 is/was not a cheap device that could just be pushed aside and wrote off. Just be sure your bill is settled and no moneys are owed either way and they should be able to do it over the phone. I doubt Sprint would step in and do it for you unless their agreement also includes Sprint being an in-person payment/collection and/or service provider for Visible. I mean if you had a customer service question or problem could you have gone to a Sprint store to resolve it? If, No then they probably won't help, if Yes they might. I get it though you have a working device to use but I would for sure clear this up.

Best wishes.