For years, we were told the eSIM would be the death of the SIM ejector tool. It promised a seamless, digital-first world where switching carriers or devices was as simple as a few taps on a screen. But for many users, especially those who switch phones frequently, the reality has been less of a digital revolution and more of a bureaucratic nightmare.
While the technology is advanced, the implementation by major players like Safaricom has turned a convenience feature into a pain in the neck that makes a piece of plastic from the 90s look like cutting-edge tech.
The biggest selling point of a physical SIM is its physicality. If you upgrade your phone, you pop the tray, swap the card, and you’re back online in 30 seconds.
With Safaricom’s current eSIM implementation, that portability vanishes. Once a QR code is scanned, it is effectively locked to that hardware. Moving it to a new device often requires a visit to a retail center, a massive hurdle for enthusiasts who test different devices or those who simply value their time.
Compare this to Faiba or Airtel, where the process is digitized:
- Faiba: Provides a reusable QR code via email; you simply delete the profile from the old device and scan it onto the new one.
- Airtel: Leverages their app to generate a fresh QR code, keeping the power in the user’s hands.
The dangers of Safaricom’s policy were recently highlighted by a viral story involving a road accident victim. Having lost her phone in the crash, she was told by Safaricom, via a relative, that she must appear in person to replace her eSIM.
While telcos argue that strict in-person verification prevents SIM-swap fraud, there must be a balance. When a customer is in a crisis, a system that lacks a secure, remote fail-safe (like biometric verification via an app) isn’t just inconvenient, it’s a failure of service. It shouldn’t take a social media uproar for a company to provide a solution for a customer in distress.
Beyond the logistics, eSIMs in the local market still face technical teething issues. Many users report that USSD codes, the backbone of mobile banking and data purchasing in Kenya, simply stop working or become intermittent on eSIM profiles.
This usually happens because the eUICC (the software version of the SIM chip) doesn’t always handshake perfectly with the carrier’s legacy USSD gateways. When your phone can’t check its balance or buy a bundle because of its advanced SIM, the technology has failed its primary job.
For the average user who buys one phone every three years, an eSIM is a set-it-and-forget-it convenience. But for the power user, the developer, or the frequent upgrader, the physical SIM remains king.