I forget if it was with Lyca or a similar brand, but they would deduct 5 cents for each sms before you setup a plan. I was incredibly careful to not do anything and disabled almost everything but apparently iPhone phones home in a way that’s totally hidden from the user and most providers hide and zero the charge but not these rando brands.

Another 5 EUR down to tube because I only had 4,95 for my 5 EUR plan.

Dunno why I put my SIM card in first but I guess I had to for some reason (was on wifi and had access to a computer)

> I was incredibly careful to not do anything and disabled almost everything but apparently iPhone phones home in a way that’s totally hidden from the user and most providers hide and zero the charge but not these rando brands.

It's not "totally hidden". You need to be extra careful to cancel the request to add the new SIM number to FaceTime/iMessage when prompted.

The prompt appears every time the phone is restarted though, and whenever the SIM is switched to.

I have Lyca as my main line but haven’t noticed this before. They do the whole ‘charge £0.01 to validate the card’ thing but that is instantly reversed and a separate transaction.

Overall their customer service is quite possibly the worst I’ve experienced but the network is good and their prices are fair - £10 a month for 25GB I can use in the EU and India.

True. This is what I used to do, but every country does this their SIM setup slightly different:

1. Do I need to show a passport yes/no?

2. Who sells the sim? Do I need to sit in a queue to purchase one? How do I top up?

3. Who is the best telco provider in the region I'm in?

4. etc etc

I'd prefer eSIM all day for that reason. Also, yes I can load up as many local/region eSIMs I want in case I need more, but honestly 20GB is plenty for a full year.

I prefer eSIM too and look forward to them becoming universal. The Lycamobile UK plan I used was an eSIM.