Spark eSim - an open letter to Spark

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark eSim - an open letter to Spark

chris021

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#302262 11-Nov-2022 08:02

An open letter to Spark,

Team, I’m not mad… just disappointed. This week you have managed to both delight me with exceptional customer service and frustrate me in ways I didn’t think were possible.

Let me start with the good. Your new iMessage chat support is fantastic. Earlier in the week I added a new wearable plan to my business account, and it could not have been easier. Fantastic, fast competent support.

Your new $65 Business Endless Plan with team up discount is just perfect. For $42.25 (after discount) is a whole $0.25c more than Vodafone and includes 10GB more data. You sorted out that horrible hotspot limitation. All in all, your new plan lineup is on point.

Now the elephant in the room. eSim. I moved to Spark for eSim and wearable one number support. I had a very long relationship with Vodafone and Bellsouth so it was a big deal making the move. Unfortunately, you have some crazy processes around eSim replacement. It feels like you got your brightest people in a room and asked them how can we make it harder!

You will see every year during new iPhone season lots of posts here on Geekzone about different eSim replacement processes and this year has been no different. eSim isn’t new you’ve had it for almost 4 years now? You don’t seem to have this documented anywhere externally but this is what I have gathered, you now require an instore visit to swap eSim to apparently show ID.

Now perhaps that doesn’t seem like much of an issue when your office has a spark store on the ground floor but lets look at a few scenarios… What if I get a new iPhone on Holiday? What if I live in rural NZ? What if I don’t want to be around people because I am immune compromised? What if I’m disabled?

In my case it’s a 3 hour round trip and about 67KG of CO2 just to swap phones… Doesn’t seem very good on the sustainability front. Sustainability is a key pillar of yours.

Now working in the industry, I do understand the risk from sim jacking. Verifying identity is important. But and this is where it gets a bit silly, you are happy for me to port out my phone number with nothing more than a text confirmation. Your also happy for me to close my account and release my number. I worked out that I could port my number out to Voda prepay and back into a new account but that would mess up my wearable.

From what I can gather getting a new eSim is the only transaction you want me to front up for is this…

I keep a few eSims so far my AT&T sim was migrated automatically as part of the new device setup. My Telstra sim was able to be downloaded from their App (after I verified my email address). This doesn’t have to be so hard. Apple have made it clear the future, or at least their version of it is a Simless one.

Spark, please take a look at this, I know you can do better!

Perhaps next month we can have a talk about ipv6? :D

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#2994578 11-Nov-2022 09:19

I read a blunt response the other day on GZ, who in a nut shell said, if you don't like the swim swap process, stick with a physical sim. Thats the current state of eSim in NZ.

You raise many valid points and I do sometimes consider going back to a physical sim incase I'm caught out in a situation as you listed.

What if I'm travelling overseas and break my phone and decide to replace it? I'm out of luck.

chris021

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#2994580 11-Nov-2022 09:26

Nate001:

I read a blunt response the other day on GZ, who in a nut shell said, if you don't like the swim swap process, stick with a physical sim. Thats the current state of eSim in NZ.

You raise many valid points and I do sometimes consider going back to a physical sim incase I'm caught out in a situation as you listed.

What if I'm travelling overseas and break my phone and decide to replace it? I'm out of luck.

Unfortunately, you're right. I've always wanted to keep my physical sim slot free for when traveling but its getting so much easier to get eSims now oversees the reverse is becoming true.

I am hoping Spark will see the issue here. There is plenty of data showing the Enviromental impact of Sims and why eSims are better, if Spark are serious about sustainability and the environment then maybe they will eventually sort it?

Starlith

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#2994643 11-Nov-2022 11:51

chris021:

An open letter to Spark,

Team, I’m not mad… just disappointed. This week you have managed to both delight me with exceptional customer service and frustrate me in ways I didn’t think were possible.

Let me start with the good. Your new iMessage chat support is fantastic. Earlier in the week I added a new wearable plan to my business account, and it could not have been easier. Fantastic, fast competent support.

Your new $65 Business Endless Plan with team up discount is just perfect. For $42.25 (after discount) is a whole $0.25c more than Vodafone and includes 10GB more data. You sorted out that horrible hotspot limitation. All in all, your new plan lineup is on point.

Now the elephant in the room. eSim. I moved to Spark for eSim and wearable one number support. I had a very long relationship with Vodafone and Bellsouth so it was a big deal making the move. Unfortunately, you have some crazy processes around eSim replacement. It feels like you got your brightest people in a room and asked them how can we make it harder!

You will see every year during new iPhone season lots of posts here on Geekzone about different eSim replacement processes and this year has been no different. eSim isn’t new you’ve had it for almost 4 years now? You don’t seem to have this documented anywhere externally but this is what I have gathered, you now require an instore visit to swap eSim to apparently show ID.

Now perhaps that doesn’t seem like much of an issue when your office has a spark store on the ground floor but lets look at a few scenarios… What if I get a new iPhone on Holiday? What if I live in rural NZ? What if I don’t want to be around people because I am immune compromised? What if I’m disabled?

In my case it’s a 3 hour round trip and about 67KG of CO2 just to swap phones… Doesn’t seem very good on the sustainability front. Sustainability is a key pillar of yours.

Now working in the industry, I do understand the risk from sim jacking. Verifying identity is important. But and this is where it gets a bit silly, you are happy for me to port out my phone number with nothing more than a text confirmation. Your also happy for me to close my account and release my number. I worked out that I could port my number out to Voda prepay and back into a new account but that would mess up my wearable.

From what I can gather getting a new eSim is the only transaction you want me to front up for is this…

I keep a few eSims so far my AT&T sim was migrated automatically as part of the new device setup. My Telstra sim was able to be downloaded from their App (after I verified my email address). This doesn’t have to be so hard. Apple have made it clear the future, or at least their version of it is a Simless one.

Spark, please take a look at this, I know you can do better!

Perhaps next month we can have a talk about ipv6? :D

In a nut shell it just shows that a bunch of clowns at Spark are in charge of this stack.

I couldn't believe the amount of time I wasted getting to the Spark store and then having to wait for it. Why bother if your gonna make it difficult.

midiii

20 posts

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#2994689 11-Nov-2022 12:57

Much harder to do an esim swap when you're not in the country although wasn't impossible, just took a lot of people before someone knew what to do.

It'd be great if they cannot adopt the esim swap the US carriers are now supporting to at least be able to issue a replacement esim via the Spark app or even the call center subject to some ID checks. Whole point of esim is to make it less physical but the carriers are making it more physical than ever having to drive to a store to get a paper card etc.

chris021

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#2994692 11-Nov-2022 13:00

midiii:

It'd be great if they cannot adopt the esim swap the US carriers are now supporting to at least be able to issue a replacement esim via the Spark app or even the call center subject to some ID checks. Whole point of esim is to make it less physical but the carriers are making it more physical than ever having to drive to a store to get a paper card etc.

Spark used to do this, was not a problem. You would call or message and they would do all the normal verification steps to ensure you are an authority on the account, then issue the eSim. A recent policy change has meant that this is now in in person only transaction.

chris021

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#2994702 11-Nov-2022 13:20

1:15pm UPDATE: WORKAROUND

I have a new eSim and I did not have to go instore. Well not exactly... I will explain as this 'workaround' works for both business and residential but for some people may come with some risk...

I called Spark and added someone else to my spark account as an account authority. This like every other spark transaction can be done over the phone and they will ask all sorts of verification questions which is all good. Your newly verified account authority can rock into any spark store and request the new eSim. 30 seconds later and an eSim was in my email.

I think these further highlights the absurdity of the policy, albeit a well-meaning policy to try and reduce fraud.

While I am sorted for now, I will continue to make noise about this and maybe when the iPhone 15 comes out eSIM transfers will be a little less painful.

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Nate001

677 posts

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#2994726 11-Nov-2022 13:59

chris021:

1:15pm UPDATE: WORKAROUND

I have a new eSim and I did not have to go instore. Well not exactly... I will explain as this 'workaround' works for both business and residential but for some people may come with some risk...

I called Spark and added someone else to my spark account as an account authority. This like every other spark transaction can be done over the phone and they will ask all sorts of verification questions which is all good. Your newly verified account authority can rock into any spark store and request the new eSim. 30 seconds later and an eSim was in my email.

I think these further highlights the absurdity of the policy, albeit a well-meaning policy to try and reduce fraud.

While I am sorted for now, I will continue to make noise about this and maybe when the iPhone 15 comes out eSIM transfers will be a little less painful.

That is ridiculous and shows how poorly thought out it is. Hopefully instead of scrambling to close your workaround, they put effort into fixing the swap process.

old3eyes

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#2995352 13-Nov-2022 07:53

Nate001:

chris021:

1:15pm UPDATE: WORKAROUND

I have a new eSim and I did not have to go instore. Well not exactly... I will explain as this 'workaround' works for both business and residential but for some people may come with some risk...

I called Spark and added someone else to my spark account as an account authority. This like every other spark transaction can be done over the phone and they will ask all sorts of verification questions which is all good. Your newly verified account authority can rock into any spark store and request the new eSim. 30 seconds later and an eSim was in my email.

I think these further highlights the absurdity of the policy, albeit a well-meaning policy to try and reduce fraud.

While I am sorted for now, I will continue to make noise about this and maybe when the iPhone 15 comes out eSIM transfers will be a little less painful.

That is ridiculous and shows how poorly thought out it is. Hopefully instead of scrambling to close your workaround, they put effort into fixing the swap process.

Most likely the team doing this is the same ones doing VoWiFi calling.

Regards,

Old3eyes

steve98

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#2995361 13-Nov-2022 08:19

Nate001:

I read a blunt response the other day on GZ, who in a nut shell said, if you don't like the swim swap process, stick with a physical sim. Thats the current state of eSim in NZ.

Following the removal of physical SIM trays in the iPhone 14 range in the US, it's fairly likely this will eventually extend to the rest of the world. Carriers should be working on this assumption and using this as a "notice period" to get their processes and procedures right. No carrier should be making it impossible to convert to eSIM or move eSIM to a new device as it's a critical and legitimate customer need. The security aspect is important but it shouldn't be a blocker to getting things done.

For Spark in particular this should be a return to familiar territory -- on the TDMA and CDMA networks where there was no physical SIM, a customer moving to a new phone would require a ESN swap and this was happily done over the phone, there was never a need to go to a store.

Tinkerisk

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#2995368 13-Nov-2022 08:37

It's sad that you have to write something like this to the provider.

Every point that is asked for here is included in every monthly 1€/GB with voice flat rate and the eSIM is simply changed in the provider's APP if the smartphone supports eSIM (here in GER).

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Behodar

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#2995376 13-Nov-2022 09:51

steve98:

For Spark in particular this should be a return to familiar territory -- on the TDMA and CDMA networks where there was no physical SIM, a customer moving to a new phone would require a ESN swap and this was happily done over the phone, there was never a need to go to a store.

From memory you could just go to somewhere like telecom.co.nz/swap and fill in a few fields. Didn't even need to talk to anyone.

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antonknee

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#2995434 13-Nov-2022 13:28

This is because Spark are incompetent and useless.

Their esim inplementation is still basically just an MVP years and years after launch. Arguably they’re at least half a step of 2degrees and the physical cardboard - although I will say that at least 2degrees appears to be making progress with esim as opposed to it being a perpetually halfbaked MVP.

Making an eSIM swap an in store only process is frankly ridiculous for the reason other commenters have already pointed out (old fashioned sim swaps, authorised users on the account, ESN/CDMA days, etc etc.

I understand there is more work involved to do things like provisioning an eSIM via an app or using Apples move my esim to my new iPhone functionality. But they’ve had years to implement this.

Nate001

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#2995537 13-Nov-2022 17:14

I know its easy to jump on the bandwagon and criticise but from a customers point of view you have to wonder what they're doing.

I've unfollowed them on twitter as they're posting and retweeting so much crap that is unrelated to their core business. I'm not fussed about 5G street museum, I not fussed about the code base. Give us good core network functionalities.

It was good to see them first to launch eSim, but as the end user, nothing has been improved upon since. The implementation of WiFi calling has been mediocre from the perspective of a customer. No SMS support, no overseas support. It took years to get a decent app for mobile.

Please focus on making good user friendly products and processes. Is that too much to ask for, for a telco?

midiii

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#3122537 1-Sep-2023 09:58

With new iPhones around the corner it's going to be another s^&tfight to move esims to new phones again this year. I did learn some things last time trying to do an esim swap from Sydney (not at all fun) so let's hope this year will be easier than last time.

Given how fast esim is advancing on devices and with Apple already killing off physical sim slots in some models it seems like the ease to move an esim should be looked at by carriers sooner rather than later.

boosacnoodle

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#3122565 1-Sep-2023 10:34

One gives you a reusable QR code that you can print off and store somewhere safely. Is it really that hard?

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