eSIM

Does this mean that GSM carriers will follow Sprint's lead in using the device's ID (MEID in one case, and eSIM in the other) to determine carrier association? That would suck for those of us with multiple SIM cards.

I'm not sure how this would work, in toto, but the thought that I would have to buy something from the Window's store for it to work is depressing.

I wonder then how one would upgrade their SIM card? I remember AT&T and T-Mobile giving me a new SIM card (64K?) because my old card (32K) was being retired.

Just guessing here, but maybe a carrier can reprogram an eSIM OTA, even before you have service with them, so long as you provide the MEID? And, with a 2-factor auth to minimize bad actors reprogramming MEIDs OTA?

Chip memory capacity is a physical trait and cannot be reprogrammed to increase it.

Right. I was referring more to the question in my mind (the audience is presumed to be able to read my mind of course) as to how to "switch SIMs" without having to physically provide the device to the carrier.

I may be completely off the reservation here but am guessing the whole issue of physical capacity and needing to switch sims would completely disappear with this. Everything would be handled on the backend through some type of "clearing house" routing mechanism that matches the identifier from the esim with the relevant account permissions--obviously there could be multiple accounts per device.

The speculation that something like this might be coming for the 2018 iPhone suggests things are pretty far advanced on the technical side and it is primarily a marketing and licensing set of issues that remain.

This would completely change how we use our devices to work on different carriers. Maybe this is part of the thinking on the possible TMobile/Sprint merger.

Would seriously hamper international travel. Perhaps a sim slot as well or 2nd esim would be good!

Certainly, there could be a phase in issues initially but they might go away quickly.

It could become like a credit card which can be used anywhere.

ETA:

It does indeed sound as if it will be the next big thing in the telecom world. I suspect it will be a win/win for consumers, phone makers, pc makers, auto makers, and so on. I like the credit card analogy, for the powers that be have been trying to get us to use our phones like a credit card for some time now.

Check out what I found on Digital Trends:

Here's how to stop SIM fraudsters from draining your bank account

https://carpeaqua.com/2017/07/07/hack-the-planet/&usg=AFQjCNH3UkQJYF_bVHG9QDbJ6pUx-dagJA