Dual-SIM phone setup

[DonJuane]

Of course left open is how the software handles what the hardware "can do if enabled". There's always the chance that Apple set up where the owning or primary carrier can control what overall features are usable in the phone and it's very well possible that Verizon "provisioning" (subsidy paid phone) could turn off the HSDPA and EDGE (GSM based 3G & 2G) since Verizon only uses ED-VO & CDMA for 3G & 2G) so now on second thought, the fact that a phone has all these capabilities doesn't mean they are all active and available at any time and it means that a carrier, especially if you bought the phone from the carrier, might have some of these features locked out if in fact the software simply wouldn't support it (running several technology pieces of hardware at the same time). Also if not to kill the potential of competition, which most of the locking and lock-out is the purpose of this, it also could be a power issue. Lithium battery technology can only go so far and Apple "hand computers" with their growing need for more power and their processing and features grow, it could very well be built into the Apple OS (operating system) that no two technologies could be working at the same time due to power consumption issues. Now this is only speculation but makes sense. Also if you add this to the fact that this whole eSIM thing is a new technology is pushing a system designed for a single-SIM originally to do acrobatics so to speak, then it's entirely possible that the eSIM/SIM dual carrier software is not smart enough to have the phone function is such two different architectures (old GSM vs CDMA) at exactly the same time.

So we've talked ourselves "all the way back to go" now, and we discover there are many, many reasons why this might not work and even though hardware-wise it's equipped (outside of the dual drain on battery of course), it may very well not be supported software-wise, particularly where the eSIM takes the phone down the old CDMA route and the physical SIM takes it down the old GSM route. In short the phone even if it was equipped to handle both vastly different technologies at the the same time, for battery drain reasons you might not even want to do that, especially in the situation of these new super tech phones that won't last a day on a single charge using a single set of hardware transmitting technologies.

At this point you'll likely need to seek out a large Verizon store, as online or phone support help may be hard to find. You'll need to talk through this whole eSIM software with them and see what it supports at the same time an if indeed the software can address all radios and technologies the phone is capable of at the same time. Just be sure to tell them that the extra physical SIM you are inserting is off a GSM/HSPA 3G based provider so they will know what they are dealing with. Good luck!