topic Re: Esim Data Speed compared to Physical in Mobile Data

Esim Data Speed compared to Physical

Thenewuser — Sat, 18 Oct 2025 06:38:34 GMT

Hello,

I recently received a contract physical SIM card and conducted a speed test which showed a consistent 360mbps connection.

However, a few minutes later I changed the SIM to eSIM in my phone settings and the signal strength dropped to one bar (occasionally two) with inconsistent speeds ranging from 10mbps to 60mbps. I have attempted to reset the phone, the settings and toggle the airplane mode.

Could you please advise how to resolve this issue?

Additional information: I have switched between 4G and 5G myself and the speed results are the same. The SIM is consistently on 5G and I have tried all the modes in the iPhone settings including ‘Allow more data on 5G’ and ‘5G standalone’.

Re: Esim Data Speed compared to Physical

Chris_B — Sat, 18 Oct 2025 06:46:15 GMT

@Thenewuser There should be no difference. And nothing can be done to make the results the same between the physical sim and the eSIM as there should be no difference.

All you’ve done is move the physical sim information to the device onboard electronic sim. It’s the same phone same antenna.

Just out of curiosity have you tried just switching it off/on again?

Re: Esim Data Speed compared to Physical

Thenewuser — Sat, 18 Oct 2025 06:52:17 GMT

Of course, I’ve tried that. If there were no difference (which I know shouldn’t be), why would I waste my and everyone else’s time here? Same location, same phone, different speeds!

Re: Esim Data Speed compared to Physical

Thenewuser — Sat, 18 Oct 2025 07:24:50 GMT

Both EE, the one on the Top is the Primary (Esim), the other one is physical.

Just to mention, i have turned the secondary line on and off just to see if it makes any difference, it didn’t.

Re: Esim Data Speed compared to Physical

bristolian — Sat, 18 Oct 2025 08:33:06 GMT

@Thenewuser wrote:
However, a few minutes later I changed the SIM to eSIM in my phone settings and the signal strength dropped to one bar (occasionally two) with inconsistent speeds ranging from 10mbps to 60mbps.

You need to do a direct comparison of the serving cells & radio carriers, for this to have validity. On-screen bars are at best a basic guide.

Compare the eNB-ID & EARFCN to be sure the two setups are operating like-for-like. This will require some basic understanding of the radio interface.

Re: Esim Data Speed compared to Physical

Schockwave — Sat, 18 Oct 2025 10:05:55 GMT

@Thenewuser , if you have changed to an ESim, then your physical SIM card will not work, unless you have two different numbers, one for the ESim and one for the physical SIM card, which hopefully is what you have done, but there should be no difference in speed.

Just one thing you could do, is to do get a network refresh and see if that makes a difference.