We had this in Europe for a few months, it was painful there too, but eventually everywhere will be chip only and the swipe will be literally removed.

I understand the US is doing a slightly slower rollout so you guys might have to put up with either/or for almost a year, but once it is done you'll get used to using the chip pretty quickly.

The two "big" dates for EMV in the US is Oct 2015 (liability shift: merchants) and October 2017 (liability shift: fuel dispensers and ATMs)[0]. After Oct 2017 there will be no reason for banks to issue cards with a magnetic strip at all (although they CAN for travel).

In Europe some banks no longer issue cards with magnetic strips (chip only).

[0] https://www.aciworldwide.com/-/media/files/other/published%2...

One thing I don't like about the chip is it seems to take a much longer time to authenticate. Is this the same in Europe as well? Would be nice if it was as fast as a swipe. But I rather have better security.

My main gripe, which is pretty trivial I guess, is that I'm so used to just swiping the card and throwing it back in my wallet. Using the chip requires leaving the card in the reader until the transaction is complete, so I've almost walked off without my card a couple times. I agree though. I'd rather have better security. I just need to adjust my habits :)

They are working on making it faster[1], though I wouldn't hold my breath for it to be rolled out anytime soon.

[1]: http://investor.visa.com/news/news-details/2016/Visa-Speeds-...

It has mo to do with connection to host/processor than the chip itself. Reading chip takes milliseconds usually.

In Canada, there was a period where most merchants just taped a piece of paper that said "NO CHIP" across the slot.

Now that the chip cards and functioning readers are the norm, you see a lot of terminals with a piece of paper taped onto them that says "NO TAP".

I've tapped my card at some merchants who were unaware that their terminal had been tap-enabled. "We don't have tap yet" "It's approved" "Oh!"