Totally agreed. But networks in many (most?) countries have been shitty for a long time, and show no signs of improving. And they're so entrenched that we don't have much hope of replacing them even if something better suddenly showed up. This is the case in USA, Canada, Australia, the UK, and I'm sure a lot of other countries.

So no, I'm not going to applaud giving the networks even more power over my ability to switch phones and SIMs. Physical SIMs are nice because I can 99% cut the network out of my decision to switch phones -- all I have to do is pop the SIM into my new phone. I do not want to go through Verizon's, AT&T's, or any other archaic provider's process when dealing with my (or a family member's) phone upgrade.

It's a lot like the headphone jack removal: replace something that works great with a solution that works OK 90% of the time. But 10% of the time you're stuck in an edge case that isn't covered at all by the new, shinier solution.

> buy an e-sim

I wasn't trying to buy a new number, I was trying to transfer an existing one. It doesn't surprise me that they make it as easy as possible to get a new one.

Either way, it's the behaviour of a crappy network rather than an issue with e-sims as a technology.

Not that that's unusual, most of the networks are crappy - vodafone was the only UK network I could find that didn't require you to go to one of their stores to get the QR code. Artificial barriers are erected at every turn.