Verification of IIJ's "eSIM", comfort of using dual SIM with iPhone: Weekly mobile communication Junya Ishino

IIJ will launch an eSIM service for consumers on July 18th. Initially, it is positioned as a beta version, and there is only one type of charge, the "Light Start Plan (eSIM beta version)". The specifications are more limited than Type D, which uses docomo lines, and Type A, which uses au lines, because you can't share coupons that can communicate at high speed, but you can issue them online immediately, and iPhone XS, XS on the spot. It is easy to download to compatible terminals such as Max and XR. The price is 1520 yen per month for high-speed communication up to 6GB, which is exactly like a cheap SIM. For iPhones, the eSIM acts as a second SIM and when set up is DSDS (Dual SIM/Dual Standby) with the first SIM card in the SIM card slot. Therefore, it is possible to switch only data communication to IIJmio while maintaining the first line. If you choose a tiered plan from a major carrier for the first line, you can save money on both lines.

▲ The monthly fee is 1520 yen, and high-speed communication can be used up to 6GB. This is the first eSIM service that uses a domestic line. Prior to the start of the service, I downloaded the eSIM profile distributed to the media for verification. First of all, as for the settings, this will be in the form of reading a QR code with an iPhone, like other eSIM services. Apple also provides an API for eSIM settings, and if you look overseas, there are carriers that use this to develop and release apps, but IIJ prioritizes the start of the service, which can be achieved rather easily. It seems that the QR code was adopted. The app provides a one-stop service for creating an account, signing a contract, and downloading a profile, so while it reduces the user's work, it also takes the time to search for the app in the App Store and download it in the first place. Since account creation is also done from the iPhone, when entering detailed information such as addresses, I prefer to do it on a PC. Considering that, I have the impression that there is no particular problem with the method of reading the QR code.

▲When you read the issued QR code, your profile will start downloading. After registering as a member with IIJmio, creating a "mioID" and "mio password", and completing the eSIM contract, you will conclude the contract. There is no prepaid card in the beta version, and a monthly fee will be charged, so you will need to register a credit card as with regular IIJmio. After that, it should be the flow of applying for eSIM and reading the issued QR code and setting it, but this time it is for testing, so skip before that. Scan the distributed QR code with the camera. For the operation on the iPhone side, just tap "Settings" "Mobile communication" "Add mobile communication plan". As the camera starts up, read the QR code with the eSIM setting information. Reading a QR code is almost instantaneous. Sometimes the reading is finished before the entire screen is displayed, so it seems that it is actually scanning the surrounding information at a wider angle. After that, follow the instructions displayed on the iPhone screen to set the main line and sub line and label the SIM card.

▲As soon as the QR code is read, the profile download starts, and the IIJmio line is set as the "secondary line".

▲Since IIJmio's line is only for data communication, it is better to select the first SIM card as the default line.Although it is eSIM, the line is the same as IIJ's full MVNO. Although it is actually a line borrowed from DoCoMo, the network name is properly displayed as "IIJ" because it operates its own subscriber management function. The profile that is set will also be for the IIJ SIM card, so unlike when you insert a SIM card issued by DoCoMo into your iPhone, you will be able to set the APN as well. You can't make a phone call, but a phone number starting with "020" prepared for IoT devices is also assigned.

▲ As soon as the IIJmio line starting with "020" was added and the iPhone became DSDS, I was able to communicate even if the APN was blank, but Internet sharing was not available in my environment. In this case, you need to manually enter it in the Internet sharing field of the APN settings. APN is "iijmio.jp", user name is "mio@iij", password is "iij" OK. This is the same as the IIJmio service provided by Type D and Type A. In any case, unlike the existing Type D and Type A, it is not necessary to download the APN configuration profile, so it is a nice point that you can easily set it up.

▲It's OK to leave the APN blank, but I couldn't use Internet sharing, so if I manually enter that part, how much speed will I actually get? MVNOs are particularly affected by the time of day, as users share bands borrowed from major carriers. The reason why the speed slows down during lunchtime and commuting hours is because there are many users using that much, and there is not enough available bandwidth. eSIM can be said to be IIJ's line as a full MVNO, but its origin is DoCoMo's line. In other words, if there are many users using IIJ's docomo line, it will be difficult to achieve speed accordingly. First of all, the results at 14:00. The downlink speed is a little over 2Mbps, which is not as fast as when using the Docomo line as it is, but if you are just looking at the site with a browser or using SNS apps, there is not much of a problem. Loading is relatively smooth. It depends on how the site is made, but if it is light, you will not feel that the speed is slow. Since the uplink is over 10Mbps, it seems that you can upload files with a large amount of data.

▲The speed at 14:00 is over 2Mbps, and the web loading is reasonably comfortable.

▲The speed dropped slightly at 16:00, but it was still within the acceptable range. I tried launching Safari and displaying Engadget via Google search, but the site does not appear easily. After waiting for 1 minute, I was finally able to access the top page. If you're patient, you might be able to wait, but frankly, I have to say it's pretty tough.

▲At 12 o'clock, the speed suddenly dropped and fell below 1 Mbps.

▲It took about 1 minute for the top page of this site to be displayed after searching.At times like this, you probably have no choice but to switch lines. Being able to do that is one of the advantages of DSDS. As the first line, if you leave the line of a major carrier that is not easily affected by the time of day, you can switch to it only during lunchtime. However, if you use it too much on the main line, the charge will increase accordingly, and the addition of eSIM will lose its meaning. For maximum savings, the first line should be less than 1GB, so you need to switch systematically. I would like to make more use of the ease of use that is a feature of eSIM. My honest impression is that I would like to have an option other than just setting it as a second line and lowering the charge. Since you can make a contract easily and quickly, it should be compatible with the prepaid system. If you can buy additional eSIMs when you run out of giga with a major carrier, or use eSIMs temporarily only when you need high-capacity communication for business trips, etc., you can bring out the original appeal of eSIMs more. However, it is still in beta for now. There are many points that I would like to see improved before the launch of this service, such as the expansion of communication speeds and price plans, but since this is a new technology, I decided to watch over it with a warm eye.

Related article: IIJmio launches "eSIM plan" that can be used with iPhone on the 18th ── SIM that does not require a physical card, Japan's first MVNO