Smart recently announced that they offering users of physical Prepaid SIMs to convert it into eSIM. This made a lot of people excited, especially those who want to add another SIM they can use on their phones. We went ahead and did the process so you know what to do when you go.
It’s not that hard to get your SIM converted to an eSIM, and the process doesn’t take long enough. Here’s what you need before you go:
- A valid ID (better if you bring a photocopy)
- Your physical SIM card
- A valid email address (better if it’s the one you included with your SIM registration)
- Php 99 fee for eSIM conversion
The process will need a face-to-face transaction and will depend on how many people are in the queue. Once it’s your turn, You will be asked to fill out a form containing basic information. If you did not put an email address to your SIM registration, they will ask you for one.
A Smart representative will process the request after you have finished filling out the form and affixing the signatures. Smart will send a one-time password (OTP) to your valid email address for the transaction to proceed.
The agent will then ask for the Php 99 fee. You can pay through cash, card, or cashless through any QRPH QR code as most Smart stores have a Maya POS terminal. The eSIM will be sent to the nominated email address as a QR code.
This whole conversion to eSIM took about 15 minutes. I was able to receive my eSIM QR five minutes after I received my receipt for my payment.
Some notes to ponder on the conversion process:
- Sometimes the SIM registration portal is undergoing maintenance or upgrades on weekdays, so patience is needed. If a store says it’s under maintenance, you’ll hear the same when you visit another Smart store.
- There may be times when the OTP sent to your email may be delayed. You also need to check your spam folder as it may also land there, being a system-generated email.
- If you want to switch back to a physical SIM after using your eSIM, you can do so. The Smart Customer Service representative we’ve spoken to said that you can visit a Smart store again to have your eSIM converted back to a physical SIM card free of charge.
- Smart is also converting Postpaid SIM cards to eSIM for free, but this has caveats. They are only converting those under Signature or Smart Infinity, and not on any legacy postpaid plans by Smart and other telcos it acquired like Sun Cellular.
And there you have it. If you have any questions about how to convert your physical Smart Prepaid SIM to eSIM, do let us know.