Why I Made eSIM My Default Backup for Remote Work and Mobile Testing

Dec 30, 2025

How I started using an eSIM in India as my primary backup for internet, testing carriers, and keeping work running during outages — and the tradeoffs.

Written by: Rohan Deshpande

I used to carry two phones: one for work, one for testing, and a crumpled stack of prepaid SIM cards in a drawer. Every time the Wi‑Fi at home hiccuped, or I needed to reproduce a carrier-specific bug, it took 20–30 minutes to dig out the right device or swap SIMs. Then I moved my backup routine to an eSIM, and it changed how I handle outages and mobile testing.

If you’re in India and spend time debugging mobile apps, supporting remote teams, or just need a reliable backup internet, an eSIM in India can be a small operational change with outsized impact. Here’s what I learned doing it for a year.

Why I switched (practical wins)

• Instant carrier swaps: Instead of juggling physical SIMs, I keep two profiles on my primary phone — my main number on a physical SIM and a second profile (say, Jio or Airtel) as an eSIM. Switching data networks is a few taps.
• Faster recovery during outages: When my broadband drops during meetings or deployments, I flip the eSIM to be the data provider and keep working. No clumsy tethering to a colleague’s phone or hunting for a dongle.
• Real-world testing without extra devices: For QA, I use a low-cost prepaid eSIM profile set to the carrier I need to test. It’s great for reproducing network-specific bugs, OTP delivery edge cases, or performance differences across carriers.
• Lighter pocket, cleaner workflow: One device, multiple numbers. For field testing, I can also install multiple eSIM profiles on a spare phone and switch among them without physical SIM swaps.

Getting started — the checklist that saved me time

1. Verify device support: Most recent iPhones and many Android flagships support eSIM. Check your exact model (and carrier compatibility) before ordering a plan.
2. Pick carriers to keep on standby: In India, Airtel and Jio have wide eSIM support; Vodafone Idea (Vi) has selective support depending on device and region. Pick one national player plus a regional or budget carrier for broader coverage.
3. Order a prepaid eSIM profile online: Many carriers let you request an eSIM QR over their website or app. For testing, I buy a cheap prepaid data pack (just 5–10 GB) and renew it when needed.
4. Label profiles clearly: Name them “Airtel‑Backup” or “Jio‑QA” so you don’t confuse which profile is active during a test or call.
5. Set priorities: In dual-SIM settings, set voice/SMS to the physical SIM and data to whichever profile you prefer. That keeps OTPs and bank calls on your primary number while data flows through the eSIM when needed.
6. Practice the flop: Do a full failover drill: turn off Wi‑Fi, switch data to eSIM, start a 10‑minute video call or a deploy. It’s less scary when you’ve tested it ahead.

A few tactical tips I’ve picked up

• Use an eSIM as a hotspot source during downtime. I keep a modest unlimited or high‑cap day plan for such emergencies rather than burning through my main plan’s limits.
• Maintain a small rotation of prepaid eSIMs for QA. If you test for multiple regions, one profile per carrier makes reproducing issues trivial.
• If you need to test device-specific behavior, use a cheap old phone (with eSIM support) as a dedicated test device. It’s cheaper and cleaner than juggling profiles on your daily driver.

Real constraints and one annoying tradeoff eSIMs are convenient, but they’re not magical. First, not every device supports eSIM — many budget phones still don’t. Second, moving an eSIM between devices isn’t always smooth; some carriers force reactivation or a customer service step when you transfer to a new phone. That made me keep a tiny physical SIM as the “anchor” number for banks and official verifications — moving an eSIM into a brand‑new device can take longer than pulling a physical SIM out of a drawer.

Longer term, I discovered one more tradeoff: if you rely heavily on eSIM profiles for testing, you miss certain physical‑SIM edge cases — like devices that have poor antenna placement with a particular SIM tray, or hardware-level roaming quirks. For full coverage I still keep one physical SIM in a cheap spare phone for those rare hardware-anchored bugs.

Cost and compliance (India specifics) Most carriers in India provide eSIM activation online; many don’t charge more than a small activation fee (if any) for prepaid profiles. Pricing varies: national players offer competitive prepaid packs and some unlimited data options that work perfectly as backups. For work use, I don’t depend on one-time freebies — I keep a paid plan with a modest monthly cost as my “always‑ready” backup and buy short‑term prepaid eSIMs for QA tasks.

Some services (very few) are picky about SIM types for registration or KYC. In my experience this is rare, but it’s why I keep my primary number on a physical SIM — it’s simple, predictable, and banks are less likely to balk at moving numbers between devices.

Conclusion — when to adopt it If you’ve ever missed an urgent call, had a live deployment blocked by a flaky home connection, or wasted time swapping SIMs during QA, setting up an eSIM in India is worth the 30–60 minute investment. It won’t replace all use cases for physical SIMs, but it streamlines the common ones: backups, testing, and quick carrier swaps. For me it reduced distraction, removed friction from testing, and made outages far less dramatic.

Try it as an experiment: add one eSIM profile, label it clearly, and run one week where it’s your go‑to backup for any network hiccup. If nothing else, you’ll spend less time shuffling plastic and more time shipping work that matters.