[BatMeoW]

I found a BMW SIM Reader in the glovebox of my new car and looked up on what I can use it for. Found this youtube video which seems to indicate that I can copy over my existing Sim to the car. The video explicitly states "an alternative to necessary eSim contract". Does this mean that it would work without contract? More importantly, will my phone continue to work with the sim if I copy that over to eSim in the car? Sounds too good to be true 🙂

[BatMeoW]

Read elsewhere online that it can be used if your Mobile connection provider does not support eSIM.

[six]

If you want to add a data connection to the car for things like the YouTube app or in car WiFi you can put a physical SIM (with its own data plan) in the reader and then the car can access that to set up a data connection. This is what I do. At set up you can say if it’s data only or voice and data.

Seems BMW have agreements with some carriers to allow your phone to share an eSIM to the car so as you access that subscription for data etc but that doesn’t seem to be the case with any UK operators, so I just add my own SIM, which in many ways is my preference anyway.

Prior to this LCI approach you had to use BMW’s data plans which while convenient to set up, were very expensive and inflexible. On my pre-LCI I never bothered so wasn’t able to use the WiFi hotspot feature etc.