Samsung just began preorders for their S23 line of devices, which release on February 17th, and customers from every carrier are flocking to purchase one. Unfortunately it seems there’s a bit of a bug for T-Mobile customers that is causing service disconnections for their existing lines.
According to multiple posts over on the r/tmobile subreddit, and confirmed via an internal document shared with us here at TMR, some customers who purchase a device direct from Samsung’s website for use on their T-Mobile line are losing service on their existing devices.
According to the document, Samsung is inadvertently activating the internal eSIM of the new devices before shipping, causing the customer’s currently activated SIM to be disconnected. This issue apparently happens even if the customer has SIM protection enabled.
Many customers are assuming the worst when the issue occurs. Given the nature of T-Mobile’s constant data breaches, it’s not surprising that some are thinking they may have been SIM swapped. T-Mobile describes the issue in past tense, suggesting it may no longer be an active issue. They also make it clear that this is not a fraud issue, but simply a mistake on Samsung’s part.
Customers affected can contact support and have their previous SIMs reactivated. Once their new devices arrive, they can proceed with the standard out-of-box setup to move their line to the new phone properly.
