Because eSIM resellers and white-label MVNOs handle support tickets, you need to guide customers. Some issues are simple and resolve in seconds, while others get complicated and directly affect the customer experience. The latter are the most important. 

As a business, you need to prevent fraud, minimize risk, and close support tickets quickly. That’s what the IMEI is for. But because a smartphone has many important numbers stored in its settings, there’s also the EID, which is closely related to eSIMs, but has nothing to do with the first concept. People often confuse the two, and their close proximity is the main culprit. 

Because IMEI shapes checkout, support, and refunds, we’ll take a close look at it, explain what it is and how it differs from EID, and outline five reasons IMEI matters for eSIM businesses. 

What is an IMEI? 

Let’s start with the main question. Most content oversimplifies the answer and states that the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) is a 15-digit number that identifies a device in the network. This is technically accurate, but then why can you see up to 3 separate IMEIs on certain smartphone models? 

Any phone contains a modem or radio interface that communicates with radio towers. With two SIM slots and two different providers, it needs to communicate with separate networks. Each network sees a phone as one line (mobile plan) at a time, and with a dual setup, it sees two separate connections, each needing its own equipment ID. The same is true even if you use one provider.

If you have a phone with 2 SIMs and 1 eSIM, you can likely use two lines simultaneously, and one SIM will be on standby. The remaining two will work, and use two separate IMEIs until you switch between the physical cards. According to GSMA-established specifications, no two phones can have the same IMEI, but it doesn’t mean two separate numbers can’t be used to identify the same device. 

In other words, it’s best to link the number of IMEIs to the number of mobile plans a phone can run at the same time. This makes it easier for providers, and your support team should keep it in mind. 

What do IMEI Numbers Mean? 

As mentioned above, every IMEI has 15 digits, which can be broken into 3 parts.  It looks something like this: 35123456 · 789012 · 4.  The GSMA sets this structure and is the only body that allocates IMEI ranges for 3GPP devices.Here’s what it actually means:

With two IMEIs, the TAC remains the same, while the other parts change (i.e., manufacturers can switch one number in the serial and check digits). 

The Difference Between IMEI and EID

If a phone supports eSIMs, it should have an installed chip. It downloads a configuration (eSIM profile) over the air and has a dedicated 32-digit number. (Check our dedicated guide to see how eSIMs work.)

An EID identifies the same chip in your phone, no matter the number of profiles, and is generally used to install eSIMs and troubleshoot. For example, if the 32-digit number is missing in phone settings, it means the device doesn’t support eSIMs, so instead of a long thread, any support team member can quickly issue a refund and move on to another problem.

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EID and IMEI have nothing to do with each other. One identifies a device or line, and the other indicates a particular piece of hardware in your phone. 

5 Reasons to Know About IMEIs

Now that you’re more familiar with what an IMEI is, it’s time to tackle how useful they can really be. And there are plenty of reasons as to why. 

1. Better Support Ticket Flow 

Customer experience is important, especially in the eSIM business, and IMEI helps improve it and handle each complaint appropriately. When an eSIM doesn’t work, you need certain information from the customer, and an IMEI:

• Tells you the model. Any support team member can do a quick check through the TAC code. All you have to do is copy the first 8 digits and look up the device on Google. 
• Shows whether the phone is blocked. If a device is stolen or lost, the owner can ask their operator to block it. They use the IMEI(-s) of that phone to deny service, and it’s added to the GSMA’s shared Block List of IMEIs. You can use their services and run a device check or free alternatives, like imeipro. With this in mind, you can build your support process more efficiently. But do note that if the phone has both a SIM and eSIM and it’s not clear which IMEI number is used, you can always ask the customer to dial *#06#  and look for “eSIM IMEI” or “Digital IMEI”. Alternatively, they can check phone settings, but the specific steps will depend on the model and OS. 

2. More Robust Security 

With an IMEI, you can tie a specific line to a device. If someone takes the SIM out and puts it in another device, the line stops working or triggers an alert. This protects company lines from misuse and unexpected data bills, which matters most for enterprise phones and IoT devices left in the field.  

Although not immediately useful for resellers, it is important for IoT deployments, and our IoT platform supports this. 

3. Country-Wide Laws and Regulations

Some countries decide whether a phone may connect at all based on its IMEI. That can cut off a customer’s phone even when their eSIM is working. A few examples:

• Pakistan: Phones on international roaming work without registration. Once a local SIM is inserted, the phone works for 60 days and then loses service unless it is registered. Foreign visitors can apply for temporary registration covering 120 days.
• Australia: After the 3G networks closed on 28 October 2024, the rules changed so that phones unable to call the emergency number 000 over 4G must be blocked. Telstra blocks them by TAC, meaning every phone of an affected model.

For travel partners, a short IMEI note on affected destination pages saves customers from blaming the eSIM for a phone-level block.

4. Device Monitoring and Control 

For companies running many devices, the IMEI links a line to the hardware using it. Mapping each line to its device’s IMEI gives you a live inventory: which phone, tracker, or router each line is in, and whether that has changed. This is also something we support on the IoT platform and on our esimba.ai platform. 

But as we discussed in the IoT vs. normal SIM card piece on Keepgo, monitoring and control work both ways, and operators also use the IMEI to tell IoT devices from consumer phones, because they behave differently on the network. This is another crucial point for customer experience, as you can fully block misused lines, and it’s best to warn customers. 

5. Smarter Product Decisions 

Although a minor point, as a white-label MVNO or reseller, you will work with compatibility lists. This means that somewhere in your database there’s a large collection of eSIM-supporting smartphone models that your team is going to cross-reference. Your partner usually manages these, and at esimba.ai, we revise them constantly, but there’s always a chance we didn’t list a specific older model.

For instance, after reviewing three months of support tickets and grouping the IMEIs by their first 8 digits, you’ll find that one older phone model comes up again and again in “eSIM won’t install” tickets. It turns out that model can’t use eSIM in some regions. In that case, you can collect IMEIs over time to update FAQs and compatibility lists and offer physical cards to those clients. 

Partnering with esimba.ai: White-Glove Support and Guidance 

We hope the article clearly explains what IMEIs are and that the information will be useful in practice. We’ll work on more guides like that in the future, but in the meantime, if you’re already considering potential providers, you’ve come to the right place!

esimba.ai offers white-glove partner support services and will provide training materials to prepare and educate your support team. We have a substantial inventory, years of industry experience and offer a wide array of partnerships for every business case. 

All you need to do is contact us or register on the platform for free, explore, and direct any questions to support or sales@esimba.ai. We’ll quickly process any inquiry and will provide a succinct answer or solution. To do the first, click the button right below.

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