E-Sims for travel

Raymond Lin · 2 Oct 2024 at 14:28

Deep said:
I used Saily for my trip to America and it worked perfectly
Couldn't receive texts or calls, but my WhatsApp was working perfectly and could use all the data I needed

You should still be able to receive text and calls unless you turned off your or removed your home sim...

Deep · 2 Oct 2024 at 16:54

Raymond Lin said:
You should still be able to receive text and calls unless you turned off your or removed your home sim...

I turned my UK sim off because of roaming charges.

Reuben klang · 2 Oct 2024 at 19:32

Deep said:
I turned my UK sim off because of roaming charges.

No, you just turn the data off and set the esim to use data only. Make your own number the primary line as well and disable switching.

You still can receive texts and calls that won’t cost you anything - unless you answer the phone! It means you can continue to use whatsapp or apps/sites that require 2 factor via text.

Raymond Lin · 2 Oct 2024 at 20:00

Deep said:
I turned my UK sim off because of roaming charges.

Reuben klang said:
No, you just turn the data off and set the esim to use data only. Make your own number the primary line as well and disable switching.

You still can receive texts and calls that won’t cost you anything - unless you answer the phone! It means you can continue to use whatsapp or apps/sites that require 2 factor via text.

That is how you supposed to use it. All you need to do is turn of data roaming. That's it, the sim stays on.

Deep · 3 Oct 2024 at 10:05

Reuben klang said:
No, you just turn the data off and set the esim to use data only. Make your own number the primary line as well and disable switching.

You still can receive texts and calls that won’t cost you anything - unless you answer the phone! It means you can continue to use whatsapp or apps/sites that require 2 factor via text.

Raymond Lin said:
That is how you supposed to use it. All you need to do is turn of data roaming. That's it, the sim stays on.

Ah fair enough
I just turned my main SIM off and had no issues for the two weeks.
WhatsApp is my only communication method so I had no problem while in America

killsta · 3 Oct 2024 at 14:41

Deep said:
I used Saily for my trip to America and it worked perfectly
Couldn't receive texts or calls, but my WhatsApp was working perfectly and could use all the data I needed

Yeah, I think all of Saily's are data only, where as Airalo are sometimes data and sometimes voice+data depending on region.

Deep · 3 Oct 2024 at 14:51

killsta said:
Yeah, I think all of Saily's are data only, where as Airalo are sometimes data and sometimes voice+data depending on region.

Yeah mine was definitely data only.

Columbo · 3 Oct 2024 at 15:01

I travel to the US once a month and have recently started using GlobalYO to buy a data capped e-sim.
The process hasn't failed me once yet and will continue to do so in future.

Participant · 5 Oct 2024 at 18:19

Columbo said:
I travel to the US once a month and have recently started using GlobalYO to buy a data capped e-sim.
The process hasn't failed me once yet and will continue to do so in future.

I'm going to the USA later this month. Is this the best solution do you think for a data sim while I'm there?

Columbo · 5 Oct 2024 at 19:40

Participant said:
I'm going to the USA later this month. Is this the best solution do you think for a data sim while I'm there?

I've tried quite a few and am pretty much fixed now on GlobalYo.
I just buy the e-sim in the airport when I land on the airport wifi, activate the sim there and turn off my UK sim.

I havent had an issue with it so I'll continue to use it, I just paid $3.49 for 5gb for 15 days and was on T-Mobile, you can just top up if you run out.

jklc · 6 Oct 2024 at 06:16

Columbo said:
I've tried quite a few and am pretty much fixed now on GlobalYo.
I just buy the e-sim in the airport when I land on the airport wifi, activate the sim there and turn off my UK sim.

I havent had an issue with it so I'll continue to use it, I just paid $3.49 for 5gb for 15 days and was on T-Mobile, you can just top up if you run out.

I'll have to give this one a try when my current one runs out. I'm using Breeze esim and it just works. Sounds like a lot of these companies have the process down with the differences just being networks and price.

lookitsjonno · 6 Oct 2024 at 09:15

New to esims, will just go with the Global Yo one, can I buy and set it up today so I can just forget about it when I get there?

Orcvader · 6 Oct 2024 at 09:55

lookitsjonno said:
New to esims, will just go with the Global Yo one, can I buy and set it up today so I can just forget about it when I get there?

Yes, you can install/add it but don't activate the eSIM yet, their plans usually start once it's activated. When you arrive at the destination country then it's fine to activate. Make sure to swap data and all that from your main SIM to the eSIM too to avoid roaming charges.

RanxZy · 6 Oct 2024 at 10:44

da_mic_1530 said:
just used them for a recent India trip - 6gb data for a free signup - can't fault them

Yeah, the free 5GB from saily went down a treat for my Barbados trip.

Columbo · 6 Oct 2024 at 12:54

jklc said:
I'll have to give this one a try when my current one runs out. I'm using Breeze esim and it just works. Sounds like a lot of these companies have the process down with the differences just being networks and price.

Not tried Breeze to be fair but it sounds like its similar service, just different network.
For the folks looking at buying one, make sure to check the network coverage of the area you visiting and buy accordingly, for me T-Mobile is the best where I work / stay but some other networks would be total gash.

Equally when I visitied a supplier about an hour outside of Atlanta last month I couldn't get any reception on T-Mobile at all.

jklc · 6 Oct 2024 at 13:57

Columbo said:
Not tried Breeze to be fair but it sounds like its similar service, just different network.
For the folks looking at buying one, make sure to check the network coverage of the area you visiting and buy accordingly, for me T-Mobile is the best where I work / stay but some other networks would be total gash.

Equally when I visitied a supplier about an hour outside of Atlanta last month I couldn't get any reception on T-Mobile at all.

Yeah it's like they're resellers of the same services. Breeze is using T-Mobile too.

jonneymendoza · Wednesday at 10:48

Reuben klang said:
We really should sticky an e-sim thread, there seems to be an abundance of them in this sub and the travel.

TLDR is -

Holafly only if you require unlimited data

Airalo much cheaper but capped data

So is e sim the ability to activate a digital version of a sim card? Does that work for android devices or is this only for iPhone?

jonneymendoza · Wednesday at 10:50

Is there a e sim that I can use in the Philippines? Data only

Orcvader · Wednesday at 10:55

So decided to try ByteSim in the end, and it's working straight away in Hong Kong as soon as I activated it after I landed. The app is definitely not as polished as Airalo, but still does the job of telling me how much data I have left.

Which also made me realise that Pixels are still limited in which countries they allow 5G to work. Stuck on 4G/LTE but more than enough for my needs.

p1RATE · 2024-10-18T01:53:14+0100

I have just signed up to Honest mobiles smart sim. It supposedly gives data access to a number of apps including whatsapp and maps when your data is not connected in 180 countries. I will see how reliable that is, and if it works as a booster as they describe. In the next few months I will be in Portugal, Serbia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina and Brazil so I'll definitely be able to put it through its paces.