e-Sims - PH bods - make me look good here......??
Discussion
I'm travelling to Aus/NZ (& Singapore for two days) for about a month with my family later this year. I'm with Lebara and their global roaming package comes in 15 day chunks - 3Gb for £15.
I'm looking at e-Sims and am getting quite confused. All that I've looked at are data only.
Budget - if it's not cheaper than £30 pp then I might as well use the roaming on offer.
The other element is that our kids (not really kids any more) are also travelling - one for six months (NZ mainly) and are looking to me for advice.
Please PH bods - make me look good here in front of them?
I'm looking at e-Sims and am getting quite confused. All that I've looked at are data only.
- Am I looking in the wrong place?
- Have I misunderstood what they do? i.e. is data enough?
- I can't find an idiots guide that speaks OAP
Budget - if it's not cheaper than £30 pp then I might as well use the roaming on offer.
The other element is that our kids (not really kids any more) are also travelling - one for six months (NZ mainly) and are looking to me for advice.
Please PH bods - make me look good here in front of them?
Yes, most of the travel e-sims are data only. A lot of the time that is enough - but of course depends if you need to phone anybody (bearing in mind you can phone home etc on data using WhatsApp).
In Australia, I bought a local Telstra physical prepaid SIM from a supermarket as I was heading off on a roadtrip and that got me plenty of data, a local phone number, and Telstra has the best signal.
Elsewhere, including Singapore and NZ, I've just used the likes of Airalo or Nomad for a data only solution.
In Australia, I bought a local Telstra physical prepaid SIM from a supermarket as I was heading off on a roadtrip and that got me plenty of data, a local phone number, and Telstra has the best signal.
Elsewhere, including Singapore and NZ, I've just used the likes of Airalo or Nomad for a data only solution.
I went to Australia, New Zealand and Singapore recently. I used Airalo e-sima, one for Oceana, and a separate one for a few days in Singapore. Yes they're generally only data, but as above Whatsapp calls are fine if you're calling a mobile. My wife did need to phone one of the hotels and just sucked up the extra daily charge on her current phone contract for that one.
I've used a few over the last few years but for the last few trips I've used Airalo without issue until my recent trip where I had nothing but issues.
I was travelling to Spain then onto Andorra, possible nip over the border into France. Airalo offer a 42 country e-Sim which included all 3 countries, I purchased this, I forget what data package I had opted for but that is of little importance.
The sim worked perfectly in Spain, great for Google Maps from getting from Barcelona up to Andorra. As soon as I got into Andorra it stopped working, once in the hotel and connecting to their WiFi I began a support query through the app, it's the usual AI rubbish, but eventually I got to speak (text) with a human. Top and bottom of it was for the 3 days I was in Andorra they were unable to fix my issue, I probably wasted 8-10 hours over the 3 days trying to fix the issue and I could only contact them when on WiFi. Then to make matters worse I got into France and again nothing, back into Spain and whatever changes they had made nothing so I was left without any internet for the majority of the trip. I asked for a refund but nothing. Needless to say I wouldn't recommend them to anyone now.
As others have said there are a number of different companies offering e-Sims so it's up to you to decide what you need, again it's usually data only but you can do whatsapp calling etc.
I was travelling to Spain then onto Andorra, possible nip over the border into France. Airalo offer a 42 country e-Sim which included all 3 countries, I purchased this, I forget what data package I had opted for but that is of little importance.
The sim worked perfectly in Spain, great for Google Maps from getting from Barcelona up to Andorra. As soon as I got into Andorra it stopped working, once in the hotel and connecting to their WiFi I began a support query through the app, it's the usual AI rubbish, but eventually I got to speak (text) with a human. Top and bottom of it was for the 3 days I was in Andorra they were unable to fix my issue, I probably wasted 8-10 hours over the 3 days trying to fix the issue and I could only contact them when on WiFi. Then to make matters worse I got into France and again nothing, back into Spain and whatever changes they had made nothing so I was left without any internet for the majority of the trip. I asked for a refund but nothing. Needless to say I wouldn't recommend them to anyone now.
As others have said there are a number of different companies offering e-Sims so it's up to you to decide what you need, again it's usually data only but you can do whatsapp calling etc.
if you wanted to keep your life simple, you could get a Holafly sim, with the Oceana region, which would cover you for oz/NZ/sin etc, Holaflys plans are unlimited (though there is some kind of daily limit after which they throttle you) but I dont think that would be an issue for you, would also keep things nice and easy.
30 days regional plan is £60
my general tip for people is: if your phone allows dual sim, and you want to run your uk sim too in case someone wants to get you in an emergency, make sure that in the settings you select the esim for data, and switch off data roaming on your uk sim. Then download an app like My Tello, and stick 5 of 10 quid on it. You can use that to call around the world for pennies over your eSim data. Eg calling the uk is 1p per minute. Tell anyone like friends/family to either call you on whatsapp which is free, but for the elderly that dont have it, tell them to just call your uk number let it ring a few times and hang up, and you'll call them back, which you do on My Tello.
30 days regional plan is £60
my general tip for people is: if your phone allows dual sim, and you want to run your uk sim too in case someone wants to get you in an emergency, make sure that in the settings you select the esim for data, and switch off data roaming on your uk sim. Then download an app like My Tello, and stick 5 of 10 quid on it. You can use that to call around the world for pennies over your eSim data. Eg calling the uk is 1p per minute. Tell anyone like friends/family to either call you on whatsapp which is free, but for the elderly that dont have it, tell them to just call your uk number let it ring a few times and hang up, and you'll call them back, which you do on My Tello.
Nomad have an offer on at the moment for SEA-Oceania - 10Gb/30 days - 17USD or 20/45 days 24USD.
I assume that you can buy now at that price and then load it when you go.
I'm also with Lebara and get their 5Gb roaming allowance in the USA, but I know I'll go over it so I just purchased one for a trip to the USA at the end of the week. My wife has an AirHub esim for the trip - so will be interested to compare the two.
I assume that you can buy now at that price and then load it when you go.
I'm also with Lebara and get their 5Gb roaming allowance in the USA, but I know I'll go over it so I just purchased one for a trip to the USA at the end of the week. My wife has an AirHub esim for the trip - so will be interested to compare the two.
HotJambalaya said:
if you wanted to keep your life simple, you could get a Holafly sim, with the Oceana region, which would cover you for oz/NZ/sin etc, Holaflys plans are unlimited (though there is some kind of daily limit after which they throttle you) but I dont think that would be an issue for you, would also keep things nice and easy.
30 days regional plan is £60
.
That's is a ridiculous price. You're better off with one for each country. Better still get Honest sim which gives roaming in 180 countries for £40 a year. No steaming though, but messages and bank apps work. https://join.honestmobile.com/explore-smart-sim30 days regional plan is £60
.
yeah its important to check with the regional ones exactly which countries are included.
If you really want to drill down on it, you can check https://esimdb.com for cheapest companies for whichever locations you're going to.
If you really want to drill down on it, you can check https://esimdb.com for cheapest companies for whichever locations you're going to.
I’ve used Holafly in Japan and turkey this year.
It was $20 something for a week or so and in both cases I set it up beforehand, turned it on when I got there, and it worked flawlessly all week.
I used to rely on three roaming feel-at-home but think that eSIMS are now the way to go.
Get the cheapest uk deal you can while here and pay per week while abroad works out cheaper (for me) overall
It was $20 something for a week or so and in both cases I set it up beforehand, turned it on when I got there, and it worked flawlessly all week.
I used to rely on three roaming feel-at-home but think that eSIMS are now the way to go.
Get the cheapest uk deal you can while here and pay per week while abroad works out cheaper (for me) overall
If you're in rural Australia then you really need Telstra as the coverage is better.
I used Saily for the e-sim and that seemed to use it.
But I also needed to make phone calls on several occasions which that can't do. My UK plan claimed to roam in Australia but never worked.
Buying a Telstra PAYG sim and setting it up was f
king horrific. You have to upload passports and stuff and sideload the Telstra app if it isn't an Australian phone or google account or something. It flatly refused to download on the play store.
If there's a way of buying one in the UK all set up before leaving then do that. It took me a long, long time.
In NZ I bought a sim at the airport and that was a breeze.
I used Saily for the e-sim and that seemed to use it.
But I also needed to make phone calls on several occasions which that can't do. My UK plan claimed to roam in Australia but never worked.
Buying a Telstra PAYG sim and setting it up was f
king horrific. You have to upload passports and stuff and sideload the Telstra app if it isn't an Australian phone or google account or something. It flatly refused to download on the play store. If there's a way of buying one in the UK all set up before leaving then do that. It took me a long, long time.
In NZ I bought a sim at the airport and that was a breeze.
Edited by bloomen on Wednesday 15th October 00:26
Ranger 6 said:
Further question - son is going to NZ for a few months at the end of the month
Assume it's get one of these SIMs - rinse and repeat each month?
It'll be down to the provider, you can download an app and purchase through there, they'll be various options basically duration and data allowance, so if he is going for a few months it would be cheaper to buy a 2-3 month package with xGB data than monthly. You also have the option to bolt on additional data if required. Assume it's get one of these SIMs - rinse and repeat each month?
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