I literally thank the heavens every single day I am traveling for eSIMs. If you have googlefi or Tmobile or any of the plans that for some reason don’t charge you for international roaming, good for you get out of my article. This is for people with normal phone plans who do not want to pay massive fees for international data.
eSIMs are basically a second sim card you can have in your phone. It is not a physical one you buy. You keep your current physical sim card in your phone for your texts and calls, then you turn off your data, and you download this imaginary eSIM onto your phone to turn on local data. It is pretty cheap, and is easy to download, and easy to pay for, and easy to refill with more data whenever you want to.
These are great because:
- You can set it up before your trip
- It won’t activate until you are actually there
- You can have data right when the plane lands instead of waiting to buy a local sim
- You keep your own phone # for texts which is super essential when it comes to sending security codes and things if you have to log in to your accounts online abroad
- Easy to refill if you run out of data
I super love these when backpacking around a certain region because you can buy regional sim cards. You can buy a single one that will work in all of Europe or LATAM or Southeast Asia etc. Sometimes pricier, but worth it if your plans are not set in stone or if you are just staying places a few days each
Literally it just makes everything easy, so go use it. I have a favorite company that I would love for you to research or download through my affiliate link bc I am poor and I use this all the time and I would love the extra dollar towards my next plan it would give me at zero cost to you. Airalo has been amazing for me to use personally, leave comments if you agree or don’t. There are other eSIM companies some of my friends use but idk much about them since I am an Airalo girlie so I can’t really recommend it directly but do the research that suits you 😀
Key pieces of info –
- Your phone has to be unlocked
- You have to have the right phone type
- Your phone has to support eSIMs duh but most do nowadays
- It won’t work in every single country but it will in almost all of them
I hope this helps! For more good stuff, check out this trip prep guide 🙂