I have a mobile phone which allows use of eSIM cards
I know I can buy an eSIM card online in the USA, but I am not sure which specific data/talk/message plan I should get.
So I would like to buy
the card at Heathrow airport so I can talk to a real person about options.
Has anyone purchased an eSIM ( not a physical SIM) at Heathrow?
Which carrier did you buy and were you happy with the service and performance you received?
Thanks
Ken
It would help to know some of the specific advantages of an eSIM over a normal SIM card so we can be of more help. Because my first inclination is just to advise you to get a normal SIM
The main advantage would be ease of changing from one esim to another: dont have to physically exchange
cards and no risk of losing a card.
I used an eSim card in New Zealand and it worked wonderfully!
Another major reason why I need an eSIM card is because my iPhone 14 does not accept physical SIM cards.
Ken
Ah OK, thanks for your reply. So it's both a convenience and a necessity. Unfortunately I have never used an eSIM before. It might be worth posting this in another forum as well. I won't tell anyone you posted twice :)
For our recent trip to London, my wife purchased an eSim for her phone from Vodafone. We installed it before our trip and then activated it upon landing at Heathrow. It performed flawlessly, with the caveat that the eSim provided data only (not talk or text). We used WhatsApp to allow her to talk and text using the eSim during our trip.
This thread came up the other day. We discussed buying an eSIM online for using in the UK.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/cell-phone-in-uk-totally-confused
We found that the major cellular service providers (O2, EE and Vodafone) generally refused to sell eSIM prepaid plans to US visitors. I strongly recommend you check out giffgaff before you leave the US.
eSim is the way to go. As previous posts have mentioned, a lot of the new phones (especially iPhones) don't allow you to access the physical SIM card, so eSim is the only choice. And even if you are able to change the SIM card physically, why do you want to (1) waste an hour of your precious time at Heathrow, and (2) do the swap in a busy airport with this tiny plastic piece that you will have to replace and then save the original SIM in a secure place for the whole trip?
I have traveled to Europe many times over the last decade both for fun and for business, and I always use Airalo to buy an eSim ahead of time. It's very economical and you can install the eSim while in US, then switch to the new eSim upon landing at the airport. (They provide very detailed instructions, both in writing and in video, on how to do this.) If you are only there for a week, you can get a 1GB data package (with 7 days validity, starting when you first use it) for $7, and you can get a 2 GB package (with 15 days validity) for $10.50. On our last trip to Europe for 9 days on the ground, we used 1.3 GB, primarily for Google Map navigation when we were out, while relying on free WiFi at the hotel/Airbnb and many public spaces (museums, restaurants, and etc.)
The only downside of eSim is that you cannot do voice calls. It's data only. My experience is that nobody uses voice calls nowadays. Everybody uses texts or emails. If you really want to call a local restaurant or shop, you can use WhatsApp, which uses data.
We also found a discount code that gave us $3 off any Airalo package, so you can pay as little as $4 to cover your data needs in UK. The code is MINFEI4587.
Good luck and enjoy your trip.
I purchased an eSIM on my last trip (March/April 2023) from Orange Mobile. I had a French phone number, which was fine as we were also going to France that trip. It worked fairly well. The current deals are here: https://travel.orange.com/en/buy-a-sim/offers/united-kingdom/esim
I did register my SIM card so theoretically I should be able to just top it up for my next trip.
"Everybody uses texts or emails. If you really want to call a local restaurant or shop, you can use WhatsApp, which uses data."
Actually you won't be able to do so, as you'll need to phone them on a standard line - which WhatsApp doesn't do.
Having said that, you're likely to make any restaurant reservations on the web (sometimes they may send you an SMS to confirm, though), and if you do need to phone a hotel, you can just use your standard plan on roaming, so for most people, an eSIM suffices. Alternatively you could use a (paid) VOIP solution like Skype.
I have a physical giffgaff SIM that I use in the UK, but I'm there every couple of months and have a dual-SIM phone, so don't need to physically switch it when I travel. Giffgaff also offers eSIMs that include standard voice, so no need to use a travel eSIM unless you're planning to visit multiple countries.
Just another reminder that Google Voice provides the ability to make international telephone calls using VOIP (data) for, I believe, $0.01 US per minute. And getting a Google Voice account costs nothing except whatever value is associated with Google knowing whom you talk to on the phone internationally.
I have an esim from Roamless. I got it for when T-Mobile isn't working.
While Roamless isn't the fastest, what I like about it is the cost structure. You pay for what you use. Load up an amount and it never expires. Mine's good everyhwere.
Download was easy as it's done with an app.
