Orange Travel eSIM for France — works in other EU countries? Data speed only 4G?

Streaming requires 5G in my experience. I'd go to simoptions dot com or esimdb dot com to look for a pan-Europe eSIM with calling capabilities and 5G. There are plenty available.

We have used SimCorner on past trips all over Europe. Works flawlessly & very inexpensive. Check out their website for various plans. On our most recent trips (UK, Italy, Slovenia & Croatia) we've simply paid Verizon the $100/mo international plan to have our iphones work just as they do at home. Most reservations have our US phone number as they're made far in advance, so if you have a local number they can't simply call or text you. Although I agree Whats App is the European standard for communicating with accommodations. And Whats App works like a charm to call back to the States to stay in touch with family & friends.

I'm curious as to why you want all 9 members of your group to have a local number.

It would be a lot simpler and cheaper if you just have one person with an e-SIM that has a phone number and the rest just use data. You're only going to need it for making reservations, and even then you can usually get away with making it online or using WhatsApp. But if you really want a phone number, just have one person be the designated caller for reservations.

In the European Union, there are no roaming charges. Having a mobile plan in France allows you to use your phone in all other EU member states without extra roaming fees, though there are sometimes data limits (in GB) depending on your provider.

The Netherlands and Belgium are included in these countries, but Iceland is not. That is why you need to check if Iceland is on the list of covered countries for your specific plan.

Personally, I’ve had the exact same plan (€19/month) with the carrier "Free" for at least 25 years. With the amount of data they allocate abroad, it has always allowed me to travel around Europe for 15 to 20 days without exceeding my plan. That said, I don't use social media, and I don't do any video streaming unless I am on a local Wi-Fi connection.

I'm not trying to promote Free, but if you want to compare it with Orange, you can find the information below:

https://mobile.free.fr/en/voyages-forfait-europe-france

I did check and confirmed that Iceland is covered by Free within their 35 GB/month allowance. I haven't checked for Orange.

I don’t know about e-sims as I use an actual sim card in my phone when traveling.
However, I’ve used Orange twice in the past year and found it very reliable.
As for roaming, I was leaving France and when the plane flew high over the UK, a message popped up on my phone to welcome me to the UK mobile service.
Same thing when we were landing in Iceland on the same journey a few hours later.
I’m using Orange again for Ireland this year.

@Aaron and @Mardee : We want a local phone number so we can sign up for the Navigo Semaine pass in Paris. We will need a local phone number in order to get Navigo Semaine. Can you sign up for multiple Navigo Semaine pass in different phones using only one local phone number?

I'm curious why, after I provided carrier-agnostic websites that have links to several carriers that offer superior data-and-call service to the Orange tourist offerings, the very next poster overrode my post saying "he didn't know of any." Just flabbergasted.

To be perfectly honest, I just went straight to writing my own answer early in the morning and because the OP specifically asked for firsthand experiences or recommendations, all I wanted to say was that I hadn't had any personal experience with such products.

I certainly could have chosen better wording to make that clear, which is what I would have said if you just asked me directly -- I'm in this thread.

However, since you chose this passive-aggressive approach, I've opted to delete my message. As I assume this was your goal, I hope you feel less overridden and less flabbergasted.

I've bought the Orange EUROPE eSIM several times for both the local number and the roaming within most of Europe.

I haven't looked at the Orange plans recently, but I'd just check which "flavor" eSIM you were buying - a France only one (is that an option?) or a broader European one. Both would offer a French number (or did when I got our Europe eSIM), so you should be fine with the Europe version to include your time in Belgium, etc..