Airalo Esim

I thought I had responded but apparently I didn’t. Last month we used Airalo for the first time. I downloaded and purchased the package I wanted for Spain for my and my husband’s phones. While on the plane, with the phone in airplane mode, I switched from my primary number to the secondary service, Airalo, and turned roaming on.

When the plane landed I switched off airplane mode. Within a couple of minutes I was connected to the network in Spain.

I did the reverse on the way home. I couldn’t believe it worked because I almost always do something wrong but we had no issues.

sally, what Carol said. But also you can review this page on Airalo's Help site, which gives you a ton of FAQs on how to activate it, set it up and manage it once it's on. It's really easy and will definitely save you money over Verizon.

I used WhatsApp and FaceTime for calls and never had any problems. Here's the link I mentioned above: https://www.airalo.com/help

Thanks a lot Carol and mardee, glad to know I can set it up on the plane with Verizon NOT being the primary and Airalo being the default with airplane mode on so I can just turn off the airplane mode when I arrived Paris.

I use Verizon and also different combinations of Sim and eSIM technology. When using my cell phone in the United States data roaming is turned off. When using my cell phone with a sim, eSIM or on the Verizon international plan data roaming has to be turned on.

When departing the U.S. (assuming you’re flying from there) you should turn your phone to airplane mode as your aircraft leaves the gate at your city of departure. You do not want to land at your international destination and have your Verizon service pinging for cellular connectivity.

Upon return to U.S. remember to turn data roaming off when you select Verizon as your primary.

See the below link for helpful steps I provided in the past.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tech-tips/airalo-esim-problem

Thanks a lot raymonelee! I will look at the link.

I found that this guy's youtube videos were far more helpful than Airalo's own video: https://www.youtube.com/@briansteph

Airalo worked perfectly for my family on vacation in Italy last year and it was easy and cheap to top up my data after the 30 days. We used whatsapp to communicate with each other, and with my husband who stuck with a regular sim because he needed an Italian phone number. I will use Airalo on all future trips.

Thanks a lot nancys8. Yes it is very informative!

Is there a need for you to use Facetime while you're out actively sightseeing ? Facetime works perfectly fine using your hotel's free WiFi - no need to burn through your eSIM data.

Thanks Conrad and periscope for your replies. I will look into ‘ Firsty App’. It will come in handy for future trips. We came back from Paris last March. I did purchase airalo a day before we left for Paris however it didn’t work out well. I emailed airalo about the issue on our second day in Paris and got an email response where there were detailed steps and I had to enter a long numbers. There were so much to do and see in Paris so I didn’t even bother. I have a Verizon unlocked phone as I bought the iPhone and paid in full as I wasn’t sure I would continue staying with Verizon. In hindsight, maybe I didn’t complelely download the airalo app? It cost me only $4.5 with the $3 coupon so I didn’t even bother to complain. What helps was we heard from a friend 2 days before we left that we can go to a T mobile store and buy their E SIM saying we like to try out T mobile on our trip. We got the ESIM for $5 each on our 2 phones. When we came back we were billed $57 by T mobile which was still better as we used 2 separate phones and can text and call
Each other and has data too. Verizon would have cost as more. I guess this tells me I need to switch from
Verizon to T Mobile. As for FaceTime call, yes we used it while at the hotel which had free wifi.

Sally, be careful using "firsty" link, as the poster who promoted it is a first time poster, so it could very well be self-promotion. I reported it as potential spam so that the webmaster can review it.

Thanks mardee for the heads up.