eSIM Cards

Check out the Technology forum https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tech-tips

There’s this thread that was started last year. So perhaps slightly dated but still seems accurate.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tech-tips/buying-an-international-esim-data-plan-for-your-regular-phone-with-esim-no-more-burner-phones

Bottom line from the long thread Rocket linked is that Airalo has fairly inexpensive esims that provide data only either by country or region. They have worked well for me in a number of countries but I haven’t been in these countries with it yet. But Mardee traveled throughout Germany with hers. You would probably want the Europe coverage.

Others who use android phones may need to chime in - I use iPhone. But it was easy to set up for me.

If you require a telephone #, answers are different.

Hi Melissa, as TexaxTravelmom said, I used an Airalo eSIM last year for 30 days in Germany, with a side trip to Copenhagen. As she said, I would suggest getting one that covers all of Europe. It’s a little more expensive but it will cover any country you go to. I got one for just Germany and then decided at the last minute to go to Denmark for three days so I had to get a second eSIM for that country. It was very simple and easy, so it was not a problem, but it would’ve been easier to just get one for all of Europe. Mine was a 10 GB plan for 30 days and I had more than enough data to spare. And I use data a lot.

I liked Airalo and found it very easy to use. Their instructions are very clear and concise on their website. Keep in mind that most eSIM data plans do not come with phone calls. During my 30 days, I never had the need to use the phone. There were a few times that I called my family back home, but I used either WhatsApp audio or FaceTime, audio to call them. There are other people on this forum that have also used Airalo. If you do a search and key in that word in the search bar, you should be able to find their posts. https://www.airalo.com/

We were in Germany last spring. I don't know what your regular cell service is. We have T-Mobile and had data and texting for our 4 week trip as part of our regular plan. We only had $20 in extra charges for a couple of phone calls. We sent photos when we were on hotel wifi.

I used Google Fi eSim with my unlocked Pixel phone last year in UK, Belgium, and Netherlands. Worked great, the only issue was it took about 5 minutes for the phone to catch up with the border change - but it did catch up. Rates were competitive compared to my AT&T international plan option - I was just mindful of using a lot of data and connected to wifi when available. You do need to set up before leaving the USA. I used the flexible plan, info on rates here: https://fi.google.com/about/international-rates