I am buying a e-sim for travel in Sept. I will be in Athens, Naxos, Santorini. Last year in Spain I used Airalo and was very happy. In Greece I see they use the Wind Hellas network. Will that give me good coverage including on the islands? An alternative might be Holafly which says it uses Orange network which I think is Cosmote and Wind. Some reviews suggest Vodaphone is the best network but I don't see a simple esim for them but I can search further if it is the best. I am just looking for data mostly for maps and What's App.
Posted by
San Francisco area
1843 posts
I can’t help with your questions regarding network coverage. If you determine Vodafone is the way to go they do have an e sim plan.
Have a great trip.
Posted by
San Franciso Bay Area, USA
988 posts
We just returned from Greece and used Airalo in Athens, Mykonos, and Santorini. The coverage was excellent in all three locations.
Posted by
19 posts
If i am going to Rome and Athens, should i get 2 different e sim or is there one for Europe in general? Thanks
Posted by
OP
Canada
4 posts
in response to jinnietrinh.....I think it is probably better to get a multi-country e-sim card IF the card uses networks in each of the countries you are going to that have good coverage. Sounds like an Aialo Eurolink card might work. Having a multi-country card minimizes risk you will waste capacity - if you get two 10GB cards, one for each country and in country A only use 7GB then 3GB are just lost and you have your 10GB on your next card, but if you have multi-country card of 20GB and used 7 in A you have 13 for B. Of course there is a price calculation - depending on amount of data you anticipate needing in each country and how many countries separate cards could be cheaper. My main concern is that the card I buy uses a network with good coverage in the parts of the county I am going to as I have seen reports that this is an important consideration - hence my question about coverage on the islands.
Posted by
France Southwest
1978 posts
European Union regulations have banned roaming charges, so whatever European operator you use, the most important is to check in the package how much data you can consume and for how many days.
An operator can authorize a quantity of data in one country and a lesser quantity in another country.
For example, my plan with my French operator allows me 300G/month in France but "only" 50G in Greece, which for me is more than enough for at least 2 weeks.
The two main operators in Greece are Vodaphone already mentioned by rocket and Cosmote.
https://www.cosmote.gr/cs/cosmote/en/programmata-kinitis-kartokiniti.html
Posted by
NH (USA)
1173 posts
I use Cosmote in Greece and it worked very well regardless if on islands or the mainland.
Great reception in mountains and rural areas.
I buy a Greek SIM card upon arrival in Greece usually at one of the Germanos shops.
Also available at the airport (Vodaphone only) or even on the streets in Athens.
Posted by
42 posts
Last year I used Ubigi for my eSIM and had excellent coverage in Sifnos and Athens, of course. No need to buy an actual SIM card like one person mentioned. This year the same. Ubigi for Italy and the islands. (Folegandros & milos)
So here’s an update to my post above. I had excellent reception on both Folegandros and Milos except when at Sarakiniko and other beaches that sit between high cliffed walls. This is probably because my iPhone is almost 8 years old and only has LTE. My wife has excellent coverage everywhere, because her phone is 5g. I didn’t really care because I wasn’t texting anybody and mostly taking pictures or searching online for the next best place or beach to visit.