Italy Data Only eSim

Are you asking a question?

OP, I think you're being a bit lazy here.

You get as much out of a group forum as you put into it. A little bit more info will
help others help you. On the other hand, if all you can manage is two words and
you never come back to elaborate or answer questions others have asked, well,
you'll end up where you started.

• how long will you be in Italy and what types of things do you want to do that require data
• will you have access to wi-fi for some of your needs
• any guess on how much data you will need overall
• have you done any research on your own for starters

Apologies as I mistook this for a search term sort of Forum. We will travel to Venice 1st week of Sept for 1 week. My plan is to take my iPhone 14 (I have upgraded to 16) and install eSim to use it as a real time Map for exploring. We will take our domestic iPhones (Xfinity) but use them only at the airports (BOS and ATL) coming and going. We will be staying on a riverboat (vs hotel) that will have usable WiFi when we are back on board to check messages from children and grandchildren and to send pictures from the day. I also have an iPhone 8 that I intend to fit with a Sim chip so we will be able to make local calls as necessary. My research shows many comparable options for 7 day durations and 5-10 GB of data; some slightly bigger data packs for $20 +/- even unlimited but they tend to be 30 day plans. My main concern is the reliability. So many networks can have low cost but have too many users hence congestion. We will be taking a Steves' Sicily trip probably in 2027 so this will be useful for then as well.

I've been very happy with the Airalo eSim Mamma Mia plan for our last three month-long trips to Italy. I've been getting 10MG but it sounds like that's more than you will need: https://www.airalo.com/italy-esim

We use whatsapp to message each other and people at home. And email, of course.

Seconded for Airalo. Used it in Italy for two months with an initial purchase and then topping up data as we went. They also allowed shorter/smaller purchases for Belgium and then London when we were in those cities for a couple of days. They support in phone wallet purchases so it's easy to do right from the phone. You can check your data usage in the app so you know when you're running out. IF you run out of data you will need WiFi to connect to buy more BTW.

The closest thing I had to a problem with the eSim is sometimes having to switch providers between towns when traveling on the train when one had better coverage in an area, but that's an edge case.

Some people complain that Airalo is expensive but I find it reasonable and they have good support and step-by-step instructions built into the app. And a couple of extra euros against the cost of a vacation is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

OP, sorry for misinterpreting your initial post.

I will say, though, that your update stresses reliability and your initial post
said best value. As hiredman notes, the cost of eSim in the big picture is
pretty trivial, so that seems like it should not be a factor. Also in his post,
he notes that he had to/can manually switch networks, so I think that is
your answer to the reliability concern.

he had to/can manually switch networks

Sometimes you can, sometimes not. If I'm up in the woods and my Tmobile signal is nearly non-existant, I try to connect to a stronger AT&T signal, but I get a message: "Your SIM doesn't allow connecting to this network". But if I use a Roamless esim that claims to use both Tmobile and AT&T towers, then it will connect to the AT&T signal. So it depends on what networks your U.S. carrier has contracts with, as to what network they will let you connect with. For most folks it's much better to just select "Select automatically". If you manually select one network, then take a train to somewhere else, your phone may not be able to receive the selected network, and is now not allowed to select another.

And the overloading problem sometimes isn't simply that one network is overloaded. It's that sometimes a server is down, or an area has weak coverage for your network. Well, ok, if there's a giant outdoor concert in a small town, the small town's cellphone infrastructure can't handle it, and everybody has slow data.

The eSims I have used allow you to use data from multiple carriers. The Airalo instructions tell you to turn off Automatic Selection for the network if you have issues and reselect a contracted network to get service if it has auto-selected a carrier they do not have an agreement with.

In France I believe the service is Orange which has really good coverage so I haven't switched at all. It Italy sometimes on one town another service would have a better signal so I would search around if there was a weak signal somewhere. But that was also a preference thing - if you can do without service for part of your train trip you could also just be patient. Fast trains have WiFi BTW but the local regionale trains do not.

I never ran into a problem in Italy but a couple of times in France I have run into the need for a French number. For instance everyone is using the "G7" app for taxis now and you need a French prefixed cell phone number to sign up for the app. I haven't dug into all the possible solutions on the face of it an eSim might not work for this case.

Hope that helps,
=Tod

For airolo, please buy and install before you arrive italy. I have used airolo in different countries and had no issues. A month ago I bought their esim when I was physically in Italy, that's when problem arose. I couldn't install the esim at all by following instructions many times and customer service (by chat only) was extremely slow, to get each response I spent two hours dealing with them, and more time to ask for a full refund, they kept on saying it's not their fault. I finally switched to Saily recommended on Reddit. Their CS is good and quickly resolved the installation issue, price is good for 5gb, but it was 4G and after 2gb, it automatically switched to 3G, so slow that it almost useless. I have an Android phone with Project Fi, it automatically covered world wide but costs $10 per gb.

I also have an iPhone 8 that I intend to fit with a Sim chip so we will be able to make local calls as necessary.

I'm puzzled over the two separate older phones - why not just get a full service plan for the 14?

Which phone will you use as the camera? If it has data service, remember to turn off cloud backup for photos over cellular to reduce your data usage.

I know folks that Airalo worked great in Portugal, others in Spain, but I could not get it to work in Greece at all. Just left Italy today after 3 weeks, and was very pleased with "SIM2ROAM Europe Data SIM Card Prepaid" from Amazon. $15.99 for 10GB, 30 days. Worked very well. Have to install the sim card in your phone at the arriving airport, and it works immediately versus some of the others. No texting or phone calls though (WhatsApp and Yolla apps work great for those items)

Also worked great in all the surrounding countries.

Airalo, hands down. They have many different kinds of esims data, data/text, data/text/ calls for all different amounts of time. A few days, a week, a few weeks, a month etc. go to their website and check it out. They’re very much worth it. To be honest, it’s kind of silly to be taking TWO cellphones on vacation whilst traveling. The days of having to use one phone for domestic snd another phone for international calls are long gone. eSIMs are the way. I’ve been using an eSIM for at least 5 years now and haven’t looked back. I’ve got T-Mobile in the states and we used to use their international plans, which are totally NOT worth it, because while you might pay $50 for a plan, the amount of data you get is limited, their connections aren’t great, you’re in roaming mode, which they charge for, and to top it all off, if you eat through your international data plan, they’ll add more onto it without even asking you. Airalo global esim