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eSIM purchase for UK while still in the US

Posted by on

So I'm in a bit of a quandry.

I'm going to Scotland and want to get an eSIM (three has the best deal right now) but the problem is two-fold.

1) I'm going to Ireland for two days BEFORE I get to Scotland, so I can't just roll into a mobile shop and get a sim (well, I can, and just use roaming, but again, UK has the best deal at 19 pounds for 200GB).
2) Three UK requires you to get a sim before you can get an esim, which defeats that whole purpose of an esim being used to reduce waste. And you can't just order it, you need to actually get it and we're going next week.

Anyone have any suggestions for how best to work around this?

Posted by
1327 posts

Giffgaff now do esim, not that that helps with the 2 days in Ireland.
Unless you add credit beying your chosen goodybag

Posted by
2 posts

Richard: But, it looks like giffgaff still requires me to get the sim first, right? And it requires a UK post code to send it.

Posted by
709 posts

There haave been some EU tariff changes recently that affected GiffGaff. A few years ago, I ordered a SIM to my US address. Last year I switched to an eSIM (all done online) while having my US provider's SIM in the phone. I already had a GiffGaff account. Under the new tariffs, you can only get 60 days of EU (Ireland) and it has to be after connecting in the UK, which means Ireland will come out of your credits (unless you're in NI or Heathrow on the way to the Republic).
I don't see any SIM requirement on the GiffGaff website, but since I'm logged in, I may not see what you see.

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