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E SIM card updates?

Posted by (USA) on

Hi,

I know there’s an old post on eSIM (https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tech-tips/buying-an-international-esim-data-plan-for-your-regular-phone-with-esim-no-more-burner-phones) but some links don’t work but have follow-up questions.

I use iPhone 15 pro max and go to Spain and Portugal in early April for 14days (I know I could have spent longer but this is the best I can do). Questions:

For iPhone users (esp 15),
1. Which eSIM card company did you go for?
Apple said the compatible provider in Spain and Portugal is Vodafone, which offers data only and I bought, but no success in installing; after long waits of“activating”(though their definition of “activation” means turning on roaming at destination which I didn’t do) followed by can’t “activate”.
Debating between Orange Holiday, Holafly, Airalo which seem to be commonly used..
3. With general googling during travel, what’s expected data usages per day?
Thank you!

Posted by
610 posts

I’ve used both Orange and Airalo on my iPhone 13 and iPhone 11. Both companies eSIM technology performed seamlessly. I prefer to use a data plan everywhere and for everything (music, videos, navigation, hotspots, etc.) without interruption. I’ve found that 10 GB has been plenty. Simply choose the plan that gives you the best functionality and best value for your needs.

I found Airalo to be slower when it came to troubleshooting with an issue that I had during one of the three times that I’ve used them. Otherwise I’ve been quite successful and very happy with them. These learnings helped me transition easily through other Sim and eSIM technologies.

Posted by
1190 posts

I have only used the Orange Holiday ESIM, which worked very well in both Spain and Portugal. I liked that it has a phone number which allows calls and texts.

I bought the ESIM and loaded it while I was still in North America. However, it remained unactivated in North America and did not activate until I landed in Europe where there is a signal. The activation is automatic. You would not want it to activate while in North America anyways because then the 14 days would start to run.

Posted by
4080 posts
  1. Make sure your phone is unlocked.
  2. I don’t have much need for phone calls so I use Airalo everywhere. The choose of provider is automatic.
  3. Yes, you must turn data roaming “On” to use your eSim.
  4. I use as I would at home and I use about 1.5 G/week (unless I need to back up photos to Google photos using data, which I try to avoid).
Posted by
144 posts

I've been using the Orange Holiday options for the past three trips - Spain, then Netherlands, and then Spain & Portugal. Worked pretty seamlessly and relatively cheap. I considered "data" only plans, but having the phone number helped a few times, so worth the little extra over other options I looked at like Airalo. On an iPhone 11 Pro. I didn't pay much attention to my data, but I was also often on hotel wifi or museum wifi. The two week 8gb plan was good for that amount of time (for me).

Posted by
59 posts

Thanks so much everyone! I think I will go with Orange Holiday 30GB eSIM. Hope everyone has a great week!

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