eSim Coverage

Very interesting option! (Note that phones don't "need" wifi, they need data. And data can come from wifi OR the cellphone network.)

From their website, they rent portable wifi hotspots, which include an internal sim card. So the portable hotspot doing the same as your phone could be doing, it's getting data from a cell network. Whether it's a good idea depends on two things: convenience and price.

1. Convenience: Now you need to carry two devices instead of one. And you need to keep two devices charged instead of one. You have to be sure it's turned on and off each day. You need to have it delivered to your hotel or pick it up at Zurich airport, and then put in a mailing envelope when you are done, rather than download an esim in minutes. And if one of you goes out to shop, or to eat breakfast earlier, only one of you has internet.

2. Price: Their website says $51.30 for a 14 day rental. There are a lot of esims out there, but there's no such thing as an esim that costs $102 per month, more like $10-20. However, since two persons would use it, it would be $51 /2 = $26 per person for two weeks. Still pretty expensive.

Advantages of Wifio:

1. Possible Big advantage: You could probably connect to the Wifio and use Wifi Calling to make calls and text from your "normal" number (assuming your carrier supports Wifi Calling). But if your phone supports dual sim, you could do this anyway with an esim.

2. If your phone won't accept esim, or you don't want to learn how to do it, this would be technically simple. (not the case for you)

3. If you had a family of 4, it would be $51/4 = $13 per person for two weeks. Still more than an esim, but not so bad.

All the above is for renting the Wifio device. Their website also sells esims for your phone, but they seem expensive to me. Unlimited data for 14 days would be $33.90 (for one phone). Personally, 5 gb. for 14 days would be plenty for me, but I don't watch movies, and I upload things on hotel wifi. So $10 worth of esim would do for me.

As was mentioned, using a Wifio or using a Swiss sim or esim would eliminate worrying about wifi hacking. I don't worry about that myself, but some folks do. If you do financial things with your phone, you should avoid wifi for that.

I don’t find it an advantage to be able to share the hotspot. You want your phones to work independently so that you can communicate with each other. For example, what if one of you runs to the grocery store and wants to ask the other a question about what to get? Or if one of you goes off on a little side adventure and wants to be able to text the other an ETA. Having independent sims is of value when traveling with another person so you can communicate not only with “home” but with each other.

Thanks for your replies. I guess I should have clarified that I am looking at the eSim for my phone, not the extra hotspot device. I am not interested in carrying around another device.

JulH, I see, (I flunked todays Reading Comprehension test....) Then it's just a price comparison. Big decision is, do you need unlimited data? If so, then Wifio is in the ballpark. If not, then many others would be cheaper. For Switzerland, Nomad has 10 gb. for 30 days on sale for $16. Roamless is $2.45/Gb. Pay As You Go in most countries, including Switzerland. Roamless is what I'm using next week.

As for maps, depending on the map app, you should be able to download maps on wifi before setting out. I use Organic Maps, but the maps are not satellite view. I think Mapquest can pre-download maps and has a good satellite view, but add-free is $2/month. I'd look into whatever map system you'll use, to see how downloading works. The GPS part of the mapping app needs no data, it just listens to satellites to get position.