Bcengi eSIM

A few other points:

• They offer a family plan. Seems like you can add family members and all share one account.
• You can turn off auto-refill.
• A potential negative is that you have to load it in $25 increments. So depending on how much you travel and how much you use it, you could have that money sitting unused in your account until your next trip.

That sounds interesting — have you already tried Bcengi yourself, or are you still just looking into it?

It definitely seems like a different model compared to Airalo’s country- or region-specific plans. I’ve noticed there are a few other services offering something similar too, like Roamless, Yesim, eSIM.sm, and Surfroam, which also let you use a single eSIM across multiple countries with pay-as-you-go data.

Would be great to hear how Bcengi performs in practice if you end up testing it!

Thanks, Lane, that sounds interesting. I've been using my T-Mobile int'l plan, which is free, but for more than 2 weeks, I usually run out of high-speed data, and have been adding on, which costs $$ depending on how much. But I've been thinking lately of using an eSIM instead of just adding onto the T-Mobile plan, so I might check that out next time.

I am curious, though. Can you stop the auto-load of data at the end of your trip? Although I guess it just stays there like you mentioned above. What about if you cancel your account? Do you get the excess refunded?

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm considering it for my upcoming trip. However, for some of the countries I'll be visiting, it doesn't appear to be cost effective. So I will have to do some price comparisons.

Mardee, I used to use my Google Fi plan abroad, but they got wise to me. They require that you use their plan primarily in the US. Since I wasn't using it in the US, they canceled my data plan. I now only use Google Fi as a phone plan. But it wasn't free. They charge $10 per GB wherever you are, which is significantly more than Bcengi charges in most countries.

Lane, thank you for the heads-up. Like Mardee, I'm a satisfied Tmobile customer, but after a week or two, my wife uses up her 5 gb. of high-speed data, and we have to pay, I think, $50 for another 15 gb.

So I've been using Roamless. As mentioned, it's very similar to bcengi, the Roamless data is pretty cheap at $2.45/gb in the US, but bcengi is even cheaper at $1.68. You can buy only $10 worth of digital wallet, and they accept Paypal. I see that with bcengi, you can buy as little as $10 also (if you select it), and they accept many credit cards and Apple and Google Pay, no Paypal.

I couldn't find which networks bcengi uses. We have a cabin up in the woods, with almost no Tmobile coverage. The AT&T signal is much better. So when I'm there, I use the Roamless esim, and get data from the AT&T tower. I can call/text using wifi calling also. Roamless can use either Tmobile or AT&T towers. Works great for me.

I'm going to give bcengi $10 and try it out. I'll then find out what networks in the US it uses.

Thanks for the good info!

For US Yesim app is even cheaper then Bcengi they have Pay & Fly for 1.5$ /GB (AT&T, Verizon). Or surfroam 1.3 €/GB (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon).

In case you are in USA only for limited number of days fixed package will be cheaper you can get as low as 1$/GB (for 10GB and more).

Update: I just made an account online (there is no app), they verified the email with 2FA. Very easy. I added $10 to my digital wallet, activated quickly. Scanned the QR code into the app for my esim adapter, no problem. On my tablet I manually searched for networks, and I could register on either Verizon or AT&T, so that works well for me. Data is $1.68/Gb for the US, Germany, Ireland, Italy and others. They say 200+ countries. And the APN for Bcengi appeared in my tablet automatically. Works fine.

Unless you watch movies or use large amounts of data, I think the PAYGO plans are a much better deal for use as a travel plan.

Agree. PAYG rates can be better for a frequent short trips or when you consume low amount of data per trip (<10GB).

Good to know it worked with bcengi.

travelerguy, good to know. I might try something like that for here at home. I live in a rural area and generally cell service is good, but there are times where I can't get a signal through T-Mobile, so it would be nice to have another option .