Clueless about esims

Esims are not physical "cards". Here is one link on this forum with some info, there are tons more if you do a search. But, the absolutely easiest thing to do is add an international cell plan. What provider do you have now? Check those options first. Might not be the cheapest, but it makes up for that sometimes in simply being the easiest hassle-free option.

Skypilot (nice name!),

First, what phone do you have? I assume it has a sim card from AT&T/Verizon/Tmobile, or such? And you do know that it has esim capability?

Second, is the phone locked to a carrier? If you got it free, it's probably locked, and another sim or Esim won't work.

Thirdly, do you need your primary phone number to work for calls and texts?

Sounds like you don't need a lot of data, that's good. There are many vendors of esims, mostly much cheaper than getting an interntional add-on from Verizon or AT&T.

Note: a SIM card is a physical card, an ESIM is not a card at all, it's just some data downloaded from the vendor. Frequently, you buy an ESIM from a website, pay with a credit card, and then they show you (or email you), a QR code. You take a picture of the QR code and it automatically gets loaded into the phone. For some vendors, you install their app on your phone, and the app walks you through the process. After downloading the QR code, you have to activate the sim or esim. How to do that varies by vendor. Normally you won't want to activate it until a day or two before you need it, as many esims are sold as 7 day, 10 day, or 30 day packages. You choose how many days and how many Gb. of data.

The phone number is a trickier thing, depends on your present carrier, and the plan you have with them. There are many options for that.

Thank you both for the replies.

I have an unlocked I-phone 14 from Verizon so it does have esim capability. I would like to have my current phone number work there, but I don't need it if it's going to cost more money.

Then check Verizon. The Unlimited Ultimate plan includes international and may not be much more than your current plan. This is what I have, it was $12 more than what I was paying, although I've seen others say it's $25 more (depends on what you have now). Works great internationally - seamless. You may be able to switch back to your old plan or similar when you return but I would check that first if that is what you want to do. They also have TravelPass, which is $12/day, but only if/when you activate it (so if you have some days you don't need it, just make sure you have cell turned off or use airplane mode). Also, they have an international monthly plan for $100 - probably not what you need if you are only gone 10 days.

I have Xfinity mobile plan which uses Verizon Network. Xfinity international plan is awful and super expensive. They also have a $10/day international plan but the data you use is counted toward your monthly allotment. My monthly plan is 3GB at home so any data I would use abroad would count toward my monthly allowance plus I would need to pay the fee per day. No thank you.

Few years ago I upgraded my phone to unlocked version so I could have eSIM when traveling. Best investment ever. And it has been amazing! I usually buy from company (app) called Nomad and have used it in Europe, Scandinavia, Morocco and South America.

Someone above gave great explanation of how it works. My plan allows me to keep my number and do "call over wifi". So when I am abroad, my phone number is still the primary on account. However, on the phone settings I select which plan to use for cellular data. Once I download the eSIM, then I select that Travel eSIM for my cellular data. I don't lose my number. And I can still activate the Xfinity international call if needed.

Funny story. I was in Norway couple of years ago and it was very late at night and my phone rang. It showed the ID as the IT company for my work. They didn't know I was traveling, and I didn't expect my phone to get a call!

I use a lot of data when traveling. I usually buy 10GB (even though I'm traveling for only 10 days). I rarely use it all because I also use wifi when available like at hotels. The plan has 1 day, 1 week, 30 days.. This is how long the plan is valid for. Sometimes it is cheaper to buy one for 30 days even though I will only use for 10, if that makes sense. I just checked Nomad and the plan for France is: 3GB plan $9, 5GB plan for $12.50 and 10GB for $16 (all valid for 30 days).

Upon return to the US, I switch settings again to use my Xfinity plan as my cellular data, and remove the Travel eSim from my phone.

Since you will be driving and relying on Google maps, I would download at home the maps for the region you will be at. That way, they will be available offline if needed. Being online is good to know current road conditions, but I know that even regular cellular data may fail in remote areas. Having the map available offline is like a back-up.

Just try it at home. Download for your city, then turn off your wifi and cellular data and plug an address so you can see how it works. It will still give you step by step audio, but it won't give you current traffic or alerts that are based on live feed.

I actually have a map saved for the coast near where I live in the Bay Area. Very often we lose cellular signal and I always get lost, so having the map available even if my internet is not working is a life savior!

I have a very basic plan with Public Mobile in Canada.

If phone calls to and from the US or Canada is important to you, I suggest that you subscribe for a free TextNow telephone number and call forward your regular phone number to Textnow. Anybody in the US that telephones your regular number will have their call automatically forwarded to your TextNow number anywhere in the world for free. When you want to phone back to the US, just use the TextNow number which has free calling back to Canada in the US. All you need is free Wi-Fi or a cheap travel data ESIM.

(Note: you cannot make phone calls from TextNow to other countries unless you subscribe for long distance plans which opens up another can of worms. For calling in Europe, see my description of Roamless below)

Travel esims for Europe are very cheap and very good. Most are for a set amount of data for a set amount of time. They usually do not include a phone number so you cannot phone or text. There are too many to list.

One of the exceptions which cost a little bit more money is Orange Holiday esim which provides you with a French telephone number with unlimited calling and texting in Europe and some limited calling and texting internationally. Orange was my favourite.

However, for my upcoming trip I'm going to try out Roamless, which is pay as you go. I deposit a small flex credit balance into Roamless and the flex credit balance is only applied to the actual data that I use at about USD$2.45 per GB. Any unused flex credit balance does not expire and can be saved for the future.

Another benefit is that Roamless allows you to make in-app telephone calls anywhere in the world for about USD$0.04 per minute (rate depends on which country you call). You could private message me or travelerguy or search the internet for promo codes for Roamless.

Good luck.

Hi Skypilot,
With your iPhone 14 and Verizon plan, best and most convenient solution is to download one of the many apps, set up all your details & payment options at home and click "buy plan" on the appropriate screen when you touch down and are connected to airport Wi-Fi.
I would take a look at Airalo & GigSky in the App store. GigSky has a sale at the moment so may work out cheaper than Airalo for a more tailored solution, such as unlimited data for a certain number of days.

Once you are set up with the eSIM, the iPhone is able to have both your home SIM and the eSIM active at the same time. This means that all you do before you leave is go into "Settings" - "Cellular" - "Verizon SIM" and make sure this is ON. This means you can use Wi-Fi Calling receive SMS and make calls while on Wi-Fi.
Step 2. 'Settings" - "Cellular" - "Cellular Data. Tap your home SIM & turn OFF "Data Roaming" This stops you getting charged for connecting to a cell tower in France and using data
Step 3. Go to "Settings" - "Cellular" - (eSim). Turn ON, then - Data Roaming - ON
Step 4 Under your cell number is "Wi-Fi Calling" Turn this ON.

With this setup, you can receive and make calls while at your hotel using Wi-Fi or when on the road using your phone eSIM as a "hotspot". Be aware that if you make calls to a French number, you will be making an international call as if you are at home, incurring whatever charges your plan costs.

Thanks to all for the excellent and varied advice! It's great we have this forum so we don't have to use a Zuckerberg product. I decided to go with upgrading Verizon and downgrading when I return. We'll see how that goes but Verizon put it in writing that I could do that. I'm sure I will use some of these other options for future travel.

I used to ignore eSIM completely because it sounded way too technical. On one of my trips I landed without internet, thought I’d “figure it out at the airport”… and ended up walking around for like 30 minutes trying to find Wi-Fi just to order a ride. That was enough for me 😅
Before my next trip I finally tried an eSIM. Installed it the night before, landed, turned on data and everything just worked. Maps, messages, getting to my hotel… zero stress.
Since then I’ve used a few different ones like Airalo, Nomad, and more recently Skyalo. Honestly they all do the job, the difference is more in price and stability. Airalo felt cheaper but sometimes slower, Nomad was a bit more consistent, and Skyalo was just really easy to set up and worked right away.
For me the biggest thing isn’t even saving money it’s landing somewhere new and already having internet. That one change makes the whole arrival experience feel completely different.
If your phone supports it, it’s definitely worth trying once. It’s way simpler than it sounds.