I will be visiting Spain, Switzerland, Italy and Greece for 29 days and I have a few questions about the Orange Holiday Europe 50GB eSIM. 1) Since the eSIM only covers 29 days, would I be able to add on the 1GB option on my last day in Greece for coverage with the same French phone number? 2) The plan says you get 120 mins of phone calls and 1000 SMS texts. Would I be able to use WhatsApp without WiFi, using the 50GB to send texts and make calls while preserving the 120 mins and 1000 SMS texts? 3) is it a better than Verizon International Monthly Plan for $100?
Posted by
Vancouver, BC, Canada
1386 posts
1) Yes, you can do it according to the app. However, I've never done it myself.
2) Yes, you can use the 50GB Mobile data (or Wi-Fi) to to make WhatsApp calls or texts. Please note that the 120 minutes and 1,000 is for international calls and texts e.g back to North America. Calls and texts within Europe are unlimited under the plan.
3) USD$100 > €50. I have no experience with Verizon, but I have had problems with international roaming plans in Europe from North America (Telus). When in Europe, surf the net like a local.
Posted by
Atlanta, GA
210 posts
The Orange plan gets you on the faster European 5G networks. Verizon regularly kept us on 3G and below.
I also think that when you are staying for that length of time, it's good to have a European phone number. We use ours regularly (even to get authentication texts for European apps).
Posted by
SoCal
1376 posts
I'll add the counterpoint that I've never found any need to have a European phone number, and I've spent a month+ in Europe several times. AirBnB hosts, restaurants and car rental agencies have always been able to reach me by either WhatsApp or texting my US phone number. A data-only European eSIM has worked quite well for me, and 20 GB 30-day SIMs typically cost $20 US or so. And I've almost always gotten 5G speed.
If having a European number provides peace of mind to others, it's well worth the expense to get a voice plan - just be aware that there is an added expense associated with voice plans, and they aren't cheap.
Posted by
OP
13 posts
@jphbucks Where do you get the data-only European eSIM? Would it be the airport or a phone store?
Posted by
Washington DC
28487 posts
You can buy Airalo's eSIMs from within the Airalo app.
Posted by
Royaume-Uni nul points, pas plus
2615 posts
I used this eSim recently. Easy to set up and worked without problems.
Posted by
SoCal
1376 posts
+1 on the Nomad recommendation. For me they've been flawlessly reliable, and the app to set them up is very easy to use. They also permit tethering of other devices.
Posted by
1 posts
If you have an Iphone supporting dual sims, then leave in your physical sim and add an international data esim, disable roaming on the physical sim, enable wifi calling on the physical sim before leaving the country, enable roaming and set esim as primary data. The iphone will piggy back your calls over the available data line when wifi is unavailable. Phone should work almost seamlessly.
My question for this forum is whether anyone has been able to enable data switching or piggyback wifi calling over an esim data line using an Android phone such as a Samsung S23. I have read that there is a software hack to enable data switching on Google Pixel. I have read that this may occur automatically on Samsung phones? I believe Samsung previously had a toggle to enable data switching in the sim manager settings but I do not see it on my phone with latest OS. Does the setting only appear when there are more than two sims present on the phone?
Without the wifi calling piggyback over data option, Android phones will not be able to use the US based phone number on the physical sim to send or receive texts. They will be able to do this over wifi in the hotel room or in an airport. Note that you can use an app as a workaround such as Whatsapp, but that requires adding contacts. You can also use the Google Voice app to request an assigned number that can then be used to make unlimited calls/texts over data. If you call friends from europe using Google Voice, they will see your Google Voice number in caller-id and it may show up as anonymous resulting in the call being blocked. You will want to share the number with contacts over text to avoid being blocked. You can configure call forwarding of your domestic number to your Google Voice number using commands on your phone if you set it up while your primary sim is still connected to service.
The France Telecom/Orange euro vacation is the best deal for cellular data. It will give you a French phone number. Calling any of your USA contacts would likely require dialing 00-1+ the number. When calling your contacts, they will see your international number in caller-id and may refuse the call. Such calls will use your international minutes. It has unlimited calls and texts within europe. Most Airbnb hosts use Whatsapp, so you want to install it anyway even if you have a local eSim number. If you have two phones, you could use one as a wifi hotspot for wifi calling (assuming you enabled wifi calling in the usa while the physical sim was connected).