Has anyone used Airalo?

Have you already read the thread here I’m the technology forum?

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tech-tips/buying-an-international-esim-data-plan-for-your-regular-phone-with-esim-no-more-burner-phones

I've read though this page, but haven't seen anything about this.
I'm new on here.

Just curious, which countries you’ll be visiting? Take a look at the “Phones & Tech” section of Travel Tips on this site.

Please also note that your phones must be unlocked. Check with your carrier to see if your phone is locked and then ask how to get it unlocked. Any SIM card or eSIM from a different carrier won’t work on a locked phone. Also make sure you can use an eSIM in your phones.

"I've read though this page, but haven't seen anything about this."

I thought the link was pretty specific about what Airalo does - maybe give it another read.

Rocket & periscope,
Thank you for the suggestion and the link to the other feed talking about different phone carriers. I had not seen that and it had a lot of information that was useful.

Philip,
We are going to Italy, Santorini, Mykonos, Athens and Paris.
I don’t know how to tell if my phone is locked or unlocked. Is the way there a way to look at that without asking the phone company?
It’s a new iPhone 13, I’ve had it a couple months. My husband has an older Motorola, about two years old I believe. I am assuming probably both of them are locked we have Verizon.
We are both 65, I’m a little more text savvy than he is. But I’m still not that tech savvy.

"I am assuming probably both of them are locked we have Verizon"

Well, if they're both locked, you will NOT be able to use a SIM card that isn't Verizon, period. You can get them unlocked by Verizon, if you've owned them for 60 days or more, or so we're told.

We had good experience using Airalo in Italy. Here is the site We used, and this is what I’d recommend for use in Europe. You could also go for 3Gb a bit cheaper and top off if needed. You just log in and add $$ to it. You Buy and install before leaving. Overview and Instructions were clear.

https://www.airalo.com/europe-esim/eurolink-30days-5gb

I also have a promo code for $3 off if you want to message you privately.

I really liked Airalo - here is a report of my recent experience with an Airalo eSIM data plan - https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tech-tips/how-i-used-an-esim-data-plan-for-one-month-in-germany-and-a-side-trip-to-denmark

lrsathome, starting with the concept of being unlocked - which is the first step. If your phone is on a payment plan and you making monthly payments on your bill, then it is locked. And cannot be unlocked unless it is fully paid off (which you can do early if you choose to).

Once it can potentially be unlocked, then you have the process of getting it to be so. It IS a process, so I recommend you have someone at a store do it for you. It would be complex to try to describe here.

Only then will you be able to install (via a QR code) the Airalo eSim.

And I know nothing at all about Motorola.

But as a general answer to your question - that would be a good way to go for having data all the time at a very inexpensive price.

Verizon phones are automatically unlocked either 60 days after direct purchase or 60 days after activation when purchased through an authorized retailer. See their website for details.

Airalo seems to be a good plan. I just purchased it and will be using it for the first time next month.

So I found this article on how to tell if your iPhone is unlocked. https://www.howtogeek.com/793677/how-to-tell-if-your-iphone-is-unlocked/

Mine is unlocked and I can confirm that this is what shows up for me.

Due to Mardee’s research and posts, I am using Airalo data only plan right now while I am in Germany. It works great and it was pretty easy to install. But if you are going to use it, please see Mardee’s post. It really makes things easy.

Hello DB Maryland,

I called Verizon & they walked me through the steps to see if my phone is unlocked & it is & they also told me that any phone is unlocked after 60 days of purchase now, I also found out that Airalo is only DATA.
Thanks for your response.
Thank you everyone for your help with this. We will prob go with Verizon for my husbands phone ( I believe it's only $88 for a month international, not much data tho) & I'm still not sure about mine

Linda

You can download sections of google maps for free for 30day and also you can download languages from google translate so you don’t need to use data/Wi-Fi for either of these apps while abroad.