more esim card questions

Honestly, I'd visit an Apple store in either the US or London to have one of their Mavens (or whatever title they use) to help you work all this out. My wife has gotten this kind of assistance many times. As an Android guy myself I'm as useful as a baked-bean vendor on a crowded train.

"Once in Europe, when on WIFI, I can change from the esim setting back to my usual setting and get my usual texts and emails and use the phone just the way I do now on WIFI, yes? But when out and about, I can just change to the esim setting (possibly changing something in data roaming as well??) "

No need to change anything. Activate the eSIM. Keep your WiFi turned on. Email and other forms of Internet access such as browsing use data, and that can come either from WiFi or the mobile network. When connected to WiFi, your phone will access data via WiFi. When not connected, it will access data from the mobile network. Texts are from your home mobile network (unless their iPhone to iPhone message, in which case its data).

Most travelers get by with data only - you can use WhatsApp or other messaging apps to call friends. This of course does not work if to call tour Airbnb or hotel.

Re roaming setting, Orange is a French network, so outside France you will need roaming active.

I haven't used Orange, but I would encourage you to read the reviews.

Thank you. It sounds so easy the way you describe it. But yes, going to multiple countries, the provider does make a difference. I ended up losing my courage to try new technology and signed up for the international plan with Verizon. They were offering it for $95 instead of $100. Maybe they are realizing there is competition??? Next trip I am going to be brave and explore dual sim.

Just to clarify, if you want to use your home phone number to text people who do not have iPhones (e.g., the green messages and not blue iMessages that use data) or get/make phone calls using your home number, I believe you have to go with your local carrier's international plan.

I see you already decided to use Verizon international plan which is by far the easiest way to keep everything just as it is at home. Think of it as $49 for piece of mind in the short term, you can do more research ahead of your next trip when you have time to fully explore all the options. There's a great Monday Night Travel program on this very topic you might find helpful.

I personally have purchased a Google Fi esim with its own unique phone number that I use for traveling. The people I really need to contact me know to use that number and I also update my bank information so if I need to do multi factor authentication it texts my travel number. It has seamless coverage all over Europe.

What is missing, I think, from this discussion is that you can get eSim cards that provide
voice, text, and data capability through, importantly, a phone # provided by the provider
of the eSim.

As a result, your US phone goes inactive once you activate one of these type of eSim's.
The savings comes from not using an expensive US provider plan for international coverage.
But you lose the capability to receive calls to your US number, and any texts that you send
will look like they come from the foreign #.

Or, you can get a data-only eSim. When you do that, you don't get a new phone #, since you
have no need for it. You could still keep your US provider Sim active, but if you do that, the
US provider plan will kick in. I believe that means the $10 per day from Verizon, for example.
This makes sense if you can make calls over internet means (Skype, Whatapp) and mostly
need to use a lot of data. since the eSim comes with a pretty hefty amount usually.

If you have a way to make phone calls over internet, then you can indeed make a data-only
eSim work. What you lose is the ability to make or receive calls using your US number.

You will be able to get all your emails using the eSim no matter what, since the email service
is just using the data as a pipe to the email server. Texts not so, since those are tied to the
phone number. Yes, if you get a voice & data eSim and activate it, your phone # will change
and so you would want your friends to know it so they can reach you and they know when they
see your new # that it's you. When you're in the hotel, if wi-fi is working, that is the pipe that
your emails will come through. As Simon notes, no need to change anything for that part of
it.

If you have a Whatsapp account with all your friends in it, you can call them using the app and
your friends will see it's you even if you're using the eSim, since there is no phone number
being used for the call. They'll see your name.

What is missing, I think, from this discussion is that you can get eSim cards that provide voice, text, and data capability through, importantly, a phone # provided by the provider of the eSim. As a result, your US phone goes inactive once you activate one of these type of eSim's. The savings comes from not using an expensive US provider plan for international coverage. But you lose the capability to receive calls to your US number, and any texts that you send will look like they come from the foreign #.

This isn't accurate. Dual-SIM capabilities mean one can send and receive calls using either SIM. It's like having two phones in the same box. So far as I know, all new iPhones have this ability; my wife bought a talk-and-data SIM for her iPhone when we were in England and she retained the ability to receive and send texts and calls on her US number.

Don't pay too much attention to internet message board posters. They're frequently full of misinformation. Including me.

All I will say is that I have been using esims for several years now, in a lot of places, and it is a learning process about what capabilities I really need.

Why not try a rather inexpensive Airalo esim data only for this trip, with the back up possibility of being able to turn on and use your international plan if needed? It is not a huge investment and one day of savings on a $10/day plan just about covers the cost of the esim. Airalo’s Global esim that comes with a (Austrian) phone number is cheaper than Orange but there might be less data included.

And yes, if you have your cell plan turned off, anyone calling you would need to use your European number. As someone said, it is possible to keep both cell plans turned on - but then you have no savings on your Verizon international plan costs. So that makes no sense on a daily basis - but could make sense on an “as-needed” basis.

I have gradually gotten people at home moved to Messenger or WhatsApp when I travel. And if I need to MAKE calls, I use WhatsApp or Skype, as I normally choose a data plan with no phone number. But your needs may vary. I just called my Air BnB host last night via WhatsApp with my data only plan. Skype would have worked as well.

"but then you have no savings on your Verizon international plan costs. So that makes no sense on a daily basis - but could make sense on an “as-needed” basis."

Maybe it's a US carrier thing or I'm just missing something, but mobile carriers I'm familiar with in Singapore, Australia and the UK allow roaming without any 'plan' costs - you only pay if you.make or receive calls, and texts are free. Data roaming is $10 a month.

Thanks, jphbucks, I stand corrected.

I use Google Fi so don't have to deal with what appears to be a number of options
for how to configure the eSim. What you can do with what definitely seems to depend
on what phone, OS version, and type of eSim you have, and it evolves.

Not sure that me, or anyone trying to go too deep on this is going to benefit OP or
confuse the heck out of them.

But, unless you're on business or have a real need to have your US phone # active,
if you use an eSim, why keep your US plan active, incurring extra costs, as TTM notes?

@Simon, I believe the way Verizon works is as soon as you turn the phone on with
the international plan active, you get charged for a day. As I noted, I don't have
Verizon, so someone with more experience should confirm.

Simon, you are correct - it’s different with Verizon and AT&T in the States. The charge of $10 or $12/day comes as soon as you use one tiny drop of data. Even an app updating in the background will trigger it if you have your cell plan turned on. And data roaming is irrelevant. But you can turn your number on and off at will.

So there IS the option to keep it off unless you really need it. Then turn it on, know the charge will be on your next bill, use it for a day, then turn it off.

But I was remiss in assuming the OP is from the U.S. I don’t know how plans work in other countries.

Public service announcement: I needed to renew my data coverage yesterday, and chose Manet Mobile this time for a 30-day, 10GB prepaid plan covering essentially all of Europe. Cost was only 10.80 euros. Coverage is through Drei Austria (3, for you Brits). So far it works flawlessly; activation was through a QR code sent by email.

I'm an old fart ..... I was out on the cutting edge when DOS was still the primary operating system. But I'm lost now. I would be more lost without TMobile. I just use it. Nothing else. I still have my US phone and plan and it's more reliable than my European Telekom plan so I use it while traveling.

Sorry for the diversion, but I gotta add: My Columbia MPC came with Dos 2.0, and I remember feeling really leading edge when I got up to DOS 6.22. It had TWO 360k floppy disk drives, so DOS would go in #1, and Microsoft Word Version 1.0 went in the other.
..... Now back to your regular programming....