SIM Card for Portugal

Vodaphone has a 30 day good deal vacation sim

Can this be purchased online in the states?

I started to use eSIM from Airalo two years ago and so far it worked well. They come with these options: local (country specific), regional (e.g. Europe), and global (138 countries). The global eSIM has the additional 'data+calls+texts' option which allows you to make phone calls and texts.

You can buy them here in the US on their website or through their mobile app. The mobile app allows you to install the eSIM and monitor your usage. Here is the link: https://www.airalo.com

Edit:
If you use their global ''data+calls+texts' option; make sure you set the phone contact (of the person you call) to the Airalo eSIM. Other wise it will use the eSIM you last made the call. I didn't know about this when I called my sister from Paris; and the call was made through my primary line (the last time I made a call to her before installing new eSIM) and AT&T charged me $3 per min, ugh!

Unless you plan to be in the country for more than 30 days it just isn't worth getting another sim.

Unless you plan to be in the country for more than 30 days it just
isn't worth getting another sim.

Wel, thats not true. It depends on how and why you use our phone and what the carrier you have in the US. There are US discount carriers that dont offer International coverage; and ATT can be sort of expensive even for 2 weeks (or was, havent checked the prices in a while).

More important for me:

1. If you are using a travel SIM card do remember that if you are using Two-factor Authentication (2FA) on any of your accounts, banking for instance or it can be on your GMAIL account or any subscription account ....... if you can not get to the phone number that is listed in the Two-Factor Authentication you could be in a pickle.
2. Also, there are certain US websites that are blocked to all but US IP addresses. Your US Cell phone account will have a US IP address so you can reach them, but the SIM may not (probably will not) have a US IP address so you could be limited as to what you can access.

The two issues above are why I have maintained my US phone even though I live in Europe. That and the US phone has better worldwide coverage than my European phone does.

I have maintained my US phone even though I live in Europe. That and the US phone has better worldwide coverage than my European phone does.

Which is why for less than 30 days it's not worth getting another sim.

I too have both a US and local sim, but that's because I deal with people in the USA who I have been associated with for business as well as personal issues for years. It's much easier to maintain both than miss a call and/or change numbers. And within the EU I only use the local number.

Unless you're using some really questionable provider you are running on ATT/Verizon/TMobile networks through a secondary provider. They should have an fairly inexpensive option for continued service within the EU. And the idea of saving less than $100 over the vacation's other expenses shouldn't be an issue. Adding another wireless network to the security of your cell phones data should.

"Somewhere in Time" Thank you for the info that Airalo has call/text plans that can be included in their "International" plans. Didn't know that.

I use Tmobile, so it's all a non-issue for me, but for AT&T or Verizon, I think an extra $100 per trip would add up. And certainly, maintaining one's "normal" phone number is pretty valuable, even essential, for some folks. But keeping one's "normal" number can be done cheaply with a data sim or esim, and wifi calling.

For info, I checked Airalo, and it does cost more to add the phone number, but here's an interesting plan they have: Coverage in 137 countries, 20 gb. data, 200 call minutes, 200 texts, validity for 365 days. Price: $89. The number you get is a U.S. phone number. Seems like that would be perfect for some folks who make multiple trips/ year, and use hotel wifi to watch movies and upload photos.

Which is why for less than 30 days it's not worth getting another sim.

If you are refering to all tourists, you are very wrong.

@travelerguy: that’s the plan I used while I was in Singapore last month; and I will be able to use it again for my upcoming trip to Europe next month. It still has about 11 GB of data in it as well as most of the call and text allowances; I plan to supplement it with a Data-only regional (Europe) eSIM.

As Mr Ë rightly pointed out; the US phone number provided by this Airalo global 'data+calls+texts' plan does not work with your normal 2FA as codes are sent to your primary line phone number. This was something I struggled with when I tried to log into some of my mobile apps that required 2FA. I ended up have to turn on my primary eSIM, enable Wi-Fi Calling, and use the hotel wifi (something I normally avoid as they’re infamous of being not secure); those 2FA texts received/sent through my primary eSIM unfortunately will show up as usages/charges in my upcoming AT&T bill. For this reason I’ve switched some of my websites/apps to send 2FA code to email address instead (if phone and email options are both available). For my trip next month I will just not logging into any account that requires 2FA to be sent by text message.