eSims, what is your experience.

[Scr77]

Discussed upthread but most Oz telco plans allow receiving SMS overseas for free. But there are exceptions….

Trouble is the exceptions seem to be growing. I’m with Aussie Broadband and they don’t allow any sort of roaming. Many other telcos don’t seem to allow roaming outside Of the top 30 or 40 countries.

Even Telstra isn’t straight forward nowadays with different countries being covered depending on your plan type.

 

[SYD]

Trouble is the exceptions seem to be growing. I’m with Aussie Broadband and they don’t allow any sort of roaming. Many other telcos don’t seem to allow roaming outside Of the top 30 or 40 countries.

Even Telstra isn’t straight forward nowadays with different countries being covered depending on your plan type.

I imagine that list grows due to the growing number of 3rd party resellers.

IMHO, I wouldn’t use one as a regular OS traveller. Just about everything wants 2FA these days. That would be an unmitigated disaster for the uninitiated.

So far, the only place I’ve visited with zero Optus roaming was NLK! But I know there are others - most not high on my travel list (I suspect).

 

[gizzard]

I saw this thread in the latest AFF newsletter. Now that it's 15 pages long I haven't read through it to see if the information has already been discussed but I have an Android phone without e-sim functionality.

As I travel overseas quite a bit it is a dual sim and I bought a sim card from esim.me that is a physical sim that works in the same way as an e-sim. That is, you can sign up with one of the e-sim data providers and, along with esim.me's app you can set up the physical e-sim to use that data.

Recently I took up a deal with Eskimo offering a free 1.5GB of data valid for 3 years.

 

[djkelly69]

If so, are you saying you received sms to WW sim without paying for a roaming add on?

I am with Woolworths Mobile, and can confirm I received SMS for free while overseas at the end of last year without paying for a roaming add-on.

 

[RealtimeY]

Woolworths specifically spells out their policy on receiving SMS overseas

• All Woolworths Mobile customers can receive SMS when overseas without adding a Roaming add-on, when your phone successfully connects to an eligible roaming operator in one of the Eligible Countries. This means you can still do your banking and get other security verifications while overseas without needing to purchase an add-on.

 

[SYD]

Woolworths specifically spells out their policy on receiving SMS overseas

Did I count correctly - about 80 “eligible countries”? The sort of number you’d expect.

 

[RealtimeY]

67 countries - India is included in the list 14 times

 

[SYD]

67 countries - India is included in the list 14 times

Optus has over 100 “Zone 1” countries that should let you roam and receive SMS for free.

https://www.optus.com.au/mobile/plans/international-roaming

I expect Telstra has a similar list.

 

[PineappleSkip]

I expect Telstra has a similar list.

Wot, a list with 14 Indias?

 

[SYD]

Wot, a list with 14 Indias?

Similar to Optus….

Maybe WW was counting “Little India”s….

 

[unclebobl]

Came for a look here after seeing the puff piece in the Gazette today. That article uses global roaming as its price comparison but ignores costs of SIM cards. 6-9 times the cost for an eSIM doesn't seem worthwhile to me.

e.g. Airalo eSIM for Thailand is US$9.90 for 8 days. That's about A$55/month. An AIS Thai SIM card costs 50 baht. Top up 150 baht/month for 100GB data. That's A$8.60 for the first month and A$6.45/month in future. (If you're likely to be back sometime within a year or so, best to make multiple small recharges, as Thailand has this silly rule that each one extends SIM validity by a month!)

I have to agree about the AIS Thai sim card, I have one and top it up every couple of months using my Qantas money card. OK I lose 50Cents on the exchange rate but it gives me a contactable number as soon as the plane lands

 

[The Flying Schwartz]

Son and I used Holafly eSims for our last trip to Europe and likely to use them again in a couple of weeks. Unlimited data and worked more or less faultlessly. The only issue I encountered was needing to do a phone restart when showing my e-ticket on the train between Austria and Hungary. The sim was probably switching between service providers. I think this was more hardware than software though as I occasionally have connectivity issues even on the regular sim at home. My son’s didn’t have the same issue.

Also check the fine print, some eSims won’t let you hotspot as mentioned in the article, so worth comparing to a separate mobile hotspot device depending on your sharing needs. We used one of those for our Japan trip between two of us and it worked really well but the esim was definitely easier and one less device to charge on the road.

 

[SYD]

Also check the fine print, some eSims won’t let you hotspot as mentioned in the article, so worth comparing to a separate mobile hotspot device depending on your sharing needs.

True also for physical SIMs. I picked up a 30 day prepaid Orange SIM in France a couple of years ago. No tethering!

 

[Quickstatus]

No tethering

The one great thing about Airolo eSim was it allowed hotspotting. So Mrs QS and I just used the one esim hotspotted to both phones
It kept dropping out though so needed repeated re-hotspotting

 

[The Flying Schwartz]

True also for physical SIMs. I picked up a 30 day prepaid Orange SIM in France a couple of years ago. No tethering!

Good to know, at least half our next trip will be in France so Orange was on my list to compare

 

[WilsonM]

The one great thing about Airolo eSim was it allowed hotspotting. So Mrs QS and I just used the one esim hotspotted to both phones
It kept dropping out though so needed repeated re-hotspotting

This could be the Airalo eSIM, but it could also be the phone if you were constantly hotspotting - phone's aren't built to be constant WiFI transmitters after all. Some, like my Samsung S22, tend to overheat a bit after using the hotspot for a workday.

As a general rule, would also recommend disabling 5G if hotspotting - the extra speed isn't worth it, but it'll chew through data a lot quicker, and also strain your phone more (possibly due to the higher frequency of the network?). On Samsung atleast, you can do this by turning power saving on, but most phones are able to disable 5G, just a quick google search away

 

[SYD]

As a general rule, would also recommend disabling 5G if hotspotting - the extra speed isn't worth it, but it'll chew through data a lot quicker, and also strain your phone more (possibly due to the higher frequency of the network?). On Samsung atleast, you can do this by turning power saving on, but most phones are able to disable 5G, just a quick google search away

iPhones have a “Data mode” settings that’s defaulted to “Standard” but you can crank it up to “Allow More Data on 5G” but you’re better off setting to “Low Data Mode” when roaming so your phone doesn’t eat up your data allowance, plus I-devices tethered won’t treat it like normal wifi.

This is in addition to the “Voice & Data” setting that allows you force “5G On” or “5G Auto” (as required), or “4G” (disable 5G).

 

[Quickstatus]

would also recommend disabling 5G if hotspotting

The airalo esim i used did not have a 5G option - just 4G and I also used low data mode to stop photos synching across devices

 

[Scarlett]

Used the free 15 days Flexiroam esim deal through 28 degrees Mastercard pretty painlessly in Europe last month.

It picked up providers in France and Italy seamlessly. Microstates San Marino and Monaco were a little more problematic as they’re not supported (not EU), but by forcing the phone to connect back to surrounding French or Italian suppliers worked okay.

Next month for a short return to Europe and some of Africa I’ll be using an Airalo esim as they have better coverage and are cheaper than Flexiroam in a direct comparison.

 

[qaz]

If you have Telstra prepaid, I found the roaming packages to be pretty decent.
Limited reach, but so far it's only not worked in a few countries.

I have an iPhone with dual sim, US/AUS. I find that both numbers work as long as there is service one line.

I am still trying to work out what to do in countries that neither carrier provides options. I am thinking of just getting another cheap phone for those incidents.

Anyone else back to carrying 2 phones?

do you mean that both work as long as one is active, or both are active but only one has a signal/reception?

if you only need one active, then just install a 3rd e/sim to activate when needed

however if you need both active, then still install a 3rd e/sim to activate when needed, but divert one of the (other) numbers to a local voip service, so you can still receive (and make) calls to(/from) that number via the internet e.g. divert your Telstra number to Crazytel, then receive/make calls via their app, using your Telstra number as the caller id

Came for a look here after seeing the puff piece in the Gazette today. That article uses global roaming as its price comparison but ignores costs of SIM cards. 6-9 times the cost for an eSIM doesn't seem worthwhile to me.

e.g. Airalo eSIM for Thailand is US$9.90 for 8 days. That's about A$55/month. An AIS Thai SIM card costs 50 baht. Top up 150 baht/month for 100GB data. That's A$8.60 for the first month and A$6.45/month in future. (If you're likely to be back sometime within a year or so, best to make multiple small recharges, as Thailand has this silly rule that each one extends SIM validity by a month!)

some providers offer the option of physical or digital sim at no extra cost, other eSIMs can be almost or completely free, which is rarely if ever the case with physical sims

Ok, I've pretty much read through the whole thread and am still unsure about what I should do! Would love some advice!
I have $5 data roaming option with Vodafone. Which allows me to access my included data, calls and text with my current plan - 70GB per month.
I am travelling to the USA in August - I will require 18 days of roaming - so that's $90AUD but I will not have to do anything (anyone with experience of Vodafone in the USA, would love to hear from you!) and I will have plenty of data for using google maps, whatsapp, social media etc. I'm not expecting any phone calls (except the spam calls that seem to be prevalent now, which I wont be answering) my family will contact via whatsapp. However I may need to receive the occassional SMS for security (bank, etc).
Alternatively looking at esim, Airolo for example is $26USD (approx $39AUD) for 10GB. I will be using GoogleMap live directions ALOT, so I wonder if 10GB will be sufficient for 18 days plus the hassle of getting the settings right on my iphone?
Thank you!

there's no need to pay anything - Verizon, Visible, T-mobile all offer free/$0 trials for 15-days to 3-months with unlimited data/calls/texts

Using a Mobile phone Overseas – eSIM, Travel SIM, International Roaming - OzBargain Wiki

www.ozbargain.com.au

Discussed upthread but most Oz telco plans allow receiving SMS overseas for free. But there are exceptions….

Trouble is the exceptions seem to be growing. I’m with Aussie Broadband and they don’t allow any sort of roaming. Many other telcos don’t seem to allow roaming outside Of the top 30 or 40 countries.

Even Telstra isn’t straight forward nowadays with different countries being covered depending on your plan type.

have you actually tried? even when some providers say that they don't support roaming, receiving an sms can still be possible

Used the free 15 days Flexiroam esim deal through 28 degrees Mastercard pretty painlessly in Europe last month.

It picked up providers in France and Italy seamlessly. Microstates San Marino and Monaco were a little more problematic as they’re not supported (not EU), but by forcing the phone to connect back to surrounding French or Italian suppliers worked okay.

Next month for a short return to Europe and some of Africa I’ll be using an Airalo esim as they have better coverage and are cheaper than Flexiroam in a direct comparison.

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