eSims, what is your experience.

[Scarlett]

Does anyone know a useful site that lists where eSIM companies ‘pop out’ to the internet? It may be the home location of the company, or can it be elsewhere?

Eg: it appears that TravelKon is based in Perth. Does that mean if I use their eSIM in Turkey, that my data is routed from a Turkish providers tower, back to Aus and then ‘into’ the www? They don’t actually specify the detail of the data path.

I know last year I used a provider and it was ultimately sending everything through Hong Kong, even though Hong Kong didn’t appear anywhere in the purchase or T&Cs.

I should add, I’ve seen one or two companies that specify where. Can’t remember which company but over the weekend whilst searching, one specified it passed all data through Poland. A couple of months ago I used an AlwaysMobile eSIM and although the company references everything to Canada, IIRC, this was the one that was coming up as Hong Kong based.

 

[moa999]

Don't think such a thing exists, many don't even list what carriers they might roam onto.
You might get some info on reddit r/esims

Most of these 'brands' are buying data off various phone companies. Sometimes these brands use multiple wholesalers so the endpoint might change depending on the plan.
Believe HK, Singapore, Poland and Jersey are common end points these days.

 

[SYD]

Don't think such a thing exists, many don't even list what carriers they might roam onto.

The name brands list the networks they roam on. The cheapy OTA ones are a cough shoot.

Most of these 'brands' are buying data off various phone companies. Sometimes these companies use multiple wholesalers so the endpoint might change depending on the plan.
Believe HK, Singapore, Poland and Jersey are common end points these days.

You can second guess some from where they’re based (but not always obvious).

A lot actually come out of SIN. Quite a few out of the UAE and several from HKG/Mainland China (which I tend to avoid if possible).

 

[cloo]

Does anyone know a useful site that lists where eSIM companies ‘pop out’ to the internet? It may be the home location of the company, or can it be elsewhere?

Eg: it appears that TravelKon is based in Perth. Does that mean if I use their eSIM in Turkey, that my data is routed from a Turkish providers tower, back to Aus and then ‘into’ the www? They don’t actually specify the detail of the data path.

I know last year I used a provider and it was ultimately sending everything through Hong Kong, even though Hong Kong didn’t appear anywhere in the purchase or T&Cs.

I should add, I’ve seen one or two companies that specify where. Can’t remember which company but over the weekend whilst searching, one specified it passed all data through Poland. A couple of months ago I used an AlwaysMobile eSIM and although the company references everything to Canada, IIRC, this was the one that was coming up as Hong Kong based.

I use eSIMDB: Find and Compare Best Travel eSIMs for Your Trip as a starting point to identify esim options for the countries I'm visiting. If you drill down to a specific plan and display its details, you will find that for alot (not all) of plans, an internet breakout country is listed. Out of the no-name esim providers, I've used mobimatter a few times without issues.

 

[moa999]

Interesting article

Travel eSIMs secretly route traffic over Chinese and undisclosed networks: study

Convenient tech brings big bundle of security and privacy risks.

www.itnews.com.au

 

[SYD]

Interesting article

Travel eSIMs secretly route traffic over Chinese and undisclosed networks: study

Convenient tech brings big bundle of security and privacy risks.

www.itnews.com.au

Not totally surprising. I do try and work out where an eSIM routes before purchasing, but as per the article it can we quite opaque sometimes.

 

[moa999]

The equating HK as China a bit overblown, but thought the other stuff was interesting, albeit presumably similar risks with any mobile network.

 

[SYD]

The equating HK as China a bit overblown, but thought the other stuff was interesting, albeit presumably similar risks with any mobile network.

The “China” eSIM I had routed through HKG but allowed access outside the GFW. I’d prefer one that went via SIN over HKG however.

Not sure the bit about “messaging” in the background is as sinister as they might be suggesting. Heaps of apps already tic-tac with their motherships. Which is why I turn mobile data access off to everything I don’t need out and about when OS. They get their chance to phone home over wifi.

 

[Flashback]

The “China” eSIM I had routed through HKG but allowed access outside the GFW. I’d prefer one that went via SIN over HKG however.

Not sure the bit about “messaging” in the background is as sinister as they might be suggesting. Heaps of apps already tic-tac with their motherships. Which is why I turn mobile data access off to everything I don’t need out and about when OS. They get their chance to phone home over wifi.

When I used Billion Connect when in China recently it kept changing between breakout in HKG and breakout in SIN.

Went for cheapest available in Greenland, GlobaleSIM - given that there is only 1 telco in Greenland .............. worked perfectly fine and often had coverage miles out at sea. Worked on land every time as well. Much better than $440 USD for a week of WiFi.

 

[Buzzard]

I've just purchased Monty eSim for +1 and I for our upcoming trip to Turkey and Greece.

 

[Scarlett]

I do use esimdb to narrow down to providers who have services in the countries I’m after. Unfortunately not all of their offered eSIM providers list where their internet breakout point is a snap we have routine discussions such as above.

The eSIM I am browsing AFF with right now is by a provider named ‘thirr’. It had worked perfectly in Indonesia, Turkey, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and is also now in Uzbekistan. It definitely has the internet breakout out in Poland as most webpages are defaulting to Polish versions if they exist and ads are all in Polish.

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

Harder than expected to find. Amaysim did not work in Mauritius at all. Most exclude Zimbabwe.

Holafly was the best deal in terms of value and offering unlimited data. Airalo only had 2GB and 3GB packages so if you use a lot of data you'll go through that quickly.

Wonder if others have different experiences.

For South Africa I bought Vodacon at Cape Town airport, was decent value.

 

[ausfox]

I recently visited Cambodia and Vietnam using my Telstra prepaid with a prepaid international roaming subscription. Should have looked if it would work. Not eligible in either country so a waste of money. The iPhone 14 has no physical sim slot.

 

[SYD]

I recently visited Cambodia and Vietnam using my Telstra prepaid with a prepaid international roaming subscription. Should have looked if it would work. Not eligible in either country so a waste of money.

Did it “roam” at all (ie connected to a network), so you could at least receive SMS?

I’m heading to both countries in a couple of months but they’re both covered under my amaysim roaming (voice/txt). Will be using a combo of freebie Flexiroam and Eskimo eSIMs for data (the later is working exceptionally well in the USA at the moment).

The iPhone 14 has no physical sim slot.

Is that a US iPhone? They’ve been eSIM only for several models but still support multiple eSIMs. Any 2 can be active simultaneously.

 

[ausfox]

Local iPhone. It connected to a network but no data . Telstra messaged as ineligible for roaming. I used wifi connections but a bit limiting.

 

[Flashback]

Did it “roam” at all (ie connected to a network), so you could at least receive SMS?

I’m heading to both countries in a couple of months but they’re both covered under my amaysim roaming (voice/txt). Will be using a combo of freebie Flexiroam and Eskimo eSIMs for data (the later is working exceptionally well in the USA at the moment).

Is that a US iPhone? They’ve been eSIM only for several models but still support multiple eSIMs. Any 2 can be active simultaneously.

Cambodia - SIMs are available at the airport and are extremely cheap, and they'll do the full end to end process from walking to the counter to walking away in under a minute. Don't bother with an eSIM (unless it's super, super cheap). I think I paid about $5 USD for a fair whack of data and possibly even had some calls. You'll need a local SIM number in order to use some of the transport apps.

 

[SYD]

You'll need a local SIM number in order to use some of the transport apps.

Which ones? I’ve used Grab in multiple SE Asian countries with just an eSIM.

As above, we’ll be there in a few months and expecting to just rely on Eskimo and/or freebie FLX Roam.

 

[Flashback]

Which ones? I’ve used Grab in multiple SE Asian countries with just an eSIM.

As above, we’ll be there in a few months and expecting to just rely on Eskimo and/or freebie FLX Roam.

PassApp.

 

[Comoman]

I've use Roamless and it works really well. You can either buy a country or region 30-day pack or just use Flex credit (as they call it) with a per GB rate (which varies per country).

You can also make calls through the app as well.

 

[SYD]

PassApp.

OT, but looks like that’s cash only rides?

Grab is probably more convenient.