eSims, what is your experience.

[serfty]

i booted Vodafone and went with Optus; as a new customer i get the same for about $10-15 less (need to check on this) and will edit the post later and get the same $5/24hrs roaming but it is 5GB per 24hrs which I am quite happy with.
Was lightning fast and had no blackouts on my recent 18 day travel. Unlike holafly which works and sometimes doesn't; gives me blackouts etc.

I gave Optus the boot with my 4 joint services after having too many spurious roaming activations (and the $5 charges) while data roaming was off and not making/receiving calls or sending a text.

It could be cleaned up via time consuming app chat but only by having the $5 charges credited to account for the next monthly bill; unlike the instantaneous ping on my CC.

I went to Amaysim for less then half the Optus monthly cost and a single $20 add on for 90 minutes of calls and 100 sent SMS is still going after 9 months and about 6 weeks of travel.

 

[LondonAussie]

I can never understand how or why people thing the $5 a day is a good deal. Maybe they just don’t spend that many days out of the country!

 

[offshore171]

I can never understand how or why people thing the $5 a day is a good deal. Maybe they just don’t spend that many days out of the country!

It's not the worst idea for a short trip and it's obviously very convenient.

That said, I think Roamless is the way to go.

Just set the Roamless global e-sim in your secondary esim slot and it's set and forget for the whole world (other than the occasional top up).

Single Global eSIM | Roamless

Buy a global eSIM in 200+ destinations from the Roamless App for data, calls, SMS, and phone numbers.

roamless.com

 

[SeaWolf]

Just set the Roamless global e-sim in your secondary esim slot and it's set and forget for the whole world (other than the occasional top up).

The other really great thing is that the credit on Roamless doesn't expire, so any left over is available for your next trip. With buying one-off eSIMs, most of them are time limited and you're usually going to end up with some wastage, depending on how accurate your estimation of your data usage was.

 

[moa999]

Quite a few others with no expiry that including
- Eskimo which has 500Mb signup credit,
(Recently shifted from 2yr to no expiry, but still data blocks), and
- Bcengi - more like roamless with a /GB rate

 

[SeaWolf]

- Bcengi - more like roamless with a /GB rate

This one I hadn't heard of, looks pretty good too as the rates are a bit cheaper than Roamless for the countries that I had a look at. I've still got a bit of Roamless credit on the account but I might give Bcengi a go once that runs out.

 

[SYD]

Just set the Roamless global e-sim in your secondary esim slot and it's set and forget for the whole world (other than the occasional top up).

The other really great thing is that the credit on Roamless doesn't expire, so any left over is available for your next trip. With buying one-off eSIMs, most of them are time limited and you're usually going to end up with some wastage, depending on how accurate your estimation of your data usage was.

We debated upthread the different models. Roamless (and some others) are PAYG with variable rates for Gigs/$. Can be better for a short visit and avoids the use or loose it pre-purchase Gigs/day model.

As above, I’ve settled on amaysim for roaming calls/txt and Eskimo for data (I have a Global plan as well as Euro plan and Nth Am). The regional plans are cheaper $/G but the Global provides similar convenience as say Roamless, if I’m just passing through somewhere. I also supplement those with freebies (eg Flexiroam) and the ~$1/1GB/7D Frewie country plans are pretty good.