Using an eSIM for travelling

Travel and Leisure

Everyone carries a smartphone with them on their trips abroad, and they likely have figured out that you probably shouldn't let your phone "roam" onto the foreign carrier network, right? I wrote about this a long time ago, in a previous post about using your smartphone in Europe. Don't need data or calling services while you're on vacation? Then you can stop reading now. I have long advocated that you can likely get by using free Wi-Fi services at the hotel or around town. But for some, the ability to use data and/or make the occasional call makes their travel lives easier, especially when you are doing your own self-guided trip. And yes, there are those US folks who have a $10/day plan through Verizon or whomever, but we're typically going to Europe for 14-21 days, which would add hundreds of dollars to the mobile bill. For you T-Mobile users, you're lucky to have an unlimited free international roaming option.

Well, for those of you with a relatively new smartphone (maybe you upgraded to take advantage of new camera capabilities?), there is a somewhat recent innovation called eSIM that is about to make things easier but at the same time, very complicated for some people. What is an eSIM? I grabbed this right from Wikipedia:

An eSIM (embedded-SIM) is a form of programmable SIM card that is embedded directly into a device. Instead of an integrated circuit located on a removable universal integrated circuit card (UICC), typically made of PVC, an eSIM consists of software installed onto an eUICC chip permanently attached to a device.

Nearest mobile store not so near?

So what does this mean? Well, most of you know what a SIM card is - the Subscriber Identity Module - it's the little chip that you pop in and out of your phone that tells the mobile phone network who and where you are, and how to ring you when someone calls your number. It's how you can go to Europe, buy a local SIM card from say, Orange, and swap it into your unlocked phone, and bingo, you're using a much lower cost way of using your smartphone in Europe. Of course, you had to find a kiosk at the airport, or wander around town to find the local Vodafone, as most good prepaid options need to be sourced in-country. But there was that time when we were in Dubrovnik, and the nearest mobile store was far enough away from where we were staying that it was not worth bothering. To further compound this, there are those folks that want to use their home mobile number while away, not some randomly assigned, in-country one.

But I digress; we'll get back to that issue in a bit. If you have an iPhone XS or newer (and similar era Samsung or Google ones), chances are that it now supports eSIM. Now, instead of seeking out a SIM card at a local provider, you can buy a prepaid eSIM online, and activate it before you even leave home (here's the Airalo instructions for iPhone). At its simplest level, you can now switch from your domestic SIM, and use the services of your eSIM, just as if you had swapped out physical SIMs. I looked up current offers, and Orange has something called a Holiday Zen package, with 8GB of data, unlimited European calls and 200 text messages, all for 20€.

Newer iPhones support SIM & eSIM 

Now here's where things get interesting. Most of the phones that support eSIM also support dual SIM usage; i.e. you can keep your domestic SIM installed, AND use the eSIM simultaneously, switching back and forth as required. Why would you want to do this? I'm going to avoid the whole discussion about having one SIM as your business number and the other as your personal one; that's a domestic use case but here's an Apple support page with more on that. What I'll discuss now is the travel scenario where you would be roaming on your domestic plan in Europe.

Say you need/want data services while you are out and about, so that you can not only take advantage of things like Google, maps, Tripadvisor, etc., but also be able to email or iMessage? Or maybe you need to make a quick call to say, the Airbnb host in Budapest? But sometimes, you need to make or receive a call with someone back home? Well, now you have almost every situation covered with dual SIM capabilities and your newly acquired European eSIM.

By enabling Wi-Fi Calling for your domestic carrier SIM, you will be able to make and receive calls on your domestic number, and even send and receive SMS messages to/from your domestic number over Wi-Fi¹. You probably want to make sure you are on decent Wi-Fi for this, but I was surprised to receive a call one evening on our river cruise over the ship's Wi-Fi. Update: some home carriers also allow for you to route calls and SMS messages over your eSIM's data - i.e. calls to your home number will come in as a VoIP call if you have the setting enabled. 

In your phone's settings, you can specify which SIM you want to use data with, which in this situation would be your European eSIM number. Now with the European eSIM you will now have the data services you need when you are day touring to navigate, search for restaurants and shops, and if you bought the right pre-paid plan, make calls. More likely, you could probably get away with a data only European eSIM, and these plans are even cheaper than the above-mentioned Orange example. This works particularly well for travellers from the West coast, as anyone you would typically need to talk to back home, isn't available until after ~4 pm, when you are back on your hotel or Airbnb's Wi-Fi.

Yes, I know this can/will get confusing, so if it's too much for you, just pay your $10 per day, and go on about your way. And BTW, I'm no expert on this; yes, I am/was an electrical engineer, and my major was actually telecommunications. So if you need help, try Google. But for those using iPhones, here's a link about getting an eSIM for travelling. And here's another good page that walks through the exact settings for your smartphone to enable the eSIM.

¹ You should always check with your carrier for Wi-Fi calling availability and find out whether additional fees or data usage applies from your data provider. e.g. TELUS and Bell do offer Wi-Fi calling, but not outside of Canada.