Using an eSIM While Traveling

TTT eSIM
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Meggan: Hey everyone. And welcome back to Travel Tip Tuesday with the Travel Mug podcast. I'm Meggan. As always, I am joined by my podcast bestie, Jenn. How are you today, Jenn?

Jenn: I am doing well. I'm excited to learn more about this topic because I actually don't know that much about it. So please teach me, Meggan

Meggan: let me show you the limited ways I know about it. So let's dive in. So today I did want to take some time and talk about eSIMs. A lot of people are familiar with what an eSIM is. However, they are relatively new ish and a lot of people do not know about them or actually what they are. So we recently tried them on several trips and we won't be going back to using our carrier Data. I want to say as well, I, like I said, I'm no eSIM expert by any means. This is just my experience from using it a few times and a bit of internet research. So make sure you are looking into it for yourself as well. So what is an eSIM? So an eSIM allows you to activate a cellular plan on your phone without removing your SIM card and inserting another. eSIMs are sold by many different companies with many different plan options in terms of how much data you can purchase. So what phones can use an eSIM? So all major mobile manufacturing companies have phones with eSIMs, but not all phones are eSIM compatible. You are able to find a list online. There's too many for me to list here, but your phone will likely have to be newer. So please ensure before you buy an eSIM that your phone is compatible. I know there's at least one ad that I've seen for NordVPN's version called Saily, and they'll actually refund you if you buy the eSIM and realize that your phone isn't eSIM compatible. but it's just easier if you check that out for yourself first.

Jenn: That's nice. At least they'll refund you if you've made a mistake.

Meggan: They're like, here's silly. Here's your money back. so what's the advantage of an eSIM? So I know places like the USA have a lot of carrier options with Some really great plans for traveling because of competition. but the landscape is a bit different here in Canada and I'm sure some other countries as well where there are plan options are kind of limited with less choice. So to use your phone internationally, it can cost you quite a bit of money if you were to go through your regular carrier , if they don't have a reasonable international data plan. So we love our carrier Koodo. However, to use our phones in the U. S. it costs about $14 a day and about $15 or $16 a day for outside of North America.

And that can really add up. After our 2022, uh, 14 day Europe trip, uh, we had just used our data and we owed for both of our phones together over $600.

Jenn: Oh my god.

Meggan: I know, it's like we love to just like throw our money about. So, and so the advantage of an eSIM is literally Uh, such a cost savings. You can buy gigs of data for not a lot of money that will last you weeks and months depending on what you need and it will cost just so much less comparably. Installation is a breeze and instructions for the two companies we used were very clear, very simple, and as we know I'm not techie, Peter is, but they were still easy enough for even me.

Jenn: Oh.

Meggan: I know, our experience so far has been with Nomad and also aloSIM or aloSIM, which is actually a Canadian company. I do wanna give a shout out to friend of the show, Alicia. She actually has a discount code if anyone is interested for aloSIM, and it is for first time users, and you can use the code, Alicia, so capital A LI. CIA, just in case anyone likes a deal.

I actually did that the first time I used it and it saved me 10%.

And I'm apparently I like to throw away money, but then I like to try to recoup

Jenn: Yeah, yeah, I gotta save it.

Meggan: That's right. What other choice do I have at this point? So what does an eSIM give you? it kind of all depends on the one that you choose. So some include a phone number and data. Some just include data that will, um, be a choice you'll kind of need to make.

Is the phone number really important for you? So both Nomad and aloSIM do not have phone numbers attached to them. However, we could use every application on our iPhones, including iMessage, Data, and And FaceTime.

Jenn: Okay.

Meggan: So some cost examples just before we get away from that piece from aloSIM or aloSIM in particular.

If I were to look at Iceland as an example, coming from Canada, I could get two gigabytes for $11, five gigabytes for $20, which is valid for 30 days. And then 10 gigabytes for $34. And those are in Canadian prices. So it is a good idea to shop around. Read reviews to make a decision about what eSIM provider and price makes sense for you. Now when we went to Iceland, I paid like $43 Canadian and I got 20 gigs of data. I did not need that much for two weeks. I probably used Maximum four. I just was really unsure how it worked. It was the first time I was doing it, so I kind of like overshot, but I still didn't really spend that much money doing it, and now I know for next time.

Jenn: Yeah, compared to $600.

Meggan: Correct, correct. Now, what are the downsides to an eSIM? So, as I just mentioned, not all eSIMs come with a phone number, so it would be a good idea for you to have What's app to communicate with people. and the reason I say that is another downside is our iPhones couldn't text Android phones.

Jenn: Interesting.

Meggan: So again, this is where WhatsApp will have an advantage for all phone type users.

And of course that can be easily used with an eSIM. None of this was an issue for us. And we always knew that if we needed to really make a phone call, we could literally just switch off the eSIM switch back our SIM that belonged to our carrier. And then make the call. So that was always an option I knew that I had.

So therefore it kind of like, crushed any fears that I might have if I need to make a phone call. Now one thing I want to say to keep in mind if you're traveling by car from one country to another, which we just learned on our most recent U. S. road trip, and this may of course, happen in North America, but also of course Europe.

So, When you do cross into the next country, wait until you are far enough away from the border so that when you turn on your eSIM, you are certain that it won't pick up a tower from your home country.

Jenn: Right.

Meggan: So when we were crossing from New Brunswick to Maine, this happened to us, and it did cause our eSIM to actually malfunction, um, as for the U. S. only.

Jenn: Right.

Meggan: Yet it connected first and foremost to a Canadian tower because we were still too close to the border. So peter had to get his reset by aloSIM and I was going to do the same. After we got to our hotel, but after I got far enough away a few hours later, it just magically started working So

Jenn: Okay. Yeah.

Meggan: and won't be an issue if you fly into a new country because you've literally You're not crossing that close to a border, but it is something to keep in mind for a land border. So I guess overall thoughts. It can seem intimidating. There are many companies offering this, but of course the right thing about the internet is reviews. And you should really do your own research to decide on which company to use. But it is easy to install. Again, we had super clear instructions. Um, Obviously, it's incredible for cost savings. There's no physical SIM card that you have to remove from your phone and insert another one and track one down in the airport where you arrive. The whole thing. I literally have never done that in my life because I didn't want to go through that hassle. So I just never did it. So I cannot say enough about how much money we saved. You can connect, of course, to Wi Fi when you're at your accommodations to save the data, which is definitely what we did in Iceland, which is probably why I didn't use as much of the data I purchased, because I connected to Wi Fi. , but most eSIM providers actually give you the option to top up your data on their app if you do run out. So don't be scared of using this new technology is sort of my opinion. Do your research and save some money is all I can really say. So Jenn, have you ever heard much about eSIMs up to now or what are your thoughts on potentially using one?

Jenn: No, I have not really heard that much about them. So my Canadian phone plan includes Canada and the U S. So when we travel to, the States, I don't, I don't have any issues because it's just on my regular phone plan, but I will definitely consider when. The next time we go to Europe, I was wondering, like, what did we do when we went to Scotland?

Because we were there for two weeks, and I'm like, what did we do? And I went back and looked at my phone bills from two years ago, and I turned my phone on, like, data for four days. So, out of the 14 that we were there, 15 that we were there. So, I mostly used Wi Fi, but I did use a little bit. Of, uh, of my own data, and I could have spent that $54 and got a sim and had my phone on the whole time, so

Meggan: Right, and that's the difference because that's a great point. If you're using your own carrier's plan, you don't need to have it on all 14 days like we did. You could just use it here and there and that will save you. But like you just said for that same amount, you could have just had data your whole 14 days.

Jenn: Yeah, yeah, and it would have been a lot less stressful about finding Wi Fi and, uh, that sort of thing. But we also weren't driving around, so it wasn't, like, relying on it for a GPS either, so But yeah, that's, uh, it's definitely good to know, and I will keep this in mind.

Meggan: Excellent. So if you enjoyed the show, we would love for you to leave us a review on Apple or Spotify because that is it for this week's Travel Tip Tuesday. So we hope after hearing about this personal experience, you might give an eSIM a try if you don't have a great international data plan already. It is worth it. You can also support the show through buy me a coffee. The link is in the show notes or share the show with a travel loving pal. , we'd love for you to connect with us at either our website or on socials, including YouTube at travel mug podcast. The website of course is travelmugpodcast. com and until next time safe travels and bye.

Jenn: Bye!