I just don't see these eSIM offers comparing to getting a local SIM.

I'm in France right now, I paid 23 Euros for a Free SIM, their 12.99 Euro Forfait plus 10 Euro activation, for 110 GB for 28 or 30 days.

I don't get 5G with this plan but I've gotten speeds of over 340/205. Spent a fair amount of time in smaller towns and villages in Corsica. Speeds were good there, good signal strength. Better in the bigger cities especially on Mainland France.

But getting a Free SIM, which is way better than any other offering in France -- SFR is the only one offering comparable amounts of data at similar price points, but their stores won't sell prepaid, you have to hunt down a tabac which has them -- is kind of a pain. First of all, they don't sell through third parties so you have to go to one of their stores. In a city like Nice, there's one Free store but there might be 3 or 4 stores of other carriers.

Then you have to wait to use one of their vending machines and their vending machines do not have contactless so that kind of settles the issue with activation. They copy your passport and have a physical credit card number that they charge.

I don't know when Free might distribute eSIMs online but it may be that it's difficult for them to activate your eSIM online because there may be ID authentication requirements in France.


It stands to reason that eSIMs don't offer as good values. After all, these are third-parties buying bandwidth at wholesale prices but they need their markup and even though they don't have a retail presence, I guess they have significant markup.

Or for now, they don't have to be too competitive, like offer 5 GB in 30 days for like $20 or $14 just for France. Flexiroam prices are higher.